RE: To the 169 authors I follow.
Hey, Matt,
Thanks for being so direct about this... You've triggered a few of my neurons that may at first seem far afield to you; but please allow me to explain.
I find this article of yours quite interesting, because you and I share certain common ideals (e.g. family, anarcho-capitalism, public schooling, banks) although we may not overlap on others, and may be far apart on a few.
Your article clearly expresses precisely the same logic that has caused me as a follower of Jesus the Christ to prefer small congregations over large churches.
In this life, we each have limited time resources. We have to be prudent about how we allocate our time, and therefore who we interact with, and how much, must be carefully prioritized. We can only "expose" our lives to and become authentically involved with a limited number of "others." And so, I thank you for stating these truths so clearly in the context of steemit. ;)
One of the things that I personally hope to write more original material about here is a completely other paradigm; a universe in which the logic you've so cogently expressed does not apply. It's a universe that has been marginalized in the popular mind by having been badly caricatured, trivially labeled as "heaven" and relegated to banal conceptualizations such as cartoon images of white-robed angels floating on clouds and strumming harps in perpetual boredom.
In all reality, my perspective as a Christian and a voracious student of scripture has persuaded me that "heaven" will (in all truth) be a total regeneration of this universe in which all evil has been utterly purged. Scripture calls it "The New Heavens and the New Earth."
I expect, for example, the fundamental difference of enjoying a never-ending life, i.e., infinite time, to completely remove all pressure to allocate our attention in a miserly fashion. Try to imagine a steemit where you were actually able to follow everyone of authentic merit.
The quality of your writing that I've observed so far inclines me to believe that it will indeed be a long, long time before I might unfollow you, if ever. I hope you'll also hold out on "pulling the chain" on me at least long enough to see some of the good things to come. ;)
Meanwhile, although I know not in detail where your spiritual faith (if any) may lie, I'd like to extend this invitation;
"The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price." - Revelation 22:17
If you are ever curious about how and why I can describe myself as an anarchist while simultaneously worshiping Jesus Christ, I'd love to dialog with you about that.
Thank you for your quality work here on steemit, it's a pleasure to follow you.
Thanks creatr. Romans 13 is the big one. I believe its encoded, since it was being sent into the heart of the Roman Empire and was incredibly likely to be intercepted.
If your girlfriend is crazy, jealous, controlling and opens your mail, my letter is going to say, "You should marry that girl, because she's so easygoing, well adjusted and trusting".
She'll pass it along to you, but you'll decode it accurately.
Hey, Matt,
That is a fascinating take on Romans 13; one that I have never heard before. My brain will no doubt be dragging me back to think about it repeatedly... ;)
I do have a rather strong, divergent view of Romans 13 myself that I hope to share with steemit one day. For the moment, I'll just summarize it for you as contrasting paraphrases of the verse one, first the commonly accepted corrupted understanding:
Now I'll , give you what I believe to be the proper spin:
Matt, thanks for responding! :)
There has to be more to it than a straightforward reading would suggest. He says the state isn't a threat to those who do the right thing; just after the state executed, (without charge or trial), the only sinless man to ever exist.
We're used to religious liberty and free, uncensored speech, so we take people's writing at face value. The small, persecuted church in Rome would have been far more discerning as to subtext.
I have at least one friend who does not believe the chapter is canonical. I'm not quite ready to go that far, but I do struggle with the matter. Your notion of it possibly being a cryptic message is appealing. Do you have any sources/references for that thought, or is it original with you? :)
BTW, here is an online Greek language tool that I think is quite helpful:
As a former student of Greek and a some-time teacher, the tool helps me exercise my "Greek neurons" and when I need help, just floating the mouse over a word pulls up all of the lexical information... Very cool! ;)
P.S. Your article here has inspired me to start a new series on the New Heavens and New Earth... I'm sweating over the first installment, stay tuned! ;)
It's all me, and I'm reluctant to make theological arguments because I'm not as well read, biblically as I should be; and the stakes are so high.
I look forward to reading your new article, starting is the hardest part.