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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Author: AC21DOJ2 Ordered by Date |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | No guilt in women cutting their hair? | 1 Cor 11:5 | AC21DOJ2 | 70173 | ||
The issue you raise is a great example of the need for careful interpretation of the Bible. Simply put, a given practice in the Bible is either descriptive or prescriptive. If it is descriptive, then we today are not under any obligation to adopt the practice. A good example here might be John the Baptist. He was dressed like a wild man, lived outdoors, and ate wild honey and locusts. With few exceptions, we are not called to live that way today. We can, however, draw some valuable PRINCIPLES from John's lifestyle. For example: 1) we, like John, are to be set apart to the Lord, 2) we, like John, are called to preach repentance, not reform and, 3) we, like John, should be willing to give up personal comforts in order to reach people with God's message. Prescriptive practices are those that are not culturally bound and are to be adopted by every generation of believers. A good example here might be the greatest commandment and its near cousin: love God with every ounce of your being, and value others as much as you value yourself (my paraphrase of Mark 12:30-31). How can we tell which biblical practices are descriptive and which are prescriptive? Aaahhh, that is the million dollar question! The short answer is: through diligent Bible study. This is where good study Bibles, Bible dictionaries, Bible encyclopedia, etc. can be worth their weight in gold. (For a listing of some Bible reference resources that I have found very helpful, please visit http://shakinandshinin.org/Resources.html) Is the 1 Corinthians passage dealing with women cutting their hair descriptive or prescriptive? Knowing for sure calls for some serious digging. So break out the shovel and the pick ax. And as you dig, try to answer the basic inductive questions: Who, What, When, Where, and Why. Even if the practice is not prescriptive, there are still a number of excellent PRINCIPLES to be gleaned from the dig! A Century 21 Disciple of Jesus |
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2 | Man is considered to be what to God? | Gen 1:26 | AC21DOJ2 | 70170 | ||
Not sure exactly what you are looking for here, but one possible answer is "a[n] image-bearer." Genesis 1:26-27 reads: "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them" (NASB). There is quite a bit of debate regarding exactly what it means for us to have been created in the image of God. However, the context seems to suggest such themes as community and ruling or government. |
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