 |
Many people live their lives using Christian scripture as a guideline for how to act, what determines right and wrong, and how others should be treated. Yet scripture has been translated and re-translated hundreds of times, leading to discrepancies and disagreements that can cause entire factions of believers to splinter off. In this personal tale, the author describes his experience as a caregiver father and how those around him used the Bible to justify ostracizing him from his family and getting divorced solely for him being a man and not the primary financial earner in the home. Examining key verses that many use to support these and similarly destructive and exclusionary decisions, the author turns a critical lens on them. He utilizes the knowledge gained from his master’s degree in ministry and theology to interpret the passages from a broader perspective, urging one to have a more open mind and a less rigid way of thinking.
So much of how the Bible is understood worldwide is influenced by cultural interpretations and the machinations of those who are or were in power. The author connects the dots for the reader on a multitude of subjects. The end goal is not to dissuade the audience from using the Bible as a guide or from studying scripture, but instead to provide a much more studied eye into understanding what is being said and why. Gender roles, marriage, forgiveness, and feminism are just a few of the pertinent subjects examined here, offering the reader practical, modern wisdom that can be used in their own lives. It is refreshing to see a non-fundamentalist way of looking at current events that still proves to be wholly Christian. The author’s expertise and knowledge prove to be a great guidepost to navigate by.