History and Contextual Understanding

From pg. 5 as well "What we say bout Jesus is thus inextricably intertwined with what we say about he first century as a whole."

and 6 "...the historical jigsaw must portray Jesus as a credible and recognizable first-century Jew, relating comprehensibly in speech and action to other first-century Jews. No solution which claims to be talking about history can ever undo this basic move."

As we talked about today in some detail, this is something that has really been brewing on my mind for quite a while. We are reading this in such specific consequences and it seems like there should be a disclaimer before any time the Bible is opened or anyone speaks to a gathering of people that these are the reflections of a _______ century person from ______ who makes $____ a year(and this list could obviously continue on). There needs to be a responsibility in understanding how much that influences us and I just do not feel like that is there. We pick the verses that we want to make up our interpretation of God/Jesus/etc. and go with it. I am definitely no different, so I greatly appreciate his seeking to go through the different groups and get to the bottom of what each "stood to gain" by preaching/teaching a certain way. While in some cases this is obviously more tangible, in other's it can be just as poisonous.

I believe there are many people that truly believe that they revere the Lord, but it is not very comprehensive. The Bible is misused often and I think the only good approach should be one of humility because of this. Often many churches seek to have as their first core value or belief that their view is that the Bible is inerrant. It's only a shame that their interpretation does not often match this same enthusiasm. While it is easy to make these remarks and get Amen's from folks, it is rare that you will find the same humility in preaching from something inerrant. It's weird, because the more I seem to become more liberal in my ideology from what I grew up with, the more reverent I find myself becoming towards the Bible as I learn of its complexities. Certainly this is not a tenet of the more liberal, though!(tongue right on the ole' cheek)

In all of this also, it makes me nervous how so many churches seem to miss out on what seems to be basic. He is not the founder of Christianity, He did not live simply to "save souls," and he did not live simply to teach us to "save souls." It is a weird place to be to realize that much of what I've lived with my entire life is not biblical in the sense of being a comprehensive rather than piecemeal understanding. I was on the fast track to the pearly gates, but then I began uncovering God. There are many veils today that need to be torn as well!

I'm sorry if this is so scatter-brained, but I've had many inner dialogues of all these different ideas and it is something that is still a little unsettling. To be in the minority of a group in America that is on the verge of becoming a minority(Christians, that is), is an odd place to be. I always felt a little different than others, but now it's almost as if much of our vocabulary is completely different.

So these are my thoughts. Please feel free to add your thoughts to this. You obviously deal this in a personal way with this being in your church. I'm in the quiet, bean-counter department which has nothing to do with the ministry so I'm more on the outskirts of it all. I just get my weekly vaccine!