I found these short readings to be very insightful and relevant.<\/p>\n
I was drawn to sections in which worldview and contextualization \u2013 in which part of my semester\u2019s thesis is based upon \u2013 were highlighted.<\/p>\n
Worldview should play such a strong part in our decisions, beliefs and actions, but yet doesn\u2019t.\u00a0 Richardson assumes that believers are aware that local culture embodies the way scripture has been translated over the centuries and how single worlds can come to represent entire belief system.\u00a0 And yet, that particular translation of a word was different and had different meaning in the past.<\/p>\n
Balmadeda increases the tension by claiming that context, time and location factor in creating a filter or lens in which we interpret biblical text.\u00a0 I love her sentence that it \u201cisn\u2019t whether we should contextualize the scriptures (we all do it), but whether we are able to contextualize it well enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Part of my studies have been relegated around worldview, cultural intelligence and gay theology.\u00a0 Time and time again, I read from conservative writers that the new theologians who are more tolerant to gay issues are just reading the bible through a homosexual lens, when it should be read through a heterosexual lens.\u00a0 Maybe, maybe not.\u00a0 But Balmaceda goes on to challenge those of us who live comfortable, individualistic lives, to allow those in the global South to have a voice, in other words, those who have approached scripture from difficult and unjust realities.<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t help but think of the LGBT groups and individuals I\u2019ve met who still hold to a strong faith.\u00a0 That is their context (difficult and unjust realities).\u00a0 They are actually contextualizing the scriptures in a reality that is closer to the one Jesus and his followers lived in than me, as a successful, privileged American.<\/p>\n
Whether it\u2019s a group that has been discriminated against or one living in poverty or wealth, she ends her short paper by reminding us that it\u2019s crucial to listen.\u00a0 Listen to each other to discern their cultural context in which their faith is being lived out.<\/p>\n
Recently I attended a conference on diversity in the church.\u00a0 As in many conferences and studies, multiple speakers spoke of the need for transformation.\u00a0 Then statistic after statistic, to reinforce their point was shown on a screen \u2013 of how Christians behave just as badly as non-Christians; out-of-wedlock pregnancies, discrimination, jail time, drunkenness etc.\u00a0\u00a0 I hear this often and the same theme has even been shared by some of our cohort in the papers that have been written.<\/p>\n
Williams would disagree with the above statement as he writes of religion and morality as \u201cindispensable support and primary foundation\u201d on which successful, God-fearing countries are built.\u00a0 He lists a litany of reasons why we need this fear.\u00a0 He says that incarceration rates, social services, teen pregnancy, gun violence etc. all mirror the fall of Rome and relate the current America.<\/p>\n
My questions to him would be, if that\u2019s true, but the majority of Americans claim to be Christians but yet mirror the despicable reality presented, then what is the benefit?\u00a0 If Rome fell because of a secular mentality rather than Christian, what was she when she was successful and powerful?\u00a0 I don\u2019t think it was Christian and I don\u2019t think that Williams has the answer.<\/p>\n
I think we need to face the reality that Religion has little value.\u00a0 Internal transformation however does.\u00a0 Williams states that without internal change, there can be no external or situational change.\u00a0 Here lies the crux of our problem and it relates back to worldview.\u00a0 We see no transformation in the lives of so many Christians because in essence we are worshiping a worldview of our creation, using the Bible for justification.\u00a0 When we should be understanding that we interpret belief and see the Bible through various lens, and by acknowledging that reality, we can then let the Bible transform us internally and then the scriptures will be justified by our lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I found these short readings to be very insightful and relevant. I was drawn to sections in which worldview and contextualization \u2013 in which part of my semester\u2019s thesis is based upon \u2013 were highlighted. Worldview should play such a strong part in our decisions, beliefs and actions, but yet doesn\u2019t.\u00a0 Richardson assumes that believers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[218,219,2,217,216],"class_list":["post-509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-conversations","tag-diversity","tag-dminlgp","tag-hei","tag-heie","cohort-lgp3"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1843,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509\/revisions\/1843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}