Reaction #2

I would add that it is "in relationships" that we discern what the truth is to begin with. The fact that we have a Bible at all speaks to the community of Christians who came together and decided what was and was not Scripture. God did not drop a list of rules out of the sky, though sometimes I wish he would. He did not speak to us directly, telling us not to eat of this tree or that tree. No. He gave us the witness of fallible, broken people, some of whom received prophecy from him, some of whom just tried to follow his rules of worship that they might relate to him, some of whom walked and talked with his Son Jesus.

Some of these people got drunk with wine, and it was good (read the Proverbs); Jesus even made some wine for a wedding because he believed in celebrating. None of these people had any concept of an equal relationship between men and women. Girls were property, given by their fathers in exchange for a dowry. Extra-marital sex amounted to financial theft from the girl's family.

Here are but two examples where a community, in loving relationship, must discern God's will for what is the healthiest, most peaceful, most loving way to live. In my humble opinion, this process involves not merely communicating God's truths as though we already understand them, but struggling, in community, to understand and apply them in a very different context from when they were presented in Scripture.

Alcohol, sex, anger, poetry, silence, baseball -- all of God's gifts are wonderful as long as they are used carefully and not abused. Will this drink or this sex or these words I am writing help you and me, or harm us? If they draw people closer together, fostering peace, then they are God's gifts, not to be feared.

To address your bigger point: God forbid a politics based on fear. The politics of Jesus is a politics of grace and love, inviting everyone into God's bounty.

-from J