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Effectively answers this:
http://blog.valhalla.jara23.co.uk/~mrc/wordpress/?p=15
Here, MRC, the author of the blog tries to work out why some Christians get off with sites like this: http://www.fusion101.com/guide/dating_non_christians.htm
Basically, working on one line, 2 Corinthians 6:14, they try to claim that you should not marry, or even, in this case, date a “pagan” (here taken to mean a non-beliver in Christ). Putting aside other arguments, and simply dealing with the text, this part reads the same in all translations of the bible, appart from the Good News translation (the one favoured by the bible group that I chair, and for translation, myself (though I do still like the lyrical poetery of the KJV)).
This one line (And it’s references in Deutoronomy), is being used to subjugate Christians, as bits of the Bible often are. This bit, in my opinion, is up there with one of the dangerous ones. It creates an insular Christian community, with the view that those that don’t belive in Christ follow the Devil. WRONG.. The Devil only Exist for those that follow Christianity, and it’s related (and parent) religions. For all the others, the Devil doesn’t even exist. You can’t worship him, if you don’t belive in him (see Bible for references on that bit(Worship)).
The first problem with this bit is that it’s a wonderful example of why the sub-headings in the Bible can be misleading. Here, for example, this bit falls under the heading “Warning about Pagan Influances”, or again, Do Not Be Yoked With Unbelievers. The problem here is that it breaks it up from the bits above it. Indeed, this section 6:14 through to 7:1 manages to show how dangerous even the Chapter numberings are. Here 7:1, still seems to be part of the previous text, but the chapter headings set it appart from the others.*
That asside, the context of the rest of the rest of the section does seem to be talking about the Corinthians and their dealings with other people. It says: Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. . This, obviously, is contradictory of the teachings of Jesus, where he tells us to go out to the people. (Famously the “healed have no need of a Physician”). Something that is often forgotten about the Letters is that they are written to people. They are designed for their intended recipients, and the Church in Corinth is belived to be one of the worst, full of the worst cases.
To me, this section reads more about dealings with people, not relationships. It is always important to read things in context at the time that paul was wrighting, the Chruch was being persecuted, and hunted for their beliefs. A Church like that in Corinth that does seem to be a bit .. lax.. in it’s opproach to Christianity, was probably also a bit open about things like Belife, and was probably likely to get it’self into a lot of trouble with the Authorities, or else to be used as an example by the authoroties as to why they should continue persecuting the Christians. A stark warning to be careful of people that don’t hold the same values as you do, to not trust them as one would trust a Christian would be a wise move for a man wanted by the Authoroties (St. Paul).
We must also remember that this is from the Second Letter to the Corinthians, where one is meant to already know the contents of the first letter. To that end, I would like to point a reader too
1 Corinthians 7 where Paul talks about how you can “save” the one you are married too. (I have heard about a practice of “Date Saving”. Where a beliver will date someone with the intention of bringing them to Christ. This, people, is nothing more than Trickery, and frankly a trick that should not be done by a Christian. Love is not something that should be trifled with). I am of the opinion that St Paul was very well meaning, and probably a good Orator, but the letters that we have of him miss a lot of the inflection that he would have put on things. We also need to remember that he was raised as a Jew, and the thoughts expressed here though compleatly out of step with modern life were natural, and considered “the norm” in his time.
I think that it’s unforgivable that this one line is used to subjugate Christians like that, especially in a way that seems to be dead against other teachings of Jesus. As one person pointed out in my Discussion Group, if God is Love, and God gave you the Gift of Love for that person, who are we to second guess him?
I hope that this helps, in some way, to readress some of the problems that are out there over this passage.
Yours,
Black Xanthus
* NOTE: It has occourd to me that the chapter headings could be indications of paragraphing in the original translations. I will need to look this up. I will also need to see if I can find a way to see the originial formatting of this section
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