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So on this day in August 819 … what happened?
No Entries Found (https://www.onthisday.com/date/819)
So in the YEAR 819 … what happened?
Wikipedia lists one birth, several deaths and some “European” stuff (that sent me to sleep): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/819 BUT … what woke me up was the list of calendars on the right-hand-side of the web-page. Thirty different calendars – each with a different system and different numbers. So “In the year 819 … ” is not “one date” – it is 30 different dates to everyone who had a different calendar pinned to their wall!
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But why the year 819?
“The Christian Bible has two sections, the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is the original Hebrew Bible, the sacred scriptures of the Jewish faith, written at different times between about 1200 and 165 BC. The New Testament books were written by Christians in the first century AD.” BBC website
So deduct 1200 years from August 27th 2019 – and we are in the year 819 (with 30 different calendars / ways of counting time).
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I was reading a blog about “women in the church”.
I find these “biblical debates” very tiring. The evidence fishing … the evidence presenting … the context setting … the conundrum of “If God is good – and He is – then how does (whatever example of “God’s biblical law” that is unkind-unfair-inhuman by our standards) reconcile with “God is good” so we can defend the bible today … ”
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“Good Christians” argue-debate-fall-out-schism over stuff written not 1200 years ago – but 3219 years ago (1200 + 2019 years – using one of a multitude of different calendars).
Good Christians pore over words written in a time alien to us. As alien as the planet Mars. As alien as the deepest unexplored ocean floor right here. Good Christians pore over – argue over – fall-out over – schism over … words from (alien to us) way back then. AND justify today why that law is good and should apply today … because it is of God!
It is like our own children doing all of “that” over the very first sounds my wife and I spoke before we spoke BECAUSE we are Mum and Dad who gave them each life. They don’t.
And we would think them weird if they did.
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What is meaningful to me is now and today – not 3000+ years ago.
Not who I should love and how I should love 3000+ years ago imposed on how and who I love today. Not what the law said about stuff totally alien to my living today but the essence of how I love right now.
Because (to be a Good Christian for a moment) the Law is Love and Love is the Law.
The Law is NOT “should women” be allowed to do “this” … is NOT should we eat bacon or not … is NOT should we do all the “outside stuff” that no longer applies in the different ways it did back then … Because –
Should women drive cars (still big in Saudi)? Should any of us drive cars? Should women watch television (big in some communities)? Should any of us watch television? Should all the stuff we take for granted – that never even existed 3219 years ago – should any Good Christian be doing any of that?
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Which is simply applying the same “logic” I see over and over in these interminable debates. Because for all this to be valid – time stopped when the bible stopped.
For me it is simple. Love is the greatest. Not the love of 3000+ years ago – but right now right here and in all circumstances.
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Is God going to “cast me out” for loving too much? Is God going to “cast me out” for not differentiating between one life over another … between a human being who loves any other human being … between human beings born not of the one correct created faith but another created faith or no faith at all … ? Is God who is Love really going to “cast me out” for thinking “The greatest of these … ” really IS the greatest?
That, for me, is the only God Law I see.
And when I do … ?
I Am.
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Just me being curious 
Ancient Jews saw the world as two parts: Jews and Gentiles. Gentiles were not judge according to Jewish Law, only Jews were. Christians today seem to judge everyone by Christian standards, which vary from one flavor of Christianity to another. We’ve come a long way, baby! (we have a much longer way to go)
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I wonder if, rather than always focusing on the biblically-correct “sin” and our incapacity NOT to sin, we might look at our need for teaching “transactional love” (as “the best we can do”) when compared with teaching Godly “unconditional Love” (and that as something “we” can never can achieve here on earth – because of sin – and because the bible says so – obviously).
The “do this and get that” – the “believe this and get that” teaching. Not only of church (and all faiths as far as I can see) but of society and parenting and every facet of social control.
More and more I wonder if the reason for perpetuating that in church is – also in the bible – a simple reluctance to cede power and influence – a reluctance to let God out of “our” control – from “our” need to keep things safe-predictable and under control –
Because for me – Love without transaction is Love. The rest is just a man-made construction/distraction of not love.
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That is what the ancient father’s taught, especially the desert fathers, perhaps that is why they lived their lives outside of the church proper. In the Eastern church we are taught that we are all sinners, the goal is to recognize when we sin, ask forgiveness, then try to not repeat. Where most tend to fail is in steps one and three.
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