ONE LITTLE PREPOSITION

IN CHRIST
those words are used in the new testament more than once. One scripture is "in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, male nor female."
That particular scripture is used by some Christian denominations to validate having women in the same leadership positions as men in the Church and elsewhere in society.
So the Church leaders are saying that those of us who have become followers of Christ need to leave behind those fallen attitudes such as that women are different from (and less than) men.
Let me point out that the Bible new Testament gives instructions for "bosses" and for those in the employ of or enslaved (according to the world's system) by another; also , Paul, in fine tuning instructions for Christians as he continued the Church, distinguished between Jewish Christians and gentiles who became followers of Christ. Furthermore, some of Paul's rather specific instruction (such as in 1st Corinthians) could be interpreted as giving guidelines to people (individuals, congregations and leaders of congregations) to avoid trouble that would occur when followers act in imperfect (fallen) ways.

So my interpretation of "in Christ there is neither . . ." is that in God's eyes there is no difference between these people; and at our best, we , as godly,  Spirit filled followers of Christ interact with one another in this godly way; and the verses that seem to contradict the verses such as this in fact rather give guidelines addressing the reality that we imperfect people do not always maintain that most godly attitude towards one another.

So the passages in the new testament that limit the roles of women are loving limits that protect men and women from going in the ditch by flying too close to the sun.

(To Be  Continued)

GOD'S HELP FOR 13 COLONIES

I am listening to Andrew Wommack's teaching of June 8, 2016 on humility. A story from his son's childhood included God telling Andrew that just as daddy Andrew couldn't help little 3 and 1/2 year old son open the heavy door because son had his hands on the handle and knob and dad would have squeezed and hurt son's hands if he had tried to pull on knob with son.  So, too, our God has to wait for us to take our hands off of something before He can help.
I think of this as another indication that our Lord desired us to pray for our enemies and ourselves when we were down and oppressed under the British law in 1700's  colonies.

WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY

These maybe days of sadness for U S citizens , with both the Republican and Democrat parties not very good.
I lost faith in the Dem party when they made abortion rights a permanent part of their mission and identity.
My faith in the Rep party is dwindling in response to their having been overwhelmed by the secret and not-so-secret influence of the Koch brothers. (the "citizens united" decision of the US Supreme Court paved the way for their humongous power in election s.)

What this time in our political history CAN be is a parable, an analogy, a way for us all to understand what the dynamics of the Jewish religion may have been at the time of Jesus' rejection by the Jewish establishment.

This is important, because Jews who will not considered Jesus' claims have made that decision- not to consider . . .- based on their belief that the Jewish leaders that were on the scene and made the decision to reject Jesus, made their decision in good faith , and "to the best of their ability. "

We can all see that during this time, campaign 2016 and the 1 or 2 years leading up to it, there has been a chokepoint , pinchpoint, a layer of leaders who have held too much power and have not had the best interests of the many in their heart s.

Can anyone other than me see a parallel here? Please say yes.

Can this be a way to encourage our precious neighbors, the Jews, to consider Jesus, that Jew? I pray so.

So I ask that Christian leaders and other leaders  use this present political situation in US to encourage individuals to consider that some decisions that were made in the past by past community leaders were not the best.

LET'S TRY THIRD PARTY AGAIN, PART 2

Continuing about the aberrant dynamics of the current 2016 presidential contest, I believe that :
1) the Citizens United decision of the US Supreme Court was ruinous because of allowing mega rich people to make decisions that never should be theirs to make, and that we need to not let that truth fade out- that the Citizens United decision is evil- by continued public speaking against it and by legislation to correct.
and
2) the primary system of the Republican party, at least needs drastic change.