over the winter holidays, when all the old crew was back in town, our conversation inevitably went the direction of religion. me and all my boys were raised conservative christians and though many of our lives have taken diverse paths, we are all still similiar in some degree as it pertains to our inherited christianity. we have gotten honest enough about many of the difficulties of religion and truth and God and are all wrestling with this thing called reality. in various ways we have allowed ourselves to question ourselves and be okay with that.
one of the topics that arises when we get together is the nature and authority of scripture. we talked this year of its contradictions and difficulties. if you're intrested here's a link to a list of biblical contradictions: http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/jim_meritt/bible-contradictions.html
but there is a glaring contradiction that i have yet to be able to reconcile and its bigger than all of those on that list because it has to do with God's nature and his/her ontology (i included her for my christian feminist friends). it has to do with the glaring and obvious dichotomy between the god of the old testament and the jesus of the new. while christianity claims its the same god, it can appear difficult at times to maintain this. here is what richard dawkins boldly and unabashedly says about it:
"The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochictic, capriciously malevolent bully." (The God Delusion, p31)
that quote is harsh and i was greatly offended. that is, until i realized it was true. then i didn't know what to do. we turn to the New Testament and we have Jesus. this kinda hippy-ish, soft, love your neighbor, quick to forgive, compassionate, dude who doesn't resemble his father at all. there are a few instances where he gets close, but at the end of the day it seems like two different gods. christian scholars have invented several diverse theological ways to handle this, but none are that convincing. anybody have any idea how to reconcile this?
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3 comments:
that is deep bro, and I bet that you would stump every professor I had at Fresno Pacific with that one, so I promise to not pretend that I can comprehend or even put my head around an absolute conclusion. The only thing that I can think of is that when Jesus became "human", he was limited by human boundaries. If he went all crazy demanding to be obeyed and going all OT on idiots, he would've been stoned when he was 6. Also, I think people twist how he really was by the way they want him to be, ex: the jesus with the lamb on his shoulders opposed to the Jesus swearing at the Pharisees, "you mother f.*^%#$rs!" 2007 transalation...brood of vipers! I don't know. The picture most Christians paint is a little to soft of a Christ figure for me.
Ultimately though, I can't answer your question, without some serious study anyway. I'm amazed at the brain God gave you though. I hope more and more people read your stuff, cuz you're definitely thought provoking. I don't know if they'd sell your book at Berean though! Ha! maybe Urban Outfitters, next to the drinking games. Heading to LA this weekend, C-ya!
What do you mean? Jesus was still a bitch at times-- overturning tables and creating a ruckus; sure, he hung out with hoes, to make a statement that Christians today still can't seem to incorporate into their daily lives, which is to love, or at least allow the possibility of love and understanding of all types of people, not just the goody-two-shoes of this world. This doesn't mean that the Jesus of the NT didn't have values or was a push-over just because he was often in the company of homosexuals, drunks, druggies or the downtrodden of the society. He was being the physical example of the ethereal God.
That's my interpretation. The image I have of Jesus on earth isn't a shy one.
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