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From: hammond@petrus.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.religion.christian
Subject: Re: MOTSS (more of the same stuff?)
Message-ID: <266@petrus.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 21-Jan-85 07:52:50 EST
Article-I.D.: petrus.266
Posted: Mon Jan 21 07:52:50 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 22-Jan-85 06:23:30 EST
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> > ...
> > 
> > If it IS sinful, it was ranked along with slander, gossipping, and
> > similar sins which aren't culturally marked as sins any more...

Don't forget, all the New Testament writings were from the members of
a minority (Christianity was NOT the major religion of the roman empire)
sect.  homosexuality, slander, gossipping, and such were probably not
considered "sins" by the greek or roman culture of the time.  The
christian writers were calling for higher standards of conduct than the
culturally acceptable level.

This is to clear up the common misconception that people have that
Christianity has ALWAYS been the dominant religion in the West.
It had a very small (percentage wise) following during the period in
which all the New Testament was written.  In fact, I trace the decline
of Christianity to the day when it became the "state religion."

Rich Hammond (allegra | decvax) !bellcore!hammond