Sharks, jellyfish, and the bad news
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:status: draft
:date: 1970-01-01T00:00:00
:category: faith
:tags: LGBT, homosexuality, blue ocean, centered faith
Couple of comments while reading `this blogpost`_ by Dave Schmelzer and
linked `position paper of Vineyard USA on LGBT issues`_.
.. _`this blogpost`:
http://theblueoceanblog.org/jesus-good-hijacked-todays-controversies/
.. _`position paper of Vineyard USA on LGBT issues`:
http://vineyardusa.org/site/files/PositionPaper-VineyardUSA-Pastoring_LGBT_Persons.pdf
First completely nonsensical nitpick: as far as I know (and I may be
wrong, but if I recall correctly, I read in some book by Philipe
Cousteau) sharks have to swim because they don’t have operculum so they
have to make water flow through their gills, otherwise they suffocate_ .
Not that it would matter that much for Dave’s argument.
.. _suffocate:
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090820085118AAaL3jP
But to the more interesting stuff.
From the position paper:
William Shakespeare in his play, Twelfth Night, said this: Be not
afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and
some have greatness thrust upon them.
This is funny. Did they read Twelfth Night? Do they recognize that whole
this quotation was not meant seriously but just as a bait for Malvolio?
And if we ignore this strangeness, when following their argument, they
could say just as easily that they want to discuss LGBT issues, because
everybody else does it. I am not sure that it is the right reason, but
anyway.
OK, this is too long. I won’t have time to read all ninety pages. So
back to Dave.
I completely accept his argument that we should live in the centered
set, but it seems to me he still misses the point. What should I say to
my homosexual friend (or for me more likely to some strong supporter of
gay rights, I don’t know much anybody who would be openly homosexual)?
And what to do with 1.Timothy 1:10 or 1.Corinthians 6:9f? If
One of the most important things which helped me to understand my attitude
towards homosexuality was proper understaning of what the sin is.
I understand the centered set thinking correctly, than obvious
interdicts in the Bible should not be understood as zaps (and even less
used as such to zap others), but as an advice why following the banned
path will lead out of the center, Jesus, and the life in fullness (John
10:10). So, we should not steal because God would smite us, but because
although it may seem tempting it is not a blessed God’s path to
achieving fullness of life.
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When orders are issued in other spheres of life there is no doubt
whatever of their meaning. If a father sends a child to bed, the boy
knows at once what he has to do. But suppose he has picked up
smattering of pseudo-theology. In that case he would argue more or
less like this: “Father tells me to go to bed, but he really means
that I am tired, and he does not want me to be tired. I can overcome
my tiredness just as well if I go out and play. Therefore though
father tells me to go to bed, he really means: ‘Go out and play’.”
If a child tried such arguments on his father or a citizen on his
government, they would both meet with a kind of language they could
not fail to understand–in short they would be punished. Are we to
treat the commandment of Jesus differently from other orders and
exchange single-minded obedience for downright disobedience? How
could that be possible!
-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, chapter. III.
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Theological perspective is proposed and wins the day. It does just great
for however long, but then its blind spots become evident and there’s
pushback about it. The pushback ends up being too corrective, an
over-reaction, so it too ultimately gets pushed back with something that
itself is too corrective and over-reacting. And there lies the history
of theology.
Unfortunately, theology matters. And people who create bad theology and
a lot of mess around themselves are usually not bad people. Liberal
theology ...
