The American Family Association (AFA) is in a tizzy because the U.S. Army listed them as a hate group in a training presentation. The Army identified the AFA as a hate group based on information from the Southern Poverty Law Center.… [Read more…] about The American Family Association and the KKK
Of Cakes and Christians
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Jesus was accused by the Pharisees of being a friend to sinners and to drunkards and to despised tax collectors. He made gallons of wine at a wedding. He treated women of ill-repute with respect. He made a Samaritan–a member of the neighboring race and sworn enemies of the Jews–the hero of one of his most profound parables. He praised a Gentile Roman Centurion–part of the occupying imperial force–for having great faith. He touched lepers. He spoke forgiveness and grace to those who beat and crucified him.
His followers continued the trend: Philip baptized an Ethiopian eunuch who was barred from Jewish temple worship. Peter participated in a religious revival among the Samaritans and then a Holy Ghost outpouring in the home of a Roman Centurion. Paul poured out his life traveling the highways and byways of the Roman Empire with a vision of Jews and pagan Gentiles together becoming the people of God; his fellow countrymen tried repeatedly to kill him because of it.
Last week I heard about two separate instances of Christian bakers–one in Oregon and one in Colorado–refusing to make wedding cakes for same-sex couples. In both cases, the bakers had turned away gay customers more than once, citing their Christian faith as the reason (the baker in Colorado will, however, happily make a cake for a dog wedding). In both cases, the actions of the cake-bakers brought public disapproval and official anti-discrimination investigations upon them. In… [Read more…] about Of Cakes and Christians
Making sense of … well, God destroying the world
Let’s briefly take a look at one of the knottiest textual problems in the New Testament: 2 Peter 3:10.
For the purposes of this discussion, we’ll set aside issues of canonicity (hotly-contested) and authorship (not Peter) and simply focus on the text of this single verse.
The NIV renders 3:10 as:
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
For this same text the NASB reads:
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.
As you can see, the final verb differs in each translation. Why? Because the NIV’s “laid bare” is a translation of the Greek εὑρεθήσεται, which literally means “will be found,” while the NASB is translating κατακαήσεται, which literally means “will be burned up.” This isn’t a subtle difference: it’s a matter of two completely different words with completely different meanings. So where do those words come from?
Many of our earliest and best Greek manuscripts, including Codex Sinaiticus (א, 4th c.), Codex Vaticanus (B, 4th c.), Codex Mosquensis (Kap, 9th c.) and Codex Porphyrianus (Papr, 9thc.) read “εὑρεθήσεται” — “will be found.”
But another manuscript tradition, which includes Codex Alexandrinus (A 5th c.), 048 (5th c.), 049… [Read more…] about Making sense of … well, God destroying the world
Mos Def gets force-fed for Guantanamo
Actor and musician Yasiin Bey, aka Mos Def, recently released a video in which he undergoes the force-feeding procedure that hunger-striking prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are being subjected to. You can read a first-hand account here, or watch the video yourself:… [Read more…] about Mos Def gets force-fed for Guantanamo
I Do Not Permit A Woman
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In 1 Timothy 2:12, Paul says “I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.” (NIV2011)
What’s up with that? Is Paul really issuing a definitive command regarding women’s roles that’s binding upon all Christians today? Is this a clear directive that severely limits women’s ministry in the Church? That’s certainly how most complementarians understand this verse. But is that where the discussion ends? Paul said it, I believe it, that settles it?
But wait a second. Do all Christian women avoid gold and pearls? (1 Tim. 2:9) Do they cover their heads when praying? (1 Cor. 11) Should we always greet each other with a holy kiss? (Rom. 16:16) If we’re visiting the island of Crete should we assume that the people we encounter are all “liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons”? (Tit. 1:12) Should we always carry a cloak, scrolls and parchments with us on our journeys? (2 Tim. 4:13)
In short, how do we understand the words of Paul? What ones do we choose to apply to our modern Christian practice and what ones do we disregard — and more importantly, why?
1 Timothy 2:8-15 is a notoriously difficult passage. Part of the problem is that we’re only hearing one side of the conversation — we’re listening in on one end of a two thousand year old discussion that wasn’t directly intended for us. We aren’t familiar with the culture and context, we don’t truly know what it was like to be a Christian in first century Ephesus and… [Read more…] about I Do Not Permit A Woman