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Aug. 3rd, 2004 08:33 pmIt's muggy. I was feeling restless during work.
Good news: I found a job in my major.
Bad news: Being hit with an old wireless bill means I won't be able to save money. Oh, and how the hell did I spend too much in one weekend? At least I am paying the credit cards a little bit.
Stuff I never realized about the NT
"Okay, this whole "turn the other cheek" thing has been completely misunderstood for eons and it is plain to see that the misinterpretation lives on in spades.
If you read the text exactly, Jesus says, "...if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also..." Matthew 5:19, RSV
Note how specific he is - "the right cheek." Middle Eastern custom dictates that the left hand is never to be used to touch another person. So a strike to the right cheek would have to be a back-handed blow. Hebrew law allowed backhanded blows if the person doing the striking was of a higher social standing than the person being struck.
In other words, a rich man could backhand a poor man and it was all legal. And the poor man could not fight back.
Law also dictated that a person could not backhand an equal. You could only strike an equal with your fist. And your equal could hit back.
Jesus is clearly talking to the poor. He is saying to them, "if some rich hotshot backhands you, you look at them and show them the other cheek and tell them to hit you there."
This puts the rich man on the defensive. He must either back down, or strike with the fist, thereby elevating the social status of the poor man and allowing him to fight back.
All this serves to point out how tricky it is to interpret 2000 year old texts. And to show what a cool guy Jesus really was. Definitely in your face...thekeez"
P Unit's "Generic Rap Song" is funny.
Good news: I found a job in my major.
Bad news: Being hit with an old wireless bill means I won't be able to save money. Oh, and how the hell did I spend too much in one weekend? At least I am paying the credit cards a little bit.
Stuff I never realized about the NT
"Okay, this whole "turn the other cheek" thing has been completely misunderstood for eons and it is plain to see that the misinterpretation lives on in spades.
If you read the text exactly, Jesus says, "...if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also..." Matthew 5:19, RSV
Note how specific he is - "the right cheek." Middle Eastern custom dictates that the left hand is never to be used to touch another person. So a strike to the right cheek would have to be a back-handed blow. Hebrew law allowed backhanded blows if the person doing the striking was of a higher social standing than the person being struck.
In other words, a rich man could backhand a poor man and it was all legal. And the poor man could not fight back.
Law also dictated that a person could not backhand an equal. You could only strike an equal with your fist. And your equal could hit back.
Jesus is clearly talking to the poor. He is saying to them, "if some rich hotshot backhands you, you look at them and show them the other cheek and tell them to hit you there."
This puts the rich man on the defensive. He must either back down, or strike with the fist, thereby elevating the social status of the poor man and allowing him to fight back.
All this serves to point out how tricky it is to interpret 2000 year old texts. And to show what a cool guy Jesus really was. Definitely in your face...thekeez"
P Unit's "Generic Rap Song" is funny.
