Hello Mr Moreledge. I didn’t mean that to sound like it should never be prescriptive, but simply not always. The situation I specifically had in mind was another question being discussed here now on another thread, namely the one titled Do you believe women can be preachers/pastors? There, the scripture being cited as prescribing a restricted role for women in churches seemed as though it may merely be describing the role of women at those times in those cultures rather than as directing what women should or shouldn’t do in churches today.
In fairness, I should tell you that while I’m interested in Christianity, I’m not one myself. While I value books I’ve never placed that kind of reliance on the written word. I don’t mean that as a criticism but simply to explain why I am sometimes surprised how quickly discussions go from what and why one of us think what we do to whether or not the Bible supports ones position. My naive, outsider impression is that if God was anything like a good parent, He would want to foster more self reliance than that.
I never want to divert a discussion from where you need or want it to go. But I do appreciate it when some of you help me to understand the differences. I’m not shopping for a religion but I do have a lot of respect for what it is which supports God belief and want to be an ally.