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Grace = (in Biblical context) undeserved favor, kindness, and love that God freely gives to humanity, especially regarding salvation.
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I recognize that a fundamental difference between conservative christianity and progressive christianity is believing that ‘The Bible’ is a document that can speak to all times rather than a text that was written to speak to a specific time and place, so what I am about to say wouldn’t be accepted by conservative christianity at large, but I’m going to say it anyway because it might still be food for thought for individual conservative or cusp christians.
Have you ever considered that perhaps the reason ‘fornication’ is warned against so heavily in ‘The Bible’ was because before comprehensive contraception, medical interventions for STIs, and safe/reliable abortion and birth care were widely available, the health risks of sex were significantly higher than they are today? That maybe the societal norm to denounce sex outside of marriage was more about preserving life than it was about an inherent immorality of sexual freedom?
Because when I stop to think about it, that makes sense to me.
Turn the Other Cheek
Here's a reason we all need to know about the cultural and historical context of our Bible. In Matthew 5:39 Jesus says if someone slaps you across the right cheek turn to him the left cheek also. He isn't talking about standing around and taking abuse until someone realizes what they are doing is wrong. He isn't even really talking about a non-violent approach to abuse (although that's part of it). We as twenty first century readers have lost some huge cultural context. Notice in almost every translation there is the specific "slaps you with his right hand". That's because there were very strict social rules about touching in ancient times. The right hand was okay to touch people with, but the left was not. The left hand was used for other business (lets just say they didn't have toilet paper) and you would disgrace yourself by touching someone with your left hand. Now let's talk about the physicality of the slap. He slaps you with his right hand across your right cheek that means he had to have backhanded you. That's the way you slap someone who is beneath you; not worthy of your time. If you turn to him your left cheek as Jesus suggests you force him to slap you open palmed. (Or with his left, but we already said he wouldn't disgrace himself this way). That is how you hit an equal. Jesus is saying force your enemy to hit you as an equal so that he and anyone else might see you as equal. Or he walks away and the violence stops. But if walks away it will be because he knows hitting you as an equal is not something he is willing to do. Jesus is talking about a radical change to society on such a small level. Just by having your enemies see you as a person is half the battle won.
The most meaningful thing about the Christmas story to me is how many privileged white people are willing to listen to and empathize with the story of a poor unwed teenage Jewish Palestinian refugee mother and her child when they have been primed to identify with them. This gives me hope that, if we continue to do our part in creating a world that re-centers the stories of the marginalized and the oppressed, we will create a world that increasingly values those stories and those peoples. And, as a christian - a member of a group who is defined by their dedication to follow the teachings of that poor Jewish Palestinian refugee baby born to an unwed teenage mother (who was clearly a more-than-capable parent because she raised a child with a moral compass so many feel is worth emulating), I feel that a central part my christian practice is to name and dismantle the barriers to creating that world.
I find it interesting when conservative christians refer to ‘The Bible’, as a whole, as “the word of God” in a literal, rather than a colloquial, sense because
1) whole books of ‘The Bible’ are explicitly named after the men who are believed to have written them - so the construction of the text itself is an attestation to the fact that it is largely the words of men, not God
2) the writers of ‘The Bible’ are generally pretty clear about when they are quoting things God said, when they are quoting things Jesus said, when they are recounting stories, and when they are describing religious/societal laws and/or norms.
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Have you ever wondered why Jesus chose fishermen? Before we meet Peter, I found myself asking a different question. Not who Peter was, but what kind of world shaped him long before he ever stepped away from his boat. This week, we're leaving the bayous of South Louisiana and traveling to the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Together we'll explore the cold waters, the rugged landscape, the close-knit fishing villages, and the ordinary men whose lives revolved around the lake. The more I studied Andrew, the more I realized I couldn't truly understand Peter until I first understood the fishermen. I hope you'll come along on the journey. **Read: "The Fishermen of the Sea of Galilee"** As always, thank you for reading and walking through Scripture with me. Blessings, All About You https://wp.me/p9vUsN-3WB
Understanding Jesus Through The Gospel Of John
Understanding Jesus Through the Gospel of John When I look at John 1:1, I can’t help but notice that the translators had an opportunity to clear up something important, but they didn’t. In the Greek, John uses the definite article “the” in front of the first use of the word God, but he leaves it off the second time. That matters. In Greek, when the article is present, it points to a specific…
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If church sounds like a corporate town hall, that’s not progress. The gospel doesn’t need a rebrand. Faith isn’t a slogan. And clarity still matters. Here’s why understanding, not vibes, is what actually changes lives.
