Basic Theology 2

I have long been taught that there is very little point to reading the Bible without the help of the Holy Spirit. Now, for those of you who know little or nothing about Christian teaching or doctrine, let me explain a little bit about the Holy Spirit. This Holy Spirit is really another name for God, but God in action with the universe. So we have God the Father, the Creator, the Sustainer of the Universe. And we have God the Son, Jesus Christ, who is really God in human form, God with us, God making God accessible to us mortals. And we have God the Holy Spirit, who is the empowering action of God in the form of love and creation. Or simply put: God the Creator, God the Redeemer, and God the Empowerer. I still appreciate and abide by this warning, because the Bible can be one huge and confusing book for those who are not ready. like many curious fourteen year olds, I tried to start with Revelation, which really reads for me like a long and very bad acid trip, even now, almost fifty years later. So I tried to begin with the Gospels, focusing on Matthew. It was wonderful. And very strange, especially the passages about Jesus curing people from demonic possession. That summer, having finished grade nine, I remember spending the last days of June curled up on the grass in Minoru Park in Richmond with my Bible underneath one of a windbreak of oak trees, reading Matthew's Gospel, with intrigue, curiosity and fascination. I knew even then that I was being shown some eternal truths and I felt of all persons most privileged. Matthew's Gospel gave me my first real grounding in Christian theology. As did the letter of James, which we did a teenage Bible study on a few months earlier, just shy of my fifteenth birthday. James taught about the importance of leading a pure and unstained life before God and others, focussing on caring for and serving the most vulnerable while challenging the wealthy and speaking truth to power. Matthew and James together have helped form the template of my expression of life as a Christian. Even then, surrounded by unthinking and unreflective fundamentalist Christians, I instinctively knew that the letters of Paul must be read rather selectively. His writings about the worship and wonder of God and the importance of following Christ faithfully have always resonated with me: not so much some of his comments about women, marriage and homosexuality. But we weren't encouraged to ask those kinds of questions, and for some years I even accepted the teachings against homosexuality, but always drawing the line at sexual behaviour, while refusing to demonize or advocating for the sexual reorientation (now proven to be the most ridiculous and harmful concept that it is) people for being gay. Over the years, my position has modified considerably, especially after having had close friends in faithful same-sex relationships, and I do accept that Pauñ did not always know what he was talking about, though I still largely agree with him about sexual conduct in general: that is what monogamous marriage is for, but I would still tend to cut people a little more slack since, well, we are human beings, after all. Over the years, I have come to focus particularly upon the Gospels, as they relate directly about Jesus who is not only the way to God, but is also the Way of God. All else is commentary. More later, Gentle Reader.