The Gospels in the Bible were written by people two generations after Jesus, telling the story to answer their questions, using the sayings of Jesus and the things that were remembered. I’ve done the same, but taking historical facts much more serious than did the first writers.
I was raised ‘in church’ and ended up accepting ordination within the United Church of Canada in the mid 1970’s. Back then everything seemed possible. Many churches were exciting and questioning communities of faith. The trend soon changed.
After twenty years in the pulpit ministry, people often had questions to ask. That was usually fine with me. In 2018 at a dinner party with friends on Amherst Island near Kingston, Ontario, I was asked what I thought of the local preacher. Luckily
Judy and I had lived aboard our 42 ft. steel sloop Swan of Tuonela for thirteen years. The first seven of that wonderful time was in Toronto, the last half of it in the Bahamas. We were down there in the winter and up here, mainly running a café on Amherst Island.
Christians started killing Jews in the year 250 AD. Since then, antisemitism has become well ingrained into our western, Christian based culture. Why and how? The source of this misguided hatred lies within Christianity’s most sacred texts.
From the beginning of the Jesus Movement, there have been two opposite ideas about God. Jesus knew the Creating God as Abba, ‘Little Daddy or Mommy’, a friendly presence, unthreatening and loving, supportive and faithful not coercive nor controlling.