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Igel

(37,559 posts)
2. Doesn't need to be a commandment.
Thu Jul 10, 2025, 07:49 PM
Jul 2025

At least not in some churches.

Fundamentals of Belief and doctrinal documents might clarify--assuming that they actually follow them in detail. E.g., the Catholic Church bans abortion, but a lot of Catholics have no issue with the practice.

I stay out of interdenominational interpretation issues unless I'm willing to do some pretty heavy lifting and "get into the mindset" of a common parishioner, with some idea as to the range of laxity in enforcement and acceptance of a given teaching. (I mean, officially the Methodist Church, at least the UMC, still regards the Noble Experiment as a good thing. I'm not sure all flavors of Methodism do, or all members of the UMC. Most of us call "the Noble Experiment" by another name, "Prohibition.&quot

When I was a teen, my almost-girlfriend (later actual girlfriend) told me, in no uncertain terms, that the Puritans kept Saturday as their sabbath. My girlfriend's family did, the Puritan's held their Sabbath in high regard and enforced compliance with Sabbath church attendance. But the Puritan Sabbath was Sunday, hardly the 7th day of the week. From inside her bubble, the word had one meaning. I hate being in bubbles.

One evangelical (R) senator or representative was accused of incredible hypocrisy--he had a gambling problem and severe gambling debt. But gambling is a sin! Except that if you checked what his denomination actually preached, no, no it wasn't. He was an addict, but gambling in and of itself was perfectly okay, so the hypocrisy was incredible in the sense of not capable of being believed because it was simply not in existence. At least on that point.

Unless you know what's up, viewing a group and its motives and beliefs from the outside is far, far too easily distorted in weirdly curved mirrors.

So unless I'm prepared to do a deep dive into a denomination's teachings--we're not talking 5 minutes on Google, but at least a weekend with 8 hours a day, and that confined to a narrow issue or two--just no.

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