[GJones2]

> ...he promoted some strange ideas that had no Scriptural basis (like cutting one’s nards off ... which he did latter admit was a bad idea... ).

Not that I’m recommending it, but there’s Mark 9:47, “And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire” — different part, small basic idea. The preceding verses mention the hand and foot.

[GJones2]

“small basic idea” should be “same basic idea”

[El Cid]

Re: 9

Yes, he took those verses from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5), as well as Mark, but he should have easily understood the Lord wasn't preaching self-slicing. Lust for women (not their wives) is a common affliction/sin of heterosexual men. The admonishment was to purge this sin nature from the inside through prayer and help of the Holy Spirit. Not to hack off body members... The Sermon on the Mount was to change the focus from the flesh and to expose our spiritual sins. I.e., lust for a woman not your wife being equivalent to adultery in God's eyes; anger against a brother without a cause being equivalent to murder, and so on...

So I understand Mr. Origen's Scriptural interpretation -- but he had to ignore the context of the Sermon on the Mount which exhorted the listener to focus on the Spiritual and less so on the flesh. One shouldn't rip Scripture out of its context.

[Boogieman]

Yes, but you have to read those verses metaphorically, since we know that evil doesn’t originate in our hands, or feet, or even in our testicles, so cutting them off will do nothing to correct the situation:

20And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. 21“For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, 22deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. 23“All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”

Mark 7:20-23

[what's up]

Sounds like Origen at times may have allegorized when literal interpretation was called for and made literal some passages that were meant to be allegorical.

Speaking on his behalf, Origen's work in making the Old Testament acceptable to the Church was inestimable.