#Scripture Context

[pastordin]

Canon Sense: Bridging Understanding and Application for the Body of Christ

Canon Sense: Bridging Understanding and Application for the Body of Christ | Pastor Aamir and Carissa Din Home | Media | Contact Canon Sense: Bridging Understanding and Application for the Body of Christ Introduction In the vast landscape of biblical interpretation, Canon Sense emerges as a pivotal concept that transcends mere academic study. It serves as the biblical equivalent of common…

[aureentuluva70]

OK but like...Gethsemane. Gethsemane, guys. I cannot express enough how important Gethsemane is and what happened there. Not to downplay the incredible importance of what happened on the Cross, of course not, but I find people really don't talk about Gethsemane enough in comparison, so I'm going to do it myself.

Gethsemane is found at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Fitting its name, the garden itself is full of olive trees, a kind of tree which holds great significance in scripture, probably the most revered plant in the bible. It is a symbol of peace, new life, prosperity, and reconciliation. It was the branch of an olive tree that the dove brought back to Noah while on the ark, signifying that the floods were receding. An olive tree is used to describe Jesus's jewish roots as the stem of David, two olive trees are used as symbolism in Revelations, and the people of Israel are likened to an olive tree and its branches. And this is only a few of the many references to olive trees in the Bible.

Olive Trees were and still are highly valued for their oil, which can be retrieved from the olives themselves. Olive oil was used as medicine, for light, for making food, etc. It was a very valuable resource, and still is.

The very name of this garden, Gethsemane, means “Oil Press”, where oil is obtained from the olives-by squeezing and crushing them. Only by being crushed can this precious oil be obtained.

When the olives are first crushed, the liquid begins to leak out, but rather than coming out as the golden-green color that we are used to, it instead comes out as a dark red hue, looking eerily similar to blood.

Only later does the oil turn into its famous golden-green color.

Like the olives being crushed for their oil, Jesus Christ was being pressed and crushed by the weight of the Atonement in the garden, suffering through such incomprehensible anguish and agony that, according to Luke's account, He literally started sweating blood.

KJV Luke 22: 44: "And being in agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was like great drops of blood falling down to the ground."

(Believe it or not, sweating blood is an actual medical condition called Hematridosis, which is caused by an extreme level of stress.)

Another important thing about olive oil's use during Christ's time: it was also used for ceremonial annointing, especially for sacred rituals performed in the temple, consecrating those like priests, kings and prophets. To be annointed means to be chosen or set apart for a specific role by God, often signified by smearing oil on the body or head, and what is the true meaning of Christ's title as the Messiah?

"The Annointed One."

And yet now, here in Gethsemane, Jesus has rather become the olive. He is the one being crushed, for the sins and pains of the world in the shadow of the Mount of Olives, His blood, like the sacred oil, to be used to annoint us, to not only save us but to make us into something greater than we could ever be by ourselves.

Also, very very interesting that Gethsemane is described as a garden. Only so many gardens are mentioned in the Bible, the most well known and one of the only other named gardens being the Garden of Eden, the paradise where humankind was first created and dwelt with God. Eden was a place of beauty, of innocence, and represented humanity's oneness with the Father.

But when Adam and Eve partook of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, that innocence was lost, and thus the first man and woman could no longer dwell in Eden, and were driven out. Because of transgression, humankind had fallen.

In Eden's garden, beneath a tree, mankind lost its innocence resulting in the Fall, and became seperated from its creator, but in another garden millennia later, beneath the olive trees, that same creator would begin the agonizing process required to save us and lift us, mankind, from the consequences of that fall, to bring us back to the true garden of the Lord.

In the place of the Oil Press Jesus Christ allowed Himself to be pressed and crushed in our stead, letting Himself to eventually be led to the cross, taking upon Himself the demands of justice so that we might not suffer a similar fate, if we so choose to follow Him.

That is what happened in Gethsemane.

[clevercatchphrase]

Page 365

John 15:13 and 1 John 3:16 (egregiously smashed together)

(Links coming in afternoon reblog!)

[idylls-of-the-divine-romance]

In this house, we do philosophy in the kitchen, theology in the bedroom, and mysticism in the garden. As God intended.

[violet-viriditas]

*Listening to Bible in a Year on my way to the office where I work as a lawyer

The Gospel of Luke: “Woe to you, lawyers!”

Ah.

[yellingmetatron]

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin." --Literally Jesus. On the other hand, Jesus never criticized anyone for tithing cookies and cream. The theological implications are obvious.

[booabug]

Ladybug (episode) was such a great character episode for Ladybug just for the way her giving sentibeing Ladybug her amok to gain autonomy showed her main interest and motivation for any being is always their liberation.

It also speaks to the show's sense of morality & values overall. It's not as stark and black & white as a lot of people expect.

It's something that's reinforced in FR dub with, "I free you from evil," instead of, "Time to de-evilize," being heard every episode.

And probably a nod to the kind of philosophy the Miraculous Guardians would have. They're probably canonically secular monks, but ofc irl Tibetan monks are Buddhist, and Buddhism is about the liberation of all beings.

Since I've not been keeping up with the show, idk if there's anything in Thomas's tweets or other deuterocanon confirming this, but it seems like a natural fit. The whole show is encoded with yin-yang symbolism, no way Eastern/Buddhist ideas aren't an influence. I don't know formal teachings so I can't comment much on it, but it does make for a much more complex sense of morality in a superhero series than we're used to, given that there's the three poisons of ignorance, greed/sensual attachment, and hatred/aversion perpetuating suffering, and the cosmological tension being between suffering & liberation rather than evil & good.

The three poisons or negative states are illusion/delusion and summarizing it that way makes it clear how this Buddhist/Hindu worldview is so influential on the show. Look at how illusion/delusion sums up the antagonists' actions, lying being Lila's entire MO, Gabriel/HM making his victims look at their situations in worst terms so they'll suffer enough to be taken advantage of without thinking for themselves while being motivated by his idea that one wish can fix everything he's unhappy about, and overall how much the show talks about the importance of not lying.

Man. No wonder differences between the FR and EN dubs feels so stark.

The difference between, "Go forth, my little akuma, and darken their heart," and, "Go forth, my little akuma, and evilize them," kinda exemplifies the different approaches to the show. Kids' show that knows it's a kids' show but working on very complex ideas in the bg vs. just another good vs evil kids' superhero media.

[handweavers]

when reading scripture or religious texts in my studies from a variety of religions (a not-insignificant part of my education has been religious studies) i can appreciate and understand the beauty and appeal of it and make sense of its internal logic system and worldview and feel that i'm picking up what it's putting down even if i don't necessarily identify with it on a personal level, but i gotta be honest i always feel like i'm missing something or losing my mind when i read christian texts like i don't get it and it doesn't make sense to me and nothing about the trinity makes sense to me and the entire worldview feels so harsh and terrifying and bleak for no reason and every time i've asked anyone in my family (on the christian side) to explain any of it to me like sincerely i just feel more baffled and whenever i've had to read passages of the new testament i dont get it at all like even abstractly i don't understand and it makes me feel crazy like what i'm looking at has to be completely different from what other people are seeing and i don't mean it in a reddit atheist smug asshole way like it's genuinely beyond my comprehension I Don't Get It and i don't think i ever will

[eesirachs]

How do I deal with the supreme grief that it’s been two thousand years and Jesus has not returned? We are still here, and still hurting. It feels like there’s no victory after all.

on his last day jesus’ heart breaks as he asks his father why no one understands him. why no one will ever fully understand him. but this is no conversation at all. it’s a monologue, a lament. jesus and the father are both god. and god has never really left, has he? the flesh hasn’t returned—but after his auto-resurrection jesus was hardly flesh still. you are asking why the eschaton has not happened. but the eschaton made sense only in the first century. now we must settle our pain differently. no apocalypse needed here, only a re-framing. some part of god left two thousand years ago. and yet here god is now, beside you, bandaging the wound. don’t take that for granted

[asinglesock]

cw Joy being a hater about other people's readings of biblical texts

this is making me cringe so much

[writethestory365]

Our desire for God to accelerate things is more of a culture demand than a spiritual inspiration.

- Dr. Anita Phillips

[compassionmattersmost]

Deepening Prayer: From Requests to Communion with the Divine

Experiencing Prayer as a Profound Connection with the Divine Introduction In many religious traditions, prayer is often perceived as a means of making requests or interceding on behalf of others. Yet, a deeper understanding of prayer reveals it as a profound opportunity for communion with the Divine. This post explores how we can transform our approach to prayer from one of mere requests to a…

[faggotryandtransjesterism]

i hate when somebody asks me what i'm reading and i'm in the middle of an insane hyperfixation, like what am i supposed to say? the gospel of mark

[thebirdandhersong]

it's George Herbert lockdown hour as we ready ourselves for bed and prepare our minds for THREE HOURS OF HERBERT LECTURE TOMORROW !!!!!!

[arcvenus-moved]

a woman dressed in red sits at an empty booth — only she is not a woman, but something holy, and there is no vacancy, for the might of heaven sits behind her; in her splayed wings, in her bright halo. as jophiel awaited company, the diner had emptied, for the demons had scurried upon the burn of divinity. she had been traversing downstairs a lot lately, and often, half-wondering when heaven would get on her case about it, if they cared at all or took to more pressing matters, of which there were many at present. a millennia of peace in paradise, skewed in a year!

there's a plate of food before her, though she does not eat it. it is a juxtaposition of guilt, her cross to bear. regret eats away at her when she bites her critique and remains silent in the face of heaven's crimes, yet regrets thinking such impure thoughts at all. she would feel guilty if she forsook the lord, and she would feel guilty if she didn't. ❝ is it liberating? being away from heaven, that is. is the fall worth the freedom? ❞ jo ponders suddenly, glancing up from the little crucifix she had been toying with, eyes settling over the once-exorcist that now occupies the opposite side of the booth, her gaze brimming with intrigue. vaggie seems to be content in a way her sisters back home are not. jo wonders how that may be.

♡ / @x0rcist

[betty-bourgeoisie]

The basics are colonialism. Zionists in Europe decided they wanted to do colonisation like the western Europeans but specifically for Jewish Europeans who were zionists. Keep in mind, there were and are many Jews who reject zionism. So, the Jewish zionists talked to the Europeans with colonies and floated the idea, and Brits took it up and offered them their colonies in Africa, but the zionists decided on Palestine, when the Brits took it over from the ottoman empire. They drew up plans, made connections, had zionist chapters in each continent, and mostly in the US and Europe, with the aim of making a country in Palestine. The Brits were willing to give a small part of Palestine because they wanted to control Palestine, especially Jerusalem. This didn't go down well with the zionists. They started fighting the Brits for independence. The Palestinians had already been fighting for independence even under the ottoman empire. To mess up the Palestinians and zionists fighting them, the Brits lied to both about giving them the territory. The zionists called the Brits bluff, and they teamed up to take Palestine from Palestinians. The US entered the mix officially, and then there was a huge migration of Jewish Europeans into Palestine. All this contributed to the zionists becoming dominant in Palestine and having the upper hand, especially in international recognition. The UN, then only made up of mostly European countries and the US, officially created Israel and gave them their support. The entire operation was to ensure Europe and North America have somewhere to take their Jewish populations, at first. Somewhere along the way, a brand of American Christianity decided to make it about the second coming of Jesus. Regardless of that, the whole situation comes down to a bunch of Europeans decided to colonize Palestine.

I'm gonna start by saying I appreciate you writing this all out anon. I know it takes time and energy on your part and I am genuinely grateful that you were willing to educate me on this issue.

But honestly, the more geopolitical aspects of the Israeli-Palestine conflict are not really what I'm confused about. Like I said, I've taken time to try and educate myself on this issue and the facts surrounding things like military conflict, water rights, encroachments on Palestinian land, etc, are all fairly standardized and I have been able to find *mostly* unbiased and accurate sources on them.

The part where I always get lost is the religious aspects of the conflict. While my understanding is that theological differences are not at the root of the conflict between Israel and Palestine itself, theology does play a significant role in how the conflict is discussed within the U.S. political theater. As a U.S.-American I feel like it's important for me to understand the background and religious implications of how people within my country are talking about this issue so that I can do things like, you know, be an informed voter.

This comes back to my original post because like I said, I am not from an Abrahamic religion. I already have a fundamentally difficult time wrapping my head around things like monotheism or even basing your religious beliefs and practices on scripture because I was raised in a very devout Pagan animist household and that is simply not how we do things.

So as you might imagine, understanding the (usually fundamentalist Christian) religious rhetoric that regularly shows up in U.S. political discussions is hard for me in the simplest of situations. For something like the Israeli-Palestine conflict, which has never once been simple, it becomes downright impossible to decipher. And when I try to ask questions about it I always get a response like this one. Answers that recite the aspects of the geopolitical conflict that I already know, while completely brushing over the religious issues that I'm actually asking about with the assumption that I understand what is being said.

"Somewhere along the way, a brand of American Christianity decided to make it about the second coming of Jesus. Regardless of that-" do you see how this response is difficult for me? I don't understand how they could make it about the second coming of Jesus! Where does that come from? How does that even begin to relate? The responses I get to these questions are always so vague that they don't even give me keywords that I can easily google to help find an answer!

My admittedly muddled understanding is that the tying of the Israeli-Palestine conflict to the rapture is rooted in anti-semitism, and I would like to be active in pushing back against that, but that's kind of hard to do when you don't even understand what's happening!

I want to be clear that I am not frustrated with you in particular anon. As I said, I do genuinely appreciate you trying to take the time to educate me. But this is a persistent problem that I come across when trying to understand the Israeli-Palestine conflict from an American political perspective and it gets very frustrating.

Side Note: For any of my followers that have read this far, I just want to say, like, please do not take the majority of your information on the Israeli-Palestine conflict from Tumblr posts. I appreciate you reading all this, but if you're interested in getting a basic understanding of the geopolitical aspects of this conflict I recommend watching the Crash Course World History episode on it or something.