Thoughts and Prayers: The Religion Thread

Not sure. I use male pronouns out of habit.

 

as it relates to Christianity, yes.

 

because it was a column.

Lots of good stuff in there. All true.

of course the most radical thing about Christ is that he said he was son of God, the only way to God, and outside of Christ, there is no reconciliation with God. The reason his teaching is so radically different is because he’s Immanuel, God among us. Christians are in reverent awe of that.

How’s it get twisted? Because we’re human. Because the church struggles to be the church unto itself and worries too much about the world at large.

 

Yes it is true, as it was true in 1720.

Gordon Wood wrote a book about the radicalism of the American Revolution, one for the 'duh' file. So was this editorial.

Christ was not conservative. That might be the biggest lie we've been told for the last 40 years or so.

 

Point of the piece was not that Jesus was a radical.

Point of the piece was that American Christians have forgotten Jesus was a radical.

ie,

First-century Christians weren’t prepared for what a truly radical and radically inclusive figure Jesus was, and neither are today’s Christians. We want to tame and domesticate who he was, but Jesus’ life and ministry don’t really allow for it. He shattered barrier after barrier.

 

Ditto Judaism and Islam.

 

Unfortunately, not enough people do treat everyone as they would want to be treated.

My problem with Write's post wasn't the spectrum of sexuality. I've seen that idea before and I'm not arguing with it.

My issue was the comparison of homosexuality to alcoholism. Given some of her previous posts, I didn't think the benefit of the doubt was warranted.

 

American Christians today have forgotten, yes, some of these things.

Mostly what they’ve forgotten is that he’s God. Once you dismiss his divinity, he’s just another teacher whose words you can and pick and choose to your liking.

 

... that he's God, or that he's a Jew forevermore?

 

This paragraph really hit on today of all days.

"Jesus’ teachings are so challenging, so distinct from normal human reactions and behaviors, that we constantly have to renew our commitment to them. Every generation of Christians need to think through how his example applies to the times in which they live. We need our sensibilities to align more with his. Otherwise, we drift into self-righteousness and legalism, even to the point that we corrupt the very institution, the church, which was created to worship him and to love others."

 

You built this country on the foundation of me, a Jew ... a Jew who's every bit the American that you are ... yet I've always felt like an outsider and especially during the lead-up to Christmas.

 

I can't speak for Islam, but not quite on Judaism. God is entirely non-physical and thus non-gendered. We talk about Him in the masculine because in Hebrew grammar all nouns are gendered - A table is male but a bed is female. Most names for are male nouns. That certainly plays a role in the symbolism, but it's not exclusive. There is a name (or at least a way of referring to Him) that's a feminine noun, and Jewish mysticism goes to town on the feminine element of God. God is referred to as both the father and the mother of humanity.