I actually fully agree with you that the quotes - and really everything in the Bible - should be understood in its social and historical context. I think the tr

I actually fully agree with you that the quotes - and really everything in the Bible - should be understood in its social and historical context. I think the trouble arises when someone tries to take scripture out of the contexts and treat them as some kind of universal moral guideline. This is what I am protesting. The cultural contexts of Jesus and Paul (not to mention the many other authors in the Bible) are quite different and they have quite different agendas. If you try to combine them into a single message, you will gets lots of contradictions.