[Magdalen] What We Believe - St. Paul's Bellingham

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

First of all, if you read what I wrote, I said exactly what you have just
said.

Secondly, when you hate a scripture, as you have stated that you do, then
you either continue to follow that which you view as hateful, or you have
set it aside.

It is not some immutable God-ordained text.  We set aside what reason tells
us need be set aside.  I just wish people would stop this hogwash of
saying, "Oh no, we do not set any scripture aside," but then they go
merrily along ignoring all sorts of stuff, including, I have to add at
least one or two of the Ten Words.

It is this kind of unreasonable attitude which has turned a large number of
people off to the whole of organized (using the term loosely) religion.

We have set aside the texts forbidding divorce -- and rightly so.  We don't
follow them at all.

I could print you a list of texts we absolutely have set aside (including
even the literalists), but I would be wasting my time. After all, you all
know what I'm talking about.  You actually agree with me, for the most
part, and for your own reasons you just don't feel you want to admit it.
Fair enough.




James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy

On Wed, Aug 5, 2015 at 5:30 PM, Sally Davies <sally.davies at gmail.com> wrote:

> Jim, why does it have to be either entirely human made or magically God
> given? Scripture surely is both God given AND man (or maybe in some cases
> woman) made.
>
> Magic has nothing to do with either part of the never ending negotiation of
> meaning, myth and power that is the Bible. It is flawed, it is horrible, it
> is beautiful and wise beyond all telling, it is food and drink, vinegar and
> honey.  It is the only book I know that reads me right back when I read
> it...
>
> The love and passion for it held by God's people down the centuries drifts
> like incense from the pages. And the shed blood of innocents in every age
> drips from it also. It reflects ourselves as we truly are, behind the
> veneer of civilisation and the self satisfactions of our present era,  it
> holds up a mirror to the heart and cuts sinew from bone.
>
> I dont want a narrative of God's redemptive love written by one person,
> through the lens of one historical era. Its fine with me to have a jumble
> of times, places, and understandings and to wrestle with that even if I
> walk away limping - as most of us have.
>
> I too hate some of it, and other parts could not live without. I hate the
> way it is used and abused, and I would not call it THE Word of God, only
> Jesus gets that title.
>
> But set it aside? No way. I have no right to do that and call myself an
> Anglican of a child of Abraham.
>
> Sally D
>
> On Wednesday, August 5, 2015, James Oppenheimer-Crawford <
> oppenheimerjw at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I'd offer the whole hoax about the Davidic covenant as one great example.
> >
> > However, it's kind of pointless if people insist on the view that
> > scripture, entirely human-made, is somehow magically God-given.
> >
> > God might have inspired some of it, but certainly not all of it.  Where
> to
> > draw the line? Why, that's why The Lord of Hosts gave you and me the
> > ability to reason.
> >
> >
> >
> > James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
> > *“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
> > except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy
> >
> > On Wed, Aug 5, 2015 at 3:39 PM, Cantor03--- via Magdalen <
> > magdalen at herberthouse.org <javascript:;>> wrote:
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > In a message dated 8/5/2015 3:29:56 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> > > oppenheimerjw at gmail.com <javascript:;> writes:
> > >
> > > Some  scripture is terrible and needs to be
> > > set  aside.>>>>
> > >
> > >
> > > You have an ally in Martin Luther who is famously (or infamously)
> > > quoted with calling "James an epistle of straw".
> > >
> > > He later made an attempt to retract that statement.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > David Strang.
> > >
> >
>