I love your wisdom, vulnerability, and bravery. It's sad how trying to do the right thing for God causes such a drift from His true nature and intent. No wonder people outside the religious institutions of Jesus time faired better than the religiously obsessed when it came to recognizing God's "good" kingdom. They didn't need theological training to understand there was far more human about all its rules, control, and shame than divine. In hindsight, it is easy to see the purity movement as just another invention of patriarchal honor/shame control dynamics (much harder to see at our age at the time). It's the same thing, different costume, as many other religions and traditions - far more human than divine. How can the real God apart from these synthetic interpretations be so elusive in our Churches? That's a question that still upsets and frustrates me. You nailed it with Jesus being so raw and fleshly: among us, with us, inviting us, understanding us, touching us, eating, drinking; driving out the darkness of misunderstanding, control, shame, theological triviality, and falsehood. Thanks for joining the rising number of voices that are saying this wasn't "ok" and it certainly doesn't remain "ok" to continue misleading people about the nature of God. I'll be trying to harmonize this body-in-a-soul connection right alongside you. Thanks for leading the way:)
I love your wisdom, vulnerability, and bravery. It's sad how trying to do the right thing for God causes such a drift from His true nature and intent. No wonder people outside the religious institutions of Jesus time faired better than the religiously obsessed when it came to recognizing God's "good" kingdom. They didn't need theological training to understand there was far more human about all its rules, control, and shame than divine. In hindsight, it is easy to see the purity movement as just another invention of patriarchal honor/shame control dynamics (much harder to see at our age at the time). It's the same thing, different costume, as many other religions and traditions - far more human than divine. How can the real God apart from these synthetic interpretations be so elusive in our Churches? That's a question that still upsets and frustrates me. You nailed it with Jesus being so raw and fleshly: among us, with us, inviting us, understanding us, touching us, eating, drinking; driving out the darkness of misunderstanding, control, shame, theological triviality, and falsehood. Thanks for joining the rising number of voices that are saying this wasn't "ok" and it certainly doesn't remain "ok" to continue misleading people about the nature of God. I'll be trying to harmonize this body-in-a-soul connection right alongside you. Thanks for leading the way:)