"Slaves..."

I've been thinking about the phrase: "Slaves, obey your masters..." (Colossians chapter 3) as it pertains to the Church both in the present and in the past.

The first word is addressed in such a manner to illustrate the current setting.  There is no question of doubt as to 1) whether or not there are slaves and 2) whether or not there are slaves within the church.  The writer, Paul, is not questioning a current practice or even challenging the notion of whether it SHOULD be in practice or not.  Rather, he is trying to instill a sense of respect for the slaves and slave owners to act in the most honorable way possible in the circumstances.  He tells the slaves that they should not just do everything that their masters command but also do it with "a sincere heart."  

I've heard pastors talk about this passage in a positive light.  "See how amazing Paul was to be encouraging two warring classes to get along?"

This whole thing makes me want to vomit.

WHAT PAUL SHOULD HAVE SAID was "Masters, you will one day be forced to give account to your behavior and why you thought the creator of free humanity would ever consider the enslavement of his loved ones to be a reasonable idea.  I pray the Lord curses your household with famine and plague until the release of your slaves and until you embrace them as fellow human beings, loved by God."

I have heard people talk about classes being approved/encouraged by God.  They say, "God gave some people great gifts (meaning money) and others he didn't."  "Money isn't evil, only the LOVE of money."  In fact, they see their rich position as a holy responsibility to take care of the poor.  And I'm sure that SOME actually do.  But the existence of classes, to me, says that we are still SO FAR away from our designed humanity.  I can't explain why Christ did not do more to destroy these horrible class systems.  I know he often disregarded them, but  he rarely spoke to the actual issue.  The best I can respond to this fact is that He had his hands full doing the whole, taking on the sins of the world bit.

Am I a Socialist?  I think that will be the question that an advocate of class systems will immediately demand.  They have found a term that seems derogatory and devoid of Religious devoutness and they will SMOTHER anyone with an opinion that spins their precious rich world around.  

Am I proposing that the rich give all their money away right now?  I don't know.  Probably not.  But Jesus was sure quick about requiring that of people whose money had become their idol.  And if we were honest, could ANYONE IN AMERICA REALLY BE ABLE TO SAY THAT THEY NEVER STRUGGLE WITH MAKING MONEY THEIR IDOL?

I have those "American Dreams" just like many out there.  I get a tinge of greed when I hear about someone buying an amazing house or a new toy or a lifestyle that I could never afford...  But I agree that that greed is MY problem, not theirs.  I can be more than content with my modest life and have plenty left over to take care of my neighbor when they experience hard times.  

But can I?  Will I?  DO I?

How often do I ask these questions of myself?

And how often do you?

For the thrill of the chase

I'm sipping a glass of Spanish red, listening to Of Monsters and Men, thinking about morality.

When I was in high school/ early college it was all about "living up" to the standards God has given to us in the Bible.  Things like abstaining from sex and not cussing and "managing your thought life" took precedence.  I hated myself during this time.  And often struggled with hating others who broke these obvious rules of God carelessly or deliberately.  Yes, it's true that I broke these rules on an hourly/minutely/secondly manner, but at least I felt BAD about it.

What a wasted effort.

It's hard for me to look back on that time of attempted moral superiority and self-sufficiency without thinking maybe I wasn't alone in this.  Are there others that were also hating themselves but trying to appear to others that they were simply striving after God?  These days, I still feel myself drawn into returning to some of those same judgments of myself and others according to this scale of "morality."  But now, I have come to believe that most common ideas of "morality" are anything but.

Most commonly something is considered "moral" if the society that is currently holding the power deems it normal or right.  Rarely is a thought given towards whether or not God approves, disproves, or cares.  Rather, it is ASSUMED that God approves or disapproves, and NEVER does God not have an opinion (sorry about all the negatives).

"If God knows every hair on your head like the scripture says, then of COURSE he believes that any and all forms of abortion are wrong."  "... of course he says that we should never kill our neighbor unless our government deems him/her an enemy of freedom and then we need to kill them"

I myself am in a bit of a moral dilemma.  I can't go into details but I have been scratching my head as to what God thinks of it.  It's the type of dilemma in which there is no single-phrase scripture that speaks to it.  I suppose I could infer a few things from a number of different biblical situations, but it's not simple like, "_____ should not _____, no matter what."  Julie and I spoke of this at length this evening without coming to any conclusions.

I guess it's good to just ask the question in the first place-- but will we ever come to an answer?  And if we know there is not going to be an official answer should we still keep asking the question?  Is that kinda like chasing your tail even though you know you'll never catch it and if you catch it what will you do with a damn tail in your mouth?

This is typically when I write a song.