Well, since it was not meant literally but figuratively, I don't see much of a problem.
Ah, but was it?
Certainly I can understand the force of the directive as an illustration of the need to avoid sin. But, given that it is immediately followed by an explanation, it's much harder to interpret it as figurative.
"And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."
I assume that you'd agree with the second sentence, that it's better to lose a body part than to go to hell. Or perhaps you don't....
"Sane folk don't cut their hands off and hands don't sin."
True, but the quote doesn't say, "If your hand sins." It says, "If your hand causes you to sin."
In any event, for someone who only takes the Matthew injunction figuratively, this still leaves open the question posed upthread to ICANT, who seems to think that simply believing in christ is enough to get one into heaven. If that's the case, then how can that be reconciled with Matthew, which says, figuratively, that sinning will prevent one from getting into heaven?
Those who would sacrifice an essential liberty for a temporary security will lose both, and deserve neither. -- Benjamin Franklin
We see monsters where science shows us windmills. -- Phat
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