Biblical Hebrew Forum

["K Randolph" <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Dear Kevin:
This response is what makes discussions sometimes most interesting. This
response was almost opposite of my intent.

Had those people who founded DH lived in the U.S., they most likely would
not have been members of any church at all, but would have been recognized
for the pagans they were. At that time, churches in the U.S. were for the
most part independent of the government and membership was voluntary.

However, they lived in Europe where in most countries it was almost
impossible to get a university position or often any other work without
having to belong to a state church, and so they were nominal Christians to
get the benefits that accrued from that membership.

This was not intended to comment on the majority of the people at that time
who attended state churches.

Karl W. Randolph.

On Jan 30, 2008 2:19 PM, Kevin Riley <klriley AT alphalink.com.au> wrote:

>
>
> -------Original Message-------
>
> From: K Randolph
> Date: 31/01/2008 4:27:47 AM
>
>
>
> Those who developed DH were not real Christians, but members of the state
> churches, therefore nominal Christians.
>
> **********************
> Is this not painting with a very broad brush?  I doubt the assumption that
> all members of state churches are "nominal Christians" would stand up to
> scrutiny.  Just how would you identify a "real Christian"?  I am not
> convinced that the "genuineness" of a person's religious claims really has
> anything to do with their ability to formulate a workable hypothesis on
> the
> Hebrew text and its history.  So, apart perhaps from the chance to insult
> a
> large number [in fact, the majority] of Christians, what is the purpose of
> your argument?
>
> Kevin Riley
>
>