Road to Tarsus

[jimi]

I am now converted .. after this **** summer and viewing the latest fuel pump prices.

Globa warming does not exist for me, and this friggin govt's revenue collection scheme is run by someone with less milk of human kindness than Heinrich Himmler

 

[sarabande]

as a chentleman and a scholar, you will not need reminding of the ferocious debates that arose in the early Christian church about treatment of converts, particularly in relation to cirumcision.

It's a fascinating story since the first Xn Council decree made circumcision an option, not a requirement. By way of riposte, the Judiac regulatory authority made it a compulsory act, in order to differentiate more strongly between the two religions. It is only in recent years that the surgical procedure has become the subject of much bitter debate within the Jewish community.

Within Islam, circumcision is fiercely encouraged, but it is not a Koranic requirement; it may also be carried out at any age up to puberty.

In the 60 and 70s in the Middle East, any conversion to Islam required the operation; in return for this a bounty of of at least 50000 dirhams was paid. This sum proved too attractive for a number of my UK teaching staff, who took the money and ran (or rather walked for a few days, afterwards). We had great difficulty in convincing some converts that apostasy was taken very seriously by some islamic clerics.

Now back to your tax collectors.....

 

[jhr]

Road to Damascus, shurely? St Paul came from Tarsus but his conversion was Damascene.

I thought Scottish schools were supposed to be better than English ones?

 

[jimi]

Ha ... you ignoramus .. do you think I'd be blinded by a Damascene moment ... no fear ... with this friggin weather we're all sitiing at home warming our bones before the fire .. instead of enjoying the drab dreich damp weather! Hence Tarsus .. the home of Saul aka Paul!