Source: Fishing the Abyss

Comments: Chris P. and Ken Silva both, within a short period of time, suggest the Jesus was trying to confuse people with his parables. Chris P. gives an awful exegesis (based upon a literalist hermeneutic which treats the Bible as if it fell out of the sky, disconnected from time and space) in a Slice thread giving the same faulty interpretation of the use of parables. Chris L. at Fishing then posts a proper interpretation of the synoptic passage in question and the Isaiah portion referred to in prophecy.
Memorable Quotes:

Person A will use one of Jesus’ parables, to which Person B – in order to avoid addressing Person A’s point – will quote Luke 8:9-10 (or a synoptic equivalent) and declare that we can’t know what Jesus meant, because Jesus told parables to hide the truth from people!

—

Source: Verum Serum

Comments: Slice (Ingrid, in particular) began having siezures in response to reports that some Christian college students are known to drink and smoke (in addition to the sun rising in the morning, and the sky being blue).  Scott and John give a bit more seasoned response to the situation, along with correcting some of Ingrid’s Victorian-era sensibilities.
Memorable Quotes:

A recent post over at Slice of Laodicea titled “On Hookahs, Emergents and Booze Aplenty” caught my attention a couple days ago. It begins by bemoaning the use of alcohol by students attending Christian colleges and seminaries, which I agree could be of concern (though I don’t know if all students who attend Christian schools of higher education and who also drink should be called “drunken sots” as they are in this post).

This Slice post then goes on to connect such behavior to the Emergent Church movement (of course…that particular devil is always hiding somewhere at Slice). The writer (Ingrid) lumps behaviors like drinking, smoking, etc together and then she sums everything up this way:

Some of us have looked at postmodern theology and wondered if it wasn’t crafted while under the influence of something. Perhaps now we’re getting a clearer picture. Frankly, this is disgusting. If these guys want to live like the world and the devil, do it. Don’t drag Jesus Christ into it. Take your choice but you can’t have both.

Obviously Ingrid’s opinion is that there is only one logical conclusion: anyone who drinks or smokes is living like the devil and couldn’t possibly be a “real” Christian. And of course her conclusion is based on exactly NOTHING from scripture. That’s right, there are exactly ZERO Biblical references to support the perspective that Ingrid and Slice want to advocate as being essential for being a real Christian, in this case that the use of alcohol and smoking are indicators of spiritual depravity.

—