Amen Kellie! Especially for that last part. This was the first time I have ever read that line and I was shocked to read it. I now have ammo to use when people want to try and "parade" their version of Christianity in my face. I am all about having intellectual conversations on the subject but I really hate when people are so hell bent and determined to not listen to any argument and are constantly going "see here is what my religion has done" or "this is how much greater my interpretation of the bible is to yours." I have a big beef with Christianity because of this. I really do not believe a person should force their beliefs on anyone. I think it is a bit shameful at how far people in this world will go to force their interpretation of any religious text on another person.
I have a few other things to say about Matthew also. I am have a big problem with the section in Chapter 5 that states "If a man looks at a woman with a lustful eye, he has already committed adultry with her in his heart. If your right eye causes your downfall, tear it out and fling it away; it is better for you to lose one part of your body than for the whole of it to be thrown into hell. (Matt 5:28-29)" I do not know about anyone else but I cannot always control what I think. Hell sometimes I cannot control what comes out of my mouth let alone what pops into my head at any random moment. I find it hard to believe that I am going to be condemed for eternity for the things that I think. I cannot count the number of times I have looked over at Russell and thougth about strangling him (hahaha), or the number of times I have found some man or woman sexually attractive. I realize this is more information than most of you need about me but still they are real thoughts that pop into my head and for the most part pop back out just as quickly as they popped in, so no harm on foul. Besides just because I think about doing something does not mean I am going to go right out and do it. Now there is a good chance that if I think about saying something I say it before I can stop myself, which is why a good number of people think that I am a mean person. I also do not understand the cut out your eye or cut off your arm if it does you harm. You are in control of your body if your eye or arm does something YOU made it do it (unless you have some strange medical problem that causes you to do such things). I hope what is really meant here is if you are with people who do bad things or are in a situation where bad things are going to happen that you should get away from them or it.
To go back to the first part of that section again I noticed that in chapter 15 Jesus is claimed to have said "what comes out of the mouth has its origins in the heart. (Matt15:18)" I can kind of understand this but some of what I say and I think I really do not mean. I do not think I am as bad of a person as I it would appear by my thoughts that I am. Although I am not in the practice of coddling people therefore some of what I do think and say is true and needs to be thought and said. We lie to much these days to save other peoples feelings when we are really hurting them more, in the long run. than we are helping them. I had another two paragraphs or so here but I deleted them because I went into more of a rant than I really needed to got into. The above should be enough for anyone reading this to get where I am going with my thoughts.
