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Bill O'Reilly touts Bishop Spong's new book (one claim in the book: St Paul was closeted gay)
amazon ^ | Ap 05 | Jack Spong

Posted on 04/12/2005 11:19:52 PM PDT by churchillbuff

O'Reilly has written a dustjacket blurb for Bishop Spong's new book: "The Sins of Scripture challenges Christians to look beyond the myths of their faith into the heart of the matter." I also got an email from a Spong-promoting outfit that says O'Reilly will have Spong on his show.

Here's the Publishers Weekly review on amazon:

Spong, a retired Episcopal bishop and prominent spokesperson for liberal Christianity, focuses this book on "terrible texts" which have been used to justify such "sins" as overbreeding, degradation of the environment, sexism, child abuse and anti-Semitism. These biblical texts, according to Spong, are not the incontrovertible Word of God, but flawed human responses to perceived threats. An incendiary example of this is Spong's assertion that Paul was a closeted gay man whose anti-gay statements were motivated by little more than his own self-loathing. Spong does not stop there; in the course of the book he suggests that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married; that none of the supernatural events described in the Bible took place (including the resurrection); and that theism itself is a misunderstanding of God. Interestingly, readers who do not endorse Spong's radical reinterpretation of Christianity will still find much in this book they can affirm. His explanation of the roots of Christian anti-Semitism is fascinating and much less challenging to orthodoxy than many of his other claims. Unfortunately, Spong leads with his weakest section, which features a variety of poorly constructed arguments claiming, but giving inadequate evidence for, a strong causal relationship between biblical injunctions and both overpopulation and environmental problems. Nonetheless, this absorbing book has much to offer readers of all persuasions.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: bishopspong; bookreview; endoftheage; homosexualagenda; oreilly; religiousleft; sinsofscripture; sodomite; spong
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To: durasell
Wow I admire you. Disagree but admire you. I like you and just because I do, I brought this over:
41 posted on 04/13/2005 12:28:16 AM PDT by cyborg (Feel the FReeper Love)
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To: tame

In speaking of his immortal soul, he'll not have fallen through the ice until he's died, as I understand it.


42 posted on 04/13/2005 12:28:19 AM PDT by Petronski (I thank God Almighty for a most remarkable blessing: John Paul the Great.)
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To: tame

BTW, I don't understand how any Christian could remain in the Episcopal church these days..


43 posted on 04/13/2005 12:28:52 AM PDT by k2blader (Immorality bites.)
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To: Texas_Jarhead
He isn't exactly an orthodox Catholic if that is the correct term.

That's the correct term, and on the whole, what BOR is saying is a
grotesquely distorted understanding of Roman Catholic dogma.

44 posted on 04/13/2005 12:30:29 AM PDT by Petronski (I thank God Almighty for a most remarkable blessing: John Paul the Great.)
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To: rudyudy

According to BOR there is some tenet by which people are saved by works. He has mentioned it by name a couple of times but I havent ever been able to comprehend what he said.


45 posted on 04/13/2005 12:30:29 AM PDT by Texas_Jarhead (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1366853/)
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To: Petronski; tame

A person like Spong has a very hard heart. He's very deceived, so deceived it's sad. Only a 100,000 volt ZOT from God wakes up these people. I pity him and actually am afraid for anyone related to him because sometimes innocent people suffer for someone's disobedience (like King David's little baby).


46 posted on 04/13/2005 12:30:49 AM PDT by cyborg (Feel the FReeper Love)
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To: cyborg

I saw an interview once on TV with a nun who worked in Sunset Park. She provided family services, etc. She said something that always stuck with me, something to the effect of, "I never judge the people I work with. We're all born broken and look to God to make us whole."

I really liked that attitude.


47 posted on 04/13/2005 12:31:43 AM PDT by durasell (Friends are so alarming, My lover's never charming...)
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To: Petronski
In speaking of his immortal soul, he'll not have fallen through the ice until he's died, as I understand it.

It seems more correct to say that all men have fallen through the ice, but they may be saved if they grab the lifeline before they die.

48 posted on 04/13/2005 12:31:50 AM PDT by tame (Frist and Cheney are WRONG--Tom Delay is RIGHT!)
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To: All

Anybody catch o'reilley sucking up to al sharpton tonight? Pretty pathetic even for the bloviator.


49 posted on 04/13/2005 12:31:58 AM PDT by ozzymandus
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To: tame

True enough. I won't bicker. My 'ice' was faith in Jesus as He is revealed in the Gospel.


50 posted on 04/13/2005 12:33:19 AM PDT by Petronski (I thank God Almighty for a most remarkable blessing: John Paul the Great.)
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To: k2blader
BTW, I don't understand how any Christian could remain in the Episcopal church these days.

A lot of Christians might go there to evangelize, lol :o)

51 posted on 04/13/2005 12:33:21 AM PDT by tame (Frist and Cheney are WRONG--Tom Delay is RIGHT!)
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To: ozzymandus

Let me guess. He really believes Al Sharpton didn't cheat on his taxes right!


52 posted on 04/13/2005 12:33:58 AM PDT by cyborg (Feel the FReeper Love)
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To: cyborg
Only a 100,000 volt ZOT from God wakes up these people. I pity him...

I agree with all of it, but this part is especially good.

53 posted on 04/13/2005 12:34:28 AM PDT by Petronski (I thank God Almighty for a most remarkable blessing: John Paul the Great.)
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To: durasell

I understand.


54 posted on 04/13/2005 12:36:45 AM PDT by cyborg (Feel the FReeper Love)
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To: cyborg

Tawana lost the quarterly tax deposit.


55 posted on 04/13/2005 12:36:50 AM PDT by Petronski (I thank God Almighty for a most remarkable blessing: John Paul the Great.)
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To: durasell
My perception -- just my perception -- is that he feels the text divinely inspired but secondary to a person's own "relationship" to God.

Well, the above article seems to imply that the Bible is not only not true, it's detrimental. The problem with a person's own "relationship" to God, is there is no objective criteria. Charles Manson, for example, had his own ideas about his own personal relationship with God, and without objective criteria, how can anyone say it is less valid than another?

56 posted on 04/13/2005 12:37:47 AM PDT by nickcarraway (I'm Only Alive, Because a Judge Hasn't Ruled I Should Die...)
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To: cyborg

Kinda like that. He called Rev. Al a "standup guy", and said that whoever "leaked" this story was the real bad guy.


57 posted on 04/13/2005 12:39:04 AM PDT by ozzymandus
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To: ozzymandus

Wow how sad. those of us that live in NY know what a BS artist Sharpton is.


58 posted on 04/13/2005 12:41:25 AM PDT by cyborg (Feel the FReeper Love)
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To: nickcarraway

It's a free country. People can and should believe whatever they want (just as long as they don't annoy me). Faith is a highly personal kind of deal, but I'm always wary of those who claim to know God's will. Mostly because right after telling you that they either:

A)Want to persecute some poor slob or group of poor slobs.
B)Ask for money.


59 posted on 04/13/2005 12:42:45 AM PDT by durasell (Friends are so alarming, My lover's never charming...)
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To: churchillbuff

I'm so tired of so called "scholars" proclaiming that certain biblical figures and great men of history were gay!
Paul was gay, Abe was gay.....and these men aren't around to defend themselves. It's as if these "authors" are trying to bring these people down to their own degenerate level. How sick.
And shame on you, Bill. I thought you were a reasonably intelligent person. Boy was I wrong.


60 posted on 04/13/2005 12:42:50 AM PDT by derllak
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