Hi Burros fans! I hope you had an amazing Mother’s Day weekend and that you are truly blessed by the week incoming! Let’s talk about episode 116 Homosexuality and the Bible. I’m going to be honest with you; I avoided listening to this one for a couple days because I didn’t know what to expect. (Note: please do expect discussion about sexual assault.) But, I should have expected an openness to talk about this weighty topic in love, which is what we got. Tiziana led the study and there will be another part to this one. Tiziana talked about the necessity to read the Bible as it is written, and by that I mean acknowledging that different types of writing are there, from poetry and metaphor to straight narrative and apocalyptic (I know y’all know about that one by now!) She expressed an understanding that the Bible is God-breathed, but human scribes probably faltered, and that we have modern day scholars who are learning new ways of seeing the Bible’s texts all the time. Later in the podcast, Sarita brings up something that was significant to me: the Bible contains a certain amount of mystery. There’s a reason that the Bible doesn’t obviously answer every question we have, there’s a certain amount of awe and wonder built in, and I’m pretty sure that is by design! The Burros know that we have some ultra-conservative fans whose theology and who believe that the Bible is the infallible word of God with no room for metaphor or recent scholarly hermeneutics. So maybe you can see where the schism starts. Believe me, I’m a United Methodist so I know schism! The Burros mentioned a recent debate between progressive Pastor Brandon Robertson and Pastor Jeff Durbin. Have you seen that debate? Honestly neither of those people are my favorites so I prefer the synopsis. Anyway, Tiziana laid out a map that is going to guide us through the clobber verses and other material and we are going to continue to talk about the Biblical and cultural aspects of the view of homosexuality, and it’s going to be loving and wonderful. There’s a freedom that comes with living in light of the grace of God. A wise and loving pastor of mine once said that they would hate to stand in the way of anyone’s salvation and that says so much. Also, apparently North Carolina is getting a Buckees! I think it’s going to be out the Western way instead of my way. I was really excited when Fayetteville got a Sheetz near me!
Episode 117 is titled “What is the book of Jasher?” and the discussion was led by Charlton Rick “The Rickening” Carter who has too many names, and OG Rick, Sarita, and even Andy were in the studio. Here’s some basics:  the book of Jasher is a Pseudepigraphic writing, which means that it was written by a less than legitimate author. The book is not part of the Apocrypha, fourteen books that are considered worth study, but not canonical. I learned that the Book of Jasher is a history book covering the life of Abraham approximately 3500 years ago during the same period of Genesis and Exodus but contains more detail. I learned that “Jasher” isn’t a proper name but a title basically. Of course, Abraham is the father of not only Christianity but Judaism and Islam as well. I related to something Sarita said (I always do) in that she hasn’t spent a lot of time in extra-Biblical literature as she feels she needs to focus on the Bible itself. At some point for me, this podcast became hard to listen to because of all of the mispronunciation and correction during the reading. I love y’all and we are better than that! Anyway, maybe once the Burros get the stripper bus to go on tour, they can swing down this way and come get me.
Please feel free to leave me some comments! Even if you tell me I stink, I’m going to be excited just because you read the blog! Walk in love friends.