Sunday, October 3, 2010
Bible Nit-Picking
So far I think my field situation will concern the use/abuse of the bible to victimize people. It has been used by some as a play for power to subdue, hinder, and oppress others. They nit pick certain aspects of their religion by advocating what benefits them by applying it to others and not themselves. I want to try to focus on slavery, capital punishment, domestic violence, and polygamy mainly because these categories involve the victimization and abuse of minorities. I will be focusing on Christianity, of course. Its interesting how this sacred text is misinterpreted and used to oppress minorities. The Bible never really said African-Americans should be the slaves, women should be beaten or raped by their husbands, that capital punishment should mostly be applied to certain class of people, lower class individuals; Blacks, Hispanics, etc., or that its okay for men to marry as many wives as possible. Sure it mentions these things but that doesn't mean God is condoning it. Thats as far as I've thought! What do you think?......
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I think that's a great topic! Just make sure not to categorize all "Christians" as doing these things. While lots of Christians think woman are supposed to submit, it also said husbands are to love their wives, never dealing with them treacherously or disrespectfully and that they should love their wives as Christ loved the Church, etc. There are some Christian men who ignore that, however, and abuse the scriptures. Just as with everything else. Also, it is pretty much only Mormon custom to practice polygamy. So as long as you point out the specific groups that tend to abuse this power and that it is not the group as a whole I think this will be great! Such an interesting topic
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback! Trust me I know that "all" Christians don't fall into these categories. I just think the real issue is that the people who do fall into these categories are the people who are just calling themselves Christians. They grew up going to church, their parents, family, and friends were Christians, etc. I think for some people they are just associating themselves with the label and not its true purpose and values. So they have gotten accustomed to judging others or using certain aspects of the text to oppress others because they aren't really into Christianity. Otherwise, they wouldn't treat people this way. Its like they are taggin along for the ride and benefits without ever giving anything or connecting themselves spiritually with the text.
ReplyDeleteYou're so right! It is really frustrating that there are so many people out there referring to themselves as "Christians" while not practicing what they preach whatsoever. Unfortunately, these people often give Christians a bad name. This is going to be a great paper!
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