Archive for January, 2011
5 items.
Jan30
So I never really thought about Jesus’ ministry needing money. But traveling with twelve disciples and a retinue of hangers-on probably got expensive. I was actually surprised when I found out it was the women who followed Jesus that paid for stuff. Typical. The men get to philosophize and get all the attention and praise, while the women hang around in the background making sure they don’t starve to death. I actually don’t think it’s that typical anymore, but it’s still sometimes a typical attitude. The thing I notice is that Jesus never treats women any differently than men. They may not be accepted as speakers in that society, but it’s never reflected in how Jesus behaves toward them, and it’s him we’re supposed to model our behavior after.
You might think treating women as equals is all common sense. But go look up egalitarianism and complementarianism, and you’ll see that Christians do not agree on the equality of women in the church. It’s silly really. It shows the dangers of what happens when a lot of smart people pick something apart too much, and forget what the original picture looked like. And now I’m rambling, so I’ll finish there.
Thanks for reading,
Jared
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Couple things I found amusing about this passage. Jesus just hung around for a while like a normal person, eating meals and stuff. After he died. I can’t shake this image of an angelic, spiritual, resurrected Jesus. But clearly he was just the same guy. I guess he was pretty special to begin with anyway. The other thing that amused me, was the assumption Jesus was still going to deliver the kingdom to Israel, as in conquer their enemies. When all through his life, Jesus taught contrary to this belief. Looks like the disciples took a really long time to grasp the real meaning of the kingdom of heaven, as did I.
N.T. Wright wrote some really good books explaining exactly what the kingdom was. More like a new holy nation with God as it’s ruler. It’s not part of any land mass, and it’s members are of all race and nationality. We all acknowledge and follow Jesus, that seems to be the only real requirement. If the whole world actually did this, talk about breaking boundaries. Christians are suppose to consider each other brothers and sisters. I know I don’t treat church people like I do my actual family. Guess I should try harder.
So I realize now that last weeks comic was drawn with the pen tool, so the lines are sharp. And the font is too small. How unprofessional of me. I thought it looked not quite similar when I finished. Sorry about that folks.
Thanks for reading,
Jared
Another episode of disciples missing the point. I love these guys, they’re so clueless so often. But later on have brilliant things to do and say. Just like me. The clueless part that is.
Not much to say this issue. Remember to check out the facebook group and spread word about the comic, I really appreciate it.
Thanks for reading,
Jared
Last week’s comic was about the Old Testament law and how strict the punishments were. This week it seems I explore how, strict or not, any law can be used to your own advantage. I’ve never read through Isaiah before, but he’s quoted in the New Testament a lot, so I thought I should. The first part stuck out at me. God seems pretty mad that people are making offerings to him. Wait a second… didn’t God command them to make offerings to him? The only explanation I can see is they started abusing the system and losing the whole point of why they were offering anything to begin with, which pissed God off. I guess if you’re doing it wrong, you might as well not do it.
I wonder if there’s something Jesus told us to do, but is now pissed off at us for doing because we’re doing it wrong. It’s an interesting thought. Someone might be all pious and confident in their salvation, when in truth God is really mad at what they’re doing. Which would be scary. Maybe we need a prophet to yell at us like Isaiah. In the notes explaining the book in my Bible, it said Isaiah was unpopular among the people for his prophesying. No wonder, he just tells everyone how much they’re failing and how the wrath of God is going to fall upon them. Funny, I remember hearing that in a sermon once, and yet that guy was pretty popular. Weird…
Thanks for reading,
Jared
As I seem to say often, sometimes the Old Testament just baffles me. Why did God condemn people to death for working on the sabbath? The initial idea of a day off is great. I’m on board with the rule, especially when people probably overworked their slaves and employees. This way they had to give them a day off. If not, all their workforce would have to be killed off. But where does the line between effort and work get drawn? Am I working right now doing this comic? I mean, I do it on Sunday, which is the Christian sabbath equivalent (Saturday is the real sabbath day). Would a Pharisee (upholder of religious law) call for my death?
Thankfully Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament and therefore did away with the old laws, so I’ve heard anyway. Otherwise, apart from birth, this sounds like a pretty hard religion to get into. There’s a lot of stuff that might accidentally get you killed that would be considered normal in other cultures. But I’m not God, and there’s probably some great reason he has for it. However since I’m not God and don’t understand it, I feel completely justified in saying, what the hell God? What’s up with the crazy laws?
Hope everyone had a great Christmas/new year. I enjoyed the usual family visiting, church going, present getting experience. I also played a ton of post Christmas video games. So I would like to take this opportunity to thank God for technology and games, and at the same time curse him for the irresistible distractions I’m surrounded by.
Thanks for reading,
Jared