It is increasingly becoming my conviction that there is something deeply valuable contained in the Bible. Unfortunately, you have to sift through a lot of stuff that was, unfortunately, required to get the valuable message accepted by the ancient peoples.
Beneath all of the superstition, the slavery, the barbarism, the sexism and misogyny… There is a message of community — a denunciation of hoarding, of ensuring that everyone has enough. It’s beautiful. And it’s startlingly liberal, if you’re accustomed to focusing only on all that other stuff.
“Love your neighbor as yourself.” If that is the core command of the Bible, of the character Jesus’ expectation of humanity, then the liberalism is easily explained, for how can you love your neighbor as yourself if you live in decadence while your neighbor barely scrapes by?
This is a subject I hope to explore more in the future, so stay tuned.