How I Became a Feminist - well, I get it anyhow

New Testament Review and comparison. The conclusion to a contextual study of Genesis Chapter 3, 1-7

NKJV - 1Ti 2:14 -And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.

NLT - 1Ti 2:14 -And it was the woman, not Adam, who was deceived by Satan, and sin was the result.

NIV - 1Ti 2:14 -And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.


Note that in all three popular versions that

1) they do not state that Eve deceived Adam. This is consistant with Genesis 3.

2) The NLT is incorrect - Adam was deceived by Satan. The NLT is inconsistent with Genesis 3.

The popular implication of the text of Gen.3 combined with 1 Tim. 2:14 is that Eve deceived Adam. By his silence and submitting to her offer to eat of the fruit he took a submissive role. The idea that she gave him the fruit implies that she deceived him.

But the reality is clear. They both were deceived. First Adam who was responsible for the whole garden. In this deception of his heart he was teamed with Satan to allow Eve to test the fruit from the framework of her own state of deception.

Adam sinned first. And it was for his sin that the New Testament said Christ had come.

So both Adam and Eve were deceived by Satan. The context of the Genesis narrative informs the silence of Adam who was present and therefore engaged.

Both Adam and Eve were enticed at the notion of autonomy from God - to be His peer. The result of their acting on this (as individual children of God) was that they received limited autonomy from God (they received a degree of what they wanted). Adam would be called to provide fro his family and Eve would conceive without divine protection from the pain of it.

Together they would discover community without God. That was the moment when power and politics was formed. And this has been our lot since.

See Text:


Gen 3:15
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Gen 3:16
Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire [shall be] to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

Gen 3:17
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed [is] the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat [of] it all the days of thy life;


Adam listened to the CONVERSATION of his wife (present and engaged...though silent) no where does the text say Eve said "here Adam, eat this."

So folks of the faith, this is important to know as far as reflecting on how our theology has informed our understanding and attitudes. The church for two millennium has mixed the post-fall reality with the pre-fall condition. The church has indoctrinated in one form or another that 'Adam was deceived by Eve.' and 'Adam gave up his headship over Eve, becoming a passive male.'

This understanding has led to much misery for women for literally thousands of years. No one having time to be clear on the fact of equality before God as laid out in the Genesis narrative. The narrative being warped and proclaimed from the male dominated church. This, as explained later in Genesis, only brought natural rebellion from the other now dominated (rather than loved and respected according to plan) group...women.

So in conclusion and for illustration I present a small tidbit from my own life:

Child 1: "She did it first."

Child 2: "That's not true, he did."

Father: "That's not the point...in fact...it doesn't even matter. You are treating each other badly, and that hurts me too."

Additional Thinking

Some additional thinking on these two areas of scripture - that interested me.

1) They actually can be used by serious feminist oriented theologians. These are quite proper reviews of the narratives and should be promoted. I hope one of those theologians swing by and pick up on these. The improper interpretation of these texts were foundational to negative ecclesiastical communities, to women, for centuries.

The basis of their argument would be based in the reality of the text rather than the often promoted political intentions that are wrongly applied to the text. Or in some cases - work to try and make the text irrelevant.

2) Technically speaking - Adam murdered his wife and then committed suicide. It just didn't happen in the moment.

FINAL: GEN. - Contextual Study of Chapter 3, 1-7

Gen 3:1 NOW the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?"


Satan draws on God's words in the form of a question.


Gen 3:2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden;
Gen 3:3 "but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'"


Eve answers imperfectly as God did not add they could not touch it. That seems to have been something of her own planning.


Gen 3:4 Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.


Satan brings God's word into question conversationally. He lies. Adam (silent throughout) and Eve find themselves in a discussion of the validity of God's word.


Gen 3:5 "For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."


Satan now has projected the very thing that he was about - the thing that got him kicked out of heaven...pride. Adam is silent in this text but present. He is already entertaining the idea that Gods word can be revisited for interpetation and clarification. Now he is presented with the possibility of being God. He is silent but present. Satans propsal is a gamble. Adam knows that God said he would die. But Satan suggests that he will not die AND he will be like God.

Adam allows for this new interpretation to be tested. If Eve eats the fruit and dies - he will surely not eat of the fruit. If Eve does not die then he can be like God and will eat of the fruit.


Gen 3:6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

Gen 3:7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.


Because Adam is silent in the text no one generally wants to speculate what he might have been thinking. However, If you stay within the context of the narrative you can see that all these things are factual.

- Satan brings God's word into question conversationally. He lies.

- Adam is silent in this text but present

- he is presented with the possibility of being God

- Adam knows that God said he would die.

- Satan suggests that he will not die AND he will be like God

- If Eve eats and does not die - then Satan is correct in his statement "You will not surely die."

- If Eve does not die, in the context of the narrative, then it is logically good for Adam to eat the fruit as well

- Adam did eat

FINAL: JOB - a contextual study of Chapter 2, 9-11

Some things to note in general:
Job is not the hero, God is.

Some things to note in paticular:
the one thing Job desired most was to die. And that is the one thing God would not allow. In the end of the narrative we see that God was focused all along on the heart of Job. He was not interested, at this point in Job's life, with his deeds or words.

All his kids are dead

All his servants are dead

All his camels, donleys, and oxen are stolen

Now it is down to him.

Job 2:5
"But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face!"

Job 2:6
And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life."

Here we see that Job will not die. This will become the greatest evil that Job will experience.

Satan suggested the following to God "But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!" (1:11)

Job 2:7
So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.

Job 2:8
And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes.


Job 2:9
Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!"

At this point Job's wife was externalizing her feelings. This evident in the text. Feelings she knew were also her husbands. He was known as a great man...but she knew him as a man, one who lost everything and filled with pain inside and out. She could not hold back her honest thoughts. She was truthful and asked her husband to be true as well.

Job 2:10
But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Here we see the text is specific that Job did not sin with his lips. We know that a person sins in his heart. This detailed editorial given in the text is redundant and is meant to make a point. The point is that Job was using what some might call today 'Godly words'. Thes are used to mask truthful emotions that that might give evidence of a fear, doubt, even hate.

Job 2:11
Now when Job's three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, each one came from his own place--Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. For they had made an appointment together to come and mourn with him, and to comfort him.


We see the whole narrative that Job could not see. Because he did not heed his wife's advice God could not enter into the discussion he desired to have with Job. He would have to suffer the 'help' of his friends for the next 35 chapters. (ever experience that?)

But finally, his sinless 'lips' mentioned in 2:10 can no longer hold in the truth of his self-rightous heart. And God can enter into conversation with him. And have a real heart to heart. This was the intent of God all along. To reveal Jobs heart and reason with him concerning its condition.

Remember that He held two meetings for this specific pupose.

Job 1:6. 2:1 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.

Job 38:1
THEN the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said:
Job 38:2
"Who is this who darkens counsel
By words without knowledge?
Job 38:3
Now prepare yourself like a man;
I will question you, and you shall answer Me.


Now, will you read this in a popular commentary (or any)? Will you consider that Job's wife was not evil? I don't know, maybe not. Will this understanding help you consider the trappings of your own heart? Will it help you to trust that God is not a bully and can take, wants to hear, anything you feel that is true? I hope so. He really is love.

Contextual Theology

Okay. I am, I think, creating a new discipline of theology. Much theology includes contextual consideration. But not enough to my mind. The scope (or periscope to be technical) of text that is studied today sometimes takes current accepted theology as the context. However, it is known that the Bible is its own best commentary. This fact will drive the study of two important areas of scripture (to start).

1) Gen. 2 - what really happened in the garden. What 'they' don't want you to know because...no, I don't have a clue why it has not been interpreted this way.

2) Job - why the book would have been greatly shortened if Job had only listened to his wife.

The goals of the upcoming study are as follows - A) edify the body for increased understanding and faith. B) continuous personal activity to help me avoid writing fiction...

Chaos Theory

I saw a photo on a friends blog yesterday. It was on his interesting (recommended) blog. Jest a cell-phone snapshot. Folks walking at night in the bright-lights of NYC. The photo was entitled 'CHAOS'. This inspired thinking on this concept...chaos.

Its a good name - context is everything for sure. As an aside, in terms of inspiration, it make me think. Actual chaos is hard to represent - it seems to only reside in the abstract condition of the human heart. Everything else has an order because everything is created or made - even the intention to create is order - intention presupposes order. But these people in the photo create a tention against order...In their hearts..."maybe I can suddenly walk in the street instead"..."or put out one of those lights with a rock"..."what if she was my girlfriend instead?"...."I could use a beer"..ok, that thought was mine ;-)

Once, some time back, I remember sitting on a pier and studying Luke. Luke was a black lab and our station mascott. He was gifted at swimming and catching tennis balls in his mouth as fast as you could throw them. He was also adept at sleeping and eating. That was Luke.

Our unit was semi-famous for collecting, when we could, jumpers off the Golden Gate bridge - one a week average. Some experts came down once to visit us with their own statistics. The Suicide Prevention agency for the city. They said that interviews with all (all) failed suicide victims report that in that last split-second...a reason to live suddenly came to them. Most were relieved that it had. Their problem? They required a reason to live.

What would Luke say if he knew that? How perplexed he would be. He might look around to try and help these creatures who were so out of order. He would see some with desparate looks on their face....climbing a corporate ladder....home-schooling their kids 10 hours a day....drinking too much....adopting 15 handicapped children....organizing a PETA rally....blogging their brains out....some busy....some catatonic. Luke was a bright old lab. I bet he would eventually understand. He would look up to the top of that bridge and see an honest but tired person standing there groping for a reason not to jump. Then look under the bridge and see another honest person asleep there...clutching his empty bottle.

A Study of the Village....Christian

Happiness. What is it?

Blessed ('happy' is accurate Hebrew meaning) is the man who puts his trust in the Lord.

Happy....happy. Is contentment the same as happy? Content is the man who puts his trust in the Lord..... despite the job, people, relationship problems? Money problems. Overwhelming evil in the world. Content is the man...man can only only be happy and content when he puts his trust in the Lord?

For tomorrow...what if tomorrow is crappy? Would he let it suck if I put my trust in him? yeah...he could. In all things pray...pray a desperate, I ain't content - prayer.

I have learned to be content, the Apostle Paul says...but...Paul was never content outside the context of that scripture...about money. Can a man reflect Gods heart in this world and be content? No.

So then, happy is not equal to content. Happy is to content as Grace is to an 'act' of mercy. Happy...is a daily dose of life-sustaining trust while sitting in a bowl of cow-patties. Being content in a bowl of cow-patties is....weird.

Random Matters...

Funk. Everything you know and everything you want to know more about - don't matter. You know the number of your blessings - they are in your face. That doesn't matter. You are inconsolable, discontent. Any fix is an offense. Any offense is too small to impact you. What is a life-ring to someone for whom a lifering - dosen't matter?

I jumped 40 feet (I was told) from a helicopter one night into some pretty cold waves. Literally too stupid to fear.

I twice grieved a loss so extreme - and recoverd.

I was puzzeled once fishing a pair of black cordarory pants out of the San Fransico Bay. They still had legs in them. How do you...feel....about something like that? The wallet said he was Vietamese and a mental patient.

I use to fly planes and get lost. Landing in strange places...regularly.

I was alone hiking Old Woman mountain in Kodiak Alaska. I toted a six-pack, stick, and hockey-skates. At the top was a lone frozen pond. I tied my skates on, opened a can and threw a puck out. I skated about aimlessly pushing the puck about, drinking, thinking (I guess). Content.

I walked across a campus very early one morning thinking how perfect my paper on Carter Foreign Policy was. The more I walked I found areas that were questionable. Still walking I then wondered about the nature of truth. How maybe all these truths might imply an ultimate truth....then there came a sudden swooping sound of wind by my head - and a 'thud' sound. I stopped and looked down to see a dead white dove. I looked back and the hawk that flew by my head landed on a tree. He stared at me standing there with his food at my feet. I was puzzled...but somehow, it mattered.

There is no Great Commission

There is no Great Commission


What kind of heresy is this? Of course there is a Great Commission. It was given to us by our Lord. He commissioned his 11 disciples to “go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

I would like to take another look at this text on several levels. First I will address the statement itself. Simply put, the words great commission are not to be found anywhere in the Bible. Now that does not invalidate the theological proposition the statement represents. There are many Theological terms that are not in the Bible but represent the best interpretation of a concept put forward in a given text of scripture.

But I will submit that this term, this label, used to interpret the scripture is not at all the best. In fact, in our culture, it is the most dangerous. Then I would like to look at a more proper interpretation of this text and see just how powerful the more true meaning is to our Christian lives.

Mat 28:16 Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.
Mat 28:17 When they saw him, they worshiped him-but some of them still doubted!
Mat 28:18 Jesus came and told his disciples, "I have been given complete authority in heaven and on earth.
Mat 28:19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Mat 28:20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

The context here is very important. We see the disciples are beset with incredible doubt, unbelief. And this even though they are in His very presence. So this is the situation Jesus is in, the context. We know this is no new problem to Jesus as this was a constant battle he had throughout his ministry. And He was ready with the same remedy He offered so many times before. He instructed the disciples to exercise the faith that was yet in them. He encouraged them to action that they would see Him work and increase their faith.

Within this text we do not see Jesus put down an arbitrary edict, a commandment. He simply makes an affirmative statement akin to “I Am.” Then He gives them what should be their natural expression of this reality that will be to them supernatural activity like they could not even imagine. This power is ours. Ours to exercise and draw such results as would blow away any doubt and unbelief they held. We know from scripture that they did and the wonders worked through their faith built their faith incredibly, unto death.

We have a corporate culture today. So many identify with being workers and members of corporations. One negative result of a corporation is that sometimes poor policies or dishonest actions occur. But the corporation can weather these storms easily in that no one individual is ever to blame. Instead it is a ‘corporate’ mistake. This faceless entity is to blame and well, you can’t take an non-existent entity to task. Its not a moral problem to pinned on any person.

The church in America has without question fallen into a corporate state. A state of reason where what can be done for the Kingdom is limited only by available funds. There is today a culture of a Christian Corporation. In this corporate culture every person is important to increase the Kingdom through participating through giving and serving. Each Christian Corporation has an officiating board, management structure, and a few folks in the field. There silent majority is encouraged to maintain the corporate machine through giving and service. The corporation will choose many programs the members can tap into for service. Local or short term mission opportunities are designed and offered by the upper management groups. This is so the members can know and be directed to give (and possibly serve) where God is at work.

Every corporation has a mission statement to rally their workers around. Ours is the Great Commission. While this is all out there they must busy the workers with personal holiness.

Jhn 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have [it] more abundantly.

This takes to another amazing aspect tied to this event. Jesus said that one reason He came in the first place was to give us abundant life. How do we imagine He meant that? What did abundant mean?

The Christian Corporation has mirrored the world in defining for its members what abundant life is. It is only limited by our desire to sin. The abundant life is much like what the world understands as the good life. Happy marriage, right-thinking children, no debt and no sin. Its all very simple and there is so much scripture to support these endeavors.

But I ask now, is this what the disciples came to experience as abundant life? We know they did not. Their lives were abundant because they were encouraged to exercise their faith in order that they could experience their faith. And if asked, they would tell you it cost them dearly and cost them nothing. That God took their mustard seeds of faith and showed them how mountains could be moved. He showed them how abundant life was intimately tied to removing the bushel from their light. And abundant life was to experience God in their actions of going and telling and sewing and reaping and healing and prophesizing. They learned just how supernatural the gift of a Christian life is. They learned how incredibly personal and individual it was. In their unspeakable joy they knew without a doubt that had they never left that upper room it would have been ok. God never needed them. He just loved them beyond understanding and wanted to give them good gifts. They found that all of everything in the universe, in all of history, all that is promised was for them. That it is all about them, each individual one of them. Jesus was and is ‘I Am.’

What is possible for the Ambassadors of the One who has been given complete authority in heaven and on earth? I know 11 guys who would tell you. I believe they would affirm they were not cogs in a corporate wheel motivated by some silly slogan. They were natural men supernaturally aware of their supernatural condition. They were motivated by the continual work of Love being wrought in each of them individually and personally. And increased in faith with every supernatural result of the love working out of them. I’ll even bet they could come close to agreeing with God they too ‘so loved the world.’ Can you say that? No, me either. But do we know that such a joy and faith is possible? It is.

I have a son. He is five years old. You know, I don’t look for his admiration. I like it, sure. But I am okay without it. I was okay before he existed. But I must tell you, I hate a day that might go by when I don’t get to see him grow and live in the sureness that he is loved by me.

Here is an example of how this might play out if you agree with the tinking on this matter:


The Emperors New Clothes:

"But there is no Great Commission. It's just not in the text and feels hollow and empty. I Think He means something more personal than that - something more relational....more powerful. Like Love. In fact, I think everything He has made - the universe, creation, His giving of Himself....is about us and for us. This world and all that is in it is for us to love. None of it is about Him...He just simply is. He is self-sufficient."

Then Mark was removed from Seminary, they implanted Johnny Hunt sermons into his MP3 player and gave him many church-planting books to read. He memorized the various strategies and agreed that church-planting is the way. People get behind it. He agreed with 'bang for buck' rule of law. He even began to put his trust in the tithe. He was restored to the fold...and very very happy. You can tell even today by the grin that never leaves his face.....no matter what.

Likewise, as Orwell's novel concludes, Winston and Julia are taken to the Ministry of Love as part of the reprogramming process. Since Winston fears rats, he is tortured with rats until his feelings for Julia are destroyed. As confirmation that he sees the new reality of the state, Winston writes that 2+2=5. The reprogramming is successful. He is cured. As the final sentence of Orwell's book concludes, "He loved Big Brother."

He loved the law. ;-(

Who Loves You, Baby!

Listening to R.E.M Green. I can't believe this is about 20 years old. I didn't even know how good it was when I first thought it was the 'best'...and Depech Mode. I think my Ray-Bans had paint splashes on them...purposely manufactured that way. What was that??

Anyhow, tonight, the day after writing my first poem in...a long time (about confusion and love and God and 'the problem of evil'...and an incredible kid). Thinking on something concerning faith that has recently put me at odds with my evangelical community...(I think that is my faith community)

Rick Warren is fond of his SO accepted view that he finally learned "It's all about God." That resinates with Christians somehow in a big way... record best-seller kind of ways. That's all fine but I was wondering who told him that? If there is a reader out there, will you attempt to walk through to this conclusion with me? Maybe we can start out there on the event horizon, so-to-speak, and work our way to the epicenter of this astounding revelation.

At some point, folks agree it was a...point, time and space came into existence. Then light found its way here with matter. Stars and physical laws that are nearly unshakable. Then this one planet where there is water, air, heat, plants. And people. Lets stop here for just a moment and ask a question or two - Did God need these things? Who needs these things?

Moving on - this for the faith folks - there is revealed and repeated for well over 2000 years that God intended to take and punish his own son. Then he did. Then people talked about it for another 2000 years. Another rest-stop for these questions - Did God need these things? Who needs these things?

What if...maybe...."Its all about me." Maybe God is trying to get that message through to us. Could he be just too subtle with the creation and sacrifice angle? Lets help him out...get some bumper stickers made. Here's one... "Who loves you, baby!"