Lifestyle Issues

Jesus often can be very surprising. Traditionally, he is portrayed as a gentle figure that preaches love and acceptance. While this is correct, as far as it goes, it is not a complete picture of the Jesus described in the New Testament. We must remember that Jesus led thousands of people in a politically volatile land. He experienced considerable resistance from the religious and governmental establishments. As such, Jesus can be compared more accurately to a peaceful revolutionary, rather than a monk-like figure. As such, he often said and did things that might be unexpected, given our traditional Western views of him. What does the passage say? If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple, whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:22-27).

In the final part of this trilogy of articles we will be considering what it means to be 'a helper' and whether all that we have discussed in the previous two articles is relevant today, or should this be adapted for cultural reasons? To view the previous two articles on this subject please click here. Specific role for women: Helper When God created woman it is recorded that God said: ‘It is not good that the man should be alone, I will make a helper fit for (or corresponding to) him’ (Genesis 2:18). The original Hebrew (the language the Old Testament is translated from) for ‘helper’ is ‘ezer kenegdo’ in Genesis 2:18 could literally be translated as ‘a helper as corresponding to/opposite him’ from ‘ezer’ (help), ‘ke-‘ (as, like), ‘neged’ (opposite, corresponding to), ‘-o’ (him). ‘A helper opposite and corresponding’ to Adam is a good translation. Therefore Eve was not inferior to Adam. The fact that the word ‘help’ (ezer) is often used to refer to an action of God is interesting, and illustrates the fact that both male and female roles derive from God. For example:

The Bible and Feminism

There is a famous scene found in a paragraph from the great atheist existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre's novel Nausea that almost perfectly sums up the dilemma of modern man.  Here the book's protagonist, Roquentin, spends most of his days living out a humdrum existence – frequenting coffee shops, the public library and just general aimless wandering, all the while attempting to write a book.  Throughout much of the narrative he is frequently struck by feelings of intense nausea that unexpectedly well up within him – mostly they are caused by the various inanimate objects he observes (i.e. a pebble, a newspaper page etc.). Sartre & Roquentin One evening, after having dinner at a restaurant and being overcome by an especially intense bout of nausea, he goes for a walk and ends up sitting on a park bench under a chestnut tree, where, in a sort of epiphany moment, he comes to the realization of why he has been afflicted with such sickness.  In essence Roquentin realizes that all of existence is completely meaningless and every object that exists has no reason for doing so. All life is meaningless?