THIS IS SO ACCURATE No seriously. This is why I have a hard time with politics. Because I am simultaneously conservative and liberal. Walking paradox, just like my Man Jesus.
@i-dont-know-how-to-love-him I know the feeling. As I say: “If your God condones 100% and only the exact same things that your political group does and espouses, then either your political group consists of archangels or your God is too small.”
I don’t like the phrase “God is in control” or “God has a plan”. It makes it seem like every bad thing that happens is from God, is part of “His plan” or whatever, which ultimately makes God seem like a pretty horrible being. Recently, though, I found myself thinking about the phrase “God will know what to do”, and I realised, that’s it. That’s how the disparity between God caring about our lives and bad things happening gets mended. Bad things happen in the world. As Jesus says, “in this world, you will have trouble…” . Bad things happening were always hard for me to accept because why does God let some things happen but stops others? How can God be good if he stops some bad things but lets some through his filter?
But when a bad thing happens, God has a solution. You get cancer? He helps you get through chemo. He puts people in your life who can help you through it. He turns it into a way for you to grow and learn. He knows what to do. You lose your job? He’ll help you figure out your next step and bring good out of it (He’s great at doing that). He will know what to do. You get your heart broken? He helps you realise things about yourself and learn important lessons from it. For every bad thing in this world, He has a solution, even if it’s not immediate. Covid-19 happens? He equips scientists to find a vaccine and governments to make decisions to protect us in the mean time. Yes, people die, but even death, the ultimate evil of this world, He has an ultimate fix for in eternal life later on. I don’t know why God stops some things but not others, but I do know that he cares about us, and that He doesn’t send bad things to us. Yes he lets trouble happen in this world, but He has a solution to that trouble. There’s a second part to the verse: “But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
(I know this question makes zero sense from a theological standpoint but hear me out, I swear it’s interesting)
In the times of Jesus, there were many Jewish prophets wandering the land. They managed to accumulate a following by performing miracles and preaching. These movements were based on the charisma of the leader, and so, when the leader died, the movement usually dissolved on its own.
A few years after starting his predication, Jesus was arrested in Jerusalem and crucified: it was the humiliating death of a criminal accused of rebellion. This would have been interpreted by many as a definite proof that Jesus was not, in fact, sent by God.
At this point, belief in Christ would have been very likely to disappear. But it didn’t. In the contrary, faith in Jesus grew (to about 7500 followers at the end of the 1st century).
So,why didn’t belief in Jesus disappear after Jesus’ death ?
- Jesus had recruted a group of close disciples, heavily motivated to spread his message, who were extremely intelligent and competent. Even after his death, they kept on preaching and recruted more believers.
- His death didn’t necessarily render his message obsolete. Many Jewish prophets preached the victory of a certain rebellion for example. When the rebellion was crushed by the Roman army, their message was evidently obsolete. Jesus didn’t preach political rebellion, but forgiveness and the imminent end of times. After his death, his followers could argue that his death was necessary (as prophesied in Jewish scriptures) and that his message of forgiveness remained valid until the end of times.
-A progressive opening firstly towards Hellenic Jews (Jews of the Diaspora, who didn’t live in Israel but in other countries around the Mediterranean world, and spoke Greek as their primary language)
-An even more radical opening towards Gentiles - non-Jews - who were thought by some (but not all) to be included in Jesus’ message
- The very tense alliance of two very distinct groups inside early Christianity: people who believed that only those following the Law of Moses could benefit from the forgiveness that Jesus promised, and those who believed that his message was also directed towards the Gentiles, who should not be asked to follow the Law upon conversion
This alliance was to be fundamental to Christianity’s success: thanks to this alliance, early Christianity didn’t cut ties with Judaism (and therefore benefitted from the legitimating influence of Jewish scriptures) while making itself incredibly more attractive to Gentiles (who didn’t have to follow the Law - and therefore didn’t have to completely abandon their previous social relationships due to Judaism’s heavy standards on purity).
- They managed to surmount the disappointment of the end of times not arriving. Complex phenomenon, but basically, the imminence of the Kingdom of God - a very important theme in the teaching of Jesus and the early Apostles - was progressively “spiritualised”, turned into metaphor of earthly spiritual life. The Kingdom of God wasn’t coming, so each and everyone had to enter the Kingdom of God on Earth, by converting and participating in the Church.
-The progressive marginalisation of heterodox groups challenging the authority of the proto-orthodoxy. Marcionites, Gnostics, and Montanists eventually saw their influence decline and eventually disappeared, not really because they lost on the theological side, but because their theological positions often inevitably lead them to marginalisation. For example, some Gnostics refused to have children, so no more of the divine being would be trapped in physical matter. Marcionites actively condemned Jewish scriptures, the Law of Moses and many texts which were very respected at the time, including many of the texts which would later be part of the official canon.
-The progressive rise of mono-bishops. Churches originally controlled by assemblies of important men of the community tended more and more to be controlled by only one bishop. This man had the authority to impose orthodoxy and turn belief in Jesus away from charismatic preaching into institutions that were made to last.
-The constitution of a canon of recognized texts, which became the New Testament. This wasn’t a simple process. Many different texts, and therefore many different “memories” of Jesus were excluded by this canon. Therefore, the image given of Jesus in the New Testament is far from being simple and univocal: for example, Matthew’s Jesus strongly advocates for strict adherence to the Law, while Paul’s Jesus considered that strict adherence to the Law was useless, and that it never granted anybody salvation. Still, early Church theologians, most notably Irénée de Lyon, worked to reconcile these texts, and managed to create a somewhat coherent picture of Jesus and his message - therefore setting down the basis for Christianity.
Source: Enrico Norelli, La nascità del cristianesimo, Bologna, 2014
The earliest depiction of the Crucifixion, a 2nd century graffiti meant as an insult towards Christians.The Greek text reads “Alexamenos worships God”.
spending a year in theology has made me develop such an extreme dislike of the institutional church that im just swinging back into folklore because what this freak show really needs is to remember we are dust and to dust we shall return
Søren Kierkegaard, from Kierkegaard’s Journals and Notebooks, Volume 1
Text ID: One must fist learn to know oneself before knowing anything else (γνωϑισ σεαυτον). Only when the person has inwardly understood himself, and then sees the way forward on his path, does his life acquire repose and meaning; only then is he free
Søren Kierkegaard, from Kierkegaard’s Journals and Notebooks, Volume 1
Text ID: It is a question of understanding my own destiny, of seeing what the Deity really wants me to do; the thing is to find a truth which is truth for me, to find the idea for which I am willing to live and die.
I’m realizing more and more how much my theology was forged in the furnace of dominant westernized thought and how easily the wax scaffolding of that doctrine melts under scrutiny.
If Scripture is from the East, told in eastern oral tradition, and spoke against the western trappings of materialism and expansion: how much of my faith was stripped of its eastern roots and baptized in manifest destiny?
Looking back on the textbooks I read in my SBC seminary, they’re all by one demographic. Yes, we can learn from anyone. But the lack of diverse voices meant my faith was squeezed by a narrow lens. Not timeless at all.
In 1807, British missionaries made a “Slave Bible” that removed chunks of Scripture like the book of Exodus. They were afraid it would incite rebellion among enslaved Africans. Much of our theology is still taught this way: ignoring the parts that would inspire the oppressed and shake those in power.
How much did I miss by being raised in a constricted, breathless, imperialized faith that was the “only way”? How much has the church today limited God’s imagination?
I’ve heard often, “Because the Bible says so.” Okay, but whose interpretation? Yours? Mine? From the era of the Crusades? When they were burning people at the stake? When it was used to support slavery? What if we have different conclusions? What if we’re both wrong?
When someone says, “I disagree with your theology,” they’re saying, “I disagree with your interpretation of theology based on my interpretation of theology.” So where did it come from? Trace it back and it’s always from a person. With a tiny brain like yours and mine.
If my opinion is always matching up with my interpretation, I’m carving God into my own image. Then I am not in dialogue with God, but manipulating a robot-idol to do my bidding and to turn off at my convenience. I’m only colluding with myself as my own accomplice to maintain the power I want to keep.
One thing I know is clear. Jesus said plainly: I must love people. Especially the wounded and oppressed. There’s no equivocation or wavering there. How it looks will differ, but that it must happen cannot. Where Christ is, I want to be too.
If you think we can “agree to disagree” on theology so easily, I have to tell you about my old friend “Don.”
Don was a pastor who told me satan was using me. I was eager to believe Don because I didn’t want satan using me. In my impressionable young mind, I tried hard to get on his good side.
Don was the type of guy in constant lecture mode. Always condescending. But his theology only made that worse.
Here’s when I knew it was all wrong.
At the church Don was working at, a student took his own life. The lead pastor told the staff, “This is the biggest attack on our church from satan we’ve ever faced.” The student’s suicide was “spiritual warfare” against the church. Don believed that completely.
I still would’ve done anything for him. I did. I listened to Don lecture me for hours and trash talk every pastor in town and he confided in me his own deepest heartbreaks, though he never listened to mine. And even then, I was put on his list anyway: the list of people being used by satan. I feel a deep shame about all of it. Part of me still wonders, “Is Don right? Am I being used by satan?”
Don’s story of spiritual abuse is mild compared to so many stories I’ve heard over the years. My sad suspicion is that if it were not for his theology, we might still be friends.
I say that to say: Your theology matters.
If your theology demonizes others so much that even their suicide is called an attack from the devil, then hey: you are the devil. It’s you. You can go straight back to hell with that theology. Or throw it out and start over.
I know I’ve gotten it wrong too. But what I know is that if my faith ever compels me to erase someone’s dignity, then Scripture has become my weapon and not a mirror to check myself. It is a no longer a home for connecting with God, but a throne in my own image.
If your faith makes you a jerk, then what is it even for? If you harm others in the name of Jesus, in the end the only name you’re dragging is yours.
I believe that Scripture must move us to a theology of compassion, accountability, to be wildly kind. Otherwise it is not the life that Jesus had in mind. Christ is for the wounded. This is where I will be too.
I got a question DM’d to me by someone asking about the messiah/Moshiach ben David within Judaism, and given the massive differences between the theological conception of a/the messiah between Judaism and Christianity I thought the topic merited its own post!
Because given the way our cultural understandings of words like “messiah” were shaped by Christianity in the west, it’s easy to think, “Oh, Jews believe in a messiah too, they just don’t think Jesus was the one, but it’s not so different.”
So team, let’s roll up our sleeves and dig into Jewish theologies around a messiah and the differences between Judaism and Christianity in that regard.
So this is a little strange but whatevs….so my best friend and I were driving to get food and we somehow got on the topic of heaven and hell and I was gonna explaining to her how I don’t think hell is some giant inferno or some dark hole. I actually believe that hell is your worst nightmare, like one of my biggest fears our birds and wasps so say I was a really bad person eternal torment for me would be constantly being chased by said creatures or something along those lines…my bestie at this point agrees with me and goes even further to say that heavens probably the same way, your greatest dream is waiting for you when you die, I turned to her with the most serious face in the world and was like so when I die I just get to be surround by all my Tom’s suffice to say she just shook her head at me.
Almost nothing is known about Julian of Norwich, a fourteenth-century woman mystic who lived in isolation in Norwich, England. All we know about her life is that she experienced visions, which she wrote about in her only written work, Revelations of Divine Love. The really earthshaking thing about this book, though, is that in Julian’s theology, God is not male. Instead, God contains and expresses all genders. These days, many liberal churches are moving towards gender-neutral or gender-inclusive language when they talk about God, but keep in mind that this work wasn’t written in the present day: Julian lived in a time when accepted Christian theology held that women were temptresses, were inferior to men, and held little or no authority when speaking about God. So, in a word…she was a badass.
In one of the Revelations, God tells Julian,
“It is I who am the strength and goodness of fatherhood; I who am the wisdom of motherhood; I who am light and grace and blessed love; I who am Trinity; I who am Unity; I who am the sovereign goodness of every living thing; I who enable you to love; I who enable you to long. It is I, the eternal satisfaction of every genuine desire.”
Many of us are taught that in order to be a strong Christian, we must have unshakable faith and be certain in our beliefs. But this creates a culture of shaming doubt, and millions* of Christians who experience doubt fear that they can’t be open about their faith. Maybe this is you. But what does the Bible really say about faith, doubt, and questioning?
*One 2017 study from Barna indicated more than half of Christians!
What Do These Words Even Mean?
In the New Testament, the word “believe” is a translation of Greek [image 3] (pisteúŌ, meaning to trust).
Like how you “believe in” or “trust in” your friend. Similarly, both “belief” and “faith” are both translations of [image 4] (pistis, meaning trust).
The words “belief” and “faith” aren’t wrong, but we’ve been using them so long they now have specific religious connotations that can limit our understanding. Thinking about it as our TRUST in God offers us a fresh perspective: it’s less like a thing we can possess (faith/belief) and more like a RELATIONSHIP WE LIVE (trust).
The Bible is a Communal Text
Speaking of relationship, there’s a relational contrast between Scripture’s original readers and us: while we today are extremely INDIVIDUALISTIC, they were a COMMUNAL culture.
The peoples in the Bible used their Scriptures to question and discuss how to worship God and live a good life AS A COMMUNITY. Of course it’s still good and fruitful to read the Bible on your own, but they knew the fruit is riper when harvested collectively. And while we often assume Scripture has the single unchanging answer, they quoted it to voice various perspectives within their communities, which changed with the changing times.*
*Just like healthy relationships do!
Biblical Examples
We see Jesus doing this reinterpretation among his own communities. He raises questions about how the Scriptures are interpreted and often disagrees with his fellow Jewish scholars.
Paul also does this, in one instance arguing strongly with Simon Peter,* which shows us that from the beginning of Christianity, questioning how we should live our faith (and even disagreement!) is a part of the tradition!
So how does doubt fit in?
*Galatians 2:11-14
The Wisdom of Doubt
It’s been said the opposite of faith isn’t doubt, it’s certainty. Doubt calls our attention to what doesn’t feel right, urging us to challenge what we think and look deeper than what’s on the surface. Doubt offers us questions which we can voice in a community* (just like Jesus and Paul and those before them!). And when we listen to our doubt, we give our TRUST opportunity to grow.
*ideally in a safe, open, curious community
A Nonbinary Way of Faith
The same binary way of thinking which dictates that everyone must be either male or female — this same binary mindset demands we choose between doubt and faith. But maybe our doubt is the Holy Spirit’s whisper that Christ’s good news is more inclusive and nonbinary than we ever imagined. God loves us all for our genders, our sexualities, and our curious questions, doubts, and changing beliefs.
Divine and Human, Trust and Doubt
When we (mis)use the Bible like proof that we’re right or an emotionless instruction manual, we miss so much of it’s nuanced wisdom and cheapen it’s artistry. The complex beauty of Scripture is that it’s a DIVERSE LIBRARY OF BOOKS, INSPIRED BY GOD AND WRITTEN BY PEOPLE. It is profoundly divine and thoroughly human, and contains many perspectives: some confident, some questioning, some harmonious, some disagreeing — all inviting us through doubt and trust in community to love God.
Practical Tips for Doubting
Find a safe, open, curious community to question with. (join our weekly youth group here.)
Start following experts. While anyone can benefit from reading the Bible regardless of education, we also need historians, scientists, archeologists, linguists, theologians, philosophers, and many other sort of experts to help us interpret what we read. Many have podcasts, books, and social media! (some listed in picture 4)
Trust that God isn’t tallying your failures or loving you because you believe X, Y, or Z. God loves you. Invite Them into your journey of doubt and faith.
German Renaissance painter, printmaker and theorist Albrecht Dürer was born on this day in 1471.
Dürer established his reputation and influence across Europe very early on in his life due to his high-quality woodcut prints, and is credited with bringing the Renaissance to Northern Europe. He travelled to Italy a number of times, and was well-acquainted with many of the major Italian artists of his time, including Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci. In 1512, he was appointed court painter to Roman Emperor Maximilian I.
This work, called Melencolia I, is one of the most well-known ‘master engravings’. Despite being rife with symbolism, it has more or less eluded interpretation. The winged figure is thought to be an embodiment of melancholy, and around her we can see an hourglass, weighing scales, and other tools, as well as a magic square and astrological features. Competing theories suggest it alludes to alchemy, astrology, theology or even philosophy.
We’d love to know: what do you see when you look at it? What do you think it could be about?
can’t believe i have to choose between subjects: why am i not allowed to study everything at once? pining over all the learning i will never get the opportunity to do..
