by pukeko
Grabbing the third rail, again.
April 29, 2010 in Daybook by pukeko
This is the beginning of the differentiation of Christianity form Judaism. It was written by Paul, and he is encouraging a bunch of Gentiles — who as had occurred in Jerusalem, were being persecuted.
1 Thessalonians 2
13We also constantly give thanks to God for this, that when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God's word, which is also at work in you believers. 14For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you suffered the same things from your own compatriots as they did from the Jews, 15who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out; they displease God and oppose everyone
via PC(USA) – Devotions – Daily readings for Thursday, April 29, 2010.
I think this would count as hate speech in the humourless and frozen North. But there is a context. For the members of the Jerusalem Church… were Jewish. The tenchant criticism of the leadership of the Roman province of Judea was a bunch of Hellenized and liberal elite and a religious based, more popular but conservative group of Rabbis. Together, they made up the council — and most of them had not only voted for the death of Jesus but did the same for Stephen…
… Which, as Paul points out, was consistent with the treatment of the prophets when Isreal was a kingdom.
But this response — of persecution and opposition — is not limited to one group. Paul says that the Thessalia had persecuted those who were in the Church. And commends them for their famithfulness. For if you do not see the words of the gospel as coming from G_d, you will see them as repugnant, repulsive, and against the spirit (or Gods) of the nation.
In NZ, these Gods are: the libertine, the worship of Maori, the need for equality of outcomes (or jealousy), and the natural world (we must “save the planet”). As the Isrealites, under Moses & Joshua, broke up the alters and Baals of the people in Canaan, we must break the idols of this age.
But we will be seen as stupid and uncouth — we are speaking into the postmodern silence. We are grabbing the third rail.
Great, I never knew this, thanks.
Wow. Thankyou for sharing. I certainly did not think about this particular issue in this way before and it opened some serious discussion for me on this topic.