Burl

This was a small part of a letter written to one particular church, not a sermon. You seem to have issues with Paul. Perhaps you could back up and unpack some of those?

The construction of Jesus’ parables is not Jewish but similar to Sufi teaching stories, so there certainly other non-Jewish influences.

Or it nay simply reinforce the idea of gender equity. Good scholarship elevates peculiar or contrary scriptures. No, it does not assume that all. It’s just not in this pericope. Paul writes about how he does not recommend marriage at all except for the exceptionally horny, and about the need to care for widows so single women are not left out. Considering women were chattel, I find Paul to be ahead of his time in his consideration of single women.

Cancel Culture is bullying plain and simple.

Judaism was exclusively male controlled, so we can see the Pre-Constantinian church as an elevation of the status of women. The classic anti-woman proof text is 1 Corinthians 14:34-35. “It is shameful for a woman to speak in church.” It is a classic case of lack of context. All of 1c14:26-40 is about orderly worship vs. disorderly worship. 1) Women are in the church with their husbands. Very inclusive compared to Jewish worship. 2) Paul’s preaching that husbands should teach the women at home and that women should ask their husbands to explain ‘everything’. Again, different and more inclusive than in Jewish households. 3) My interpretation of this women were disrupting the worship service by asking questions, etc. Paul wanted the women taught at home. 4) Acts 2:17-18 declares women shall prophecy, so the arc of feminine inclusion is explicit. Paul’s epistle was a commentary on the state of how he personally conducted worship at that time, and not a doctrinal truism.

Gender equity was a distinguishing feature of the church. Paul’s letter to the Romans was preached by Junia, not Paul. When Constantine politicized the church things started going off-track.

Flood stories exist worldwide, so it is likely it was on a global scale.

It also ignores the fact that life is interdependent and connected. Tolerance is good starting point, but little more than that.

The reason it’s a bit sad is because it says that the rock bottom humanist ethos is sufficient.

If you want to do a proper bible study of a particular book I am interested, but I am not interested in stripping a particular topic out of context.

John Wesley called this prevenient grace.

Really? The Golden Rule is about people helping each other. It is a call to action. This song is just about everybody leaving each other alone. Kinda sad imo.

The definition of dogma is insufficient rational support. Compare with doctrine which does. Bishop Spong was Episcopal and the director is an ordained Episcopal priest. Obviously from the liberal camp, of course.

I’ve had this discussion with Joseph. If I remember correctly he said they tried to avoid all dogma. My argument was that is substituting one dogma for another. The 8 steps are indeed dogmatic. They are put forth as truth without sufficient rational support. I think most progressive Christians reject many of the 8 points of Progressive Christianity.com. PC is an Episcopal mission to the underchurched. The 8 points are a ‘least common denominator’ designed to increase inclusiveness.

Small p progressive Christianity is a generic term. Capital P Progressive Christianity.com is a specific theology.

Never really thought much about lamentation until this article. Right now I gotta find out more about this visible comet. Never saw one before.

You asked my take on lamentations, and I like to simplify. Wright is verbose compared to me, but he is a scholar and a genius and I am not. I do not criticize Wright . I just have a more mystical and less academic viewpoint.

Wright is rarely wrong.

I find Wright too detached and a bit verbose. Too intellectual. Lament is a type of prayer. A prayer for protection, a prayer for understanding. Christ is how the impassable God experienced human pain and suffering, so one would expect to find differences between the OT and the NT. Just realized this as I was composing this, but this comparison is interesting. I immediately think of Job compared to the martyrs but haven’t had time to really pursue that thought.

N.T. Wright on the pandemic and Christian lamentation. https://relevantmagazine.com/culture/n-t-wright-says-the-pandemic-is-giving-christians-a-chance-to-learn-what-it-means-to-lament-1/

This is progressive Christianity with a small p.

I would buy Hillary at 1:51 A good chance she replaces Biden at the convention. I would sell my wager at a nice profit on her nomination.