We've talked about this recently, but here's where I find some core of a story worth keeping alive in my own reading of the choices that Jesus made with his crucifixion, Patrick. It won't really unravel any of your well landed points about sacrificial atonement, but it does provide me with something that I hang onto with some sense of hope. It boils down to just this -- No matter how we are treated, it's simply not worth our becoming the essence of hostility that we will quite likely be faced with from people who hate our embrace of the beatitudes. In the long run, in the greater scheme of things, maybe, just maybe, I can dream, with Martin, that there is a long arc of the moral universe bending toward justice. And if I pass, like a wisp, for that hope, it would be a help to the bending of that arc in a direction that I cherish, to have passed doing that hope no harm and instead having some peace in willing my own self and history to be a part of a bigger dream to which I aspire.
I grew up in the Methodist/United Methodist church where the pastor told us the Israelis did not deserve to get the land of Israel back because all the tribes disobeying God. Sounded reasonable to me, but my church requested a new pastor. My last church was a Missionary Baptist church, which was the far side of the UMC. That was 25 years ago. I don't belong to any church, because I think all churches should be paying taxes and churches/any religious organization who spreads hate should be paying out the whazoo for their hate speech about anyone and pay more to waste education time to abuse/and not treat learning any religious history like…history.
“Sin” was originally Greek for something like a tragic flaw, then Hebrew interpreted it to mean “miss the mark”. Okay… so nobody’s perfect.
It is another coincidence of existence that we’re all going to die. And it’s not from being “imperfect.” It’s from being born. A perfect body will still grow old and fail.
And now sin is taken to mean “any immoral act or thought.” Only too convenient for the thought police!
We've talked about this recently, but here's where I find some core of a story worth keeping alive in my own reading of the choices that Jesus made with his crucifixion, Patrick. It won't really unravel any of your well landed points about sacrificial atonement, but it does provide me with something that I hang onto with some sense of hope. It boils down to just this -- No matter how we are treated, it's simply not worth our becoming the essence of hostility that we will quite likely be faced with from people who hate our embrace of the beatitudes. In the long run, in the greater scheme of things, maybe, just maybe, I can dream, with Martin, that there is a long arc of the moral universe bending toward justice. And if I pass, like a wisp, for that hope, it would be a help to the bending of that arc in a direction that I cherish, to have passed doing that hope no harm and instead having some peace in willing my own self and history to be a part of a bigger dream to which I aspire.
I grew up in the Methodist/United Methodist church where the pastor told us the Israelis did not deserve to get the land of Israel back because all the tribes disobeying God. Sounded reasonable to me, but my church requested a new pastor. My last church was a Missionary Baptist church, which was the far side of the UMC. That was 25 years ago. I don't belong to any church, because I think all churches should be paying taxes and churches/any religious organization who spreads hate should be paying out the whazoo for their hate speech about anyone and pay more to waste education time to abuse/and not treat learning any religious history like…history.
Preach.
Thanks, Daniel. “A bigger dream to which I aspire.” I embrace that still in my own way.
Well. When you put it that way. It does sound kind of silly, doesn't it?
https://davidkunt.substack.com/p/about-religion
“Sin” was originally Greek for something like a tragic flaw, then Hebrew interpreted it to mean “miss the mark”. Okay… so nobody’s perfect.
It is another coincidence of existence that we’re all going to die. And it’s not from being “imperfect.” It’s from being born. A perfect body will still grow old and fail.
And now sin is taken to mean “any immoral act or thought.” Only too convenient for the thought police!
And you know my desires… how? You proved my point.
Good to know you're okay with rape.