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omorkaOkay, I think I found out why the Christian "don't let your babies grow up to be Goths" list was so flipped out about self-cutting.
In other words, the Canaanite Pagans did it, and therefore the Hebrews shouldn't, not because it was inherently wrong but as one of their "people set apart" things. That means (a) it was part of the Ceremonial Law, which most modern or postmodern Christians should see as repealed by Christ's sacrifice, but (b) Christian Reconstructionists and their allies tend to follow Paul's inherent distaste for anything that once was done by any pagan people in any context that could even loosely be considered religious.
I wonder why the chapter-and-verse cite wasn't given, though . . . I mean, it's right after a passage condemning other things mentioned in the article, such as divination and "worshipping other gods" in general (and prescribing the usual death penalty for them). Maybe it's because the next one is one of the ones forbidding bulled pork barbecue, crawfish boils, and cheeseburgers.
Deut. 14:1-2 You are children of Yahweh your God. You must not gash yourselves or shave your foreheads for the dead. For you are a people consecrated to Yahweh your God, and Yahweh has chosen you to be his own people from all the peoples on the Earth. (New Jerusalem Translation)
In other words, the Canaanite Pagans did it, and therefore the Hebrews shouldn't, not because it was inherently wrong but as one of their "people set apart" things. That means (a) it was part of the Ceremonial Law, which most modern or postmodern Christians should see as repealed by Christ's sacrifice, but (b) Christian Reconstructionists and their allies tend to follow Paul's inherent distaste for anything that once was done by any pagan people in any context that could even loosely be considered religious.
I wonder why the chapter-and-verse cite wasn't given, though . . . I mean, it's right after a passage condemning other things mentioned in the article, such as divination and "worshipping other gods" in general (and prescribing the usual death penalty for them). Maybe it's because the next one is one of the ones forbidding bulled pork barbecue, crawfish boils, and cheeseburgers.
