🧵The OT makes clear that talking about the incomparable God is outrageously complicated, and can only be done by creating space for mystery and paradox. For ex, the box below looks at references to Pharaoh's heart in the Exod story. While trans. usually trans. all these in... ...terms of Pharaoh's heart being "hard" the story uses three verbs, incl. words that are better translated "make strong" or "make heavy."

Note also that the text goes back and forth between YHWH acting on Pharaoh's heart, Pharaoh acting on his own heart, and instances where...

Danny Carroll argues that the primary form of idolatry in Amos and much of the prophetic literature is not the idolatry that puts another god in YHWH's place, but rather the kind of idolatry that worships a false "YHWH," a YHWH made in the image of the people's desires. I think that's right, and I think American Christians, at least, desperately need the prophets to confront us on this.

Some remake the Triune God into a nationalist deity defending (primarily white) America and her (primarily white) interests.

Just worked through the @CCLI's 25 most popular worship songs after spending months studying the Psalms. Here's what stands out:

1. Justice is mentioned only 1x in 1 song. Mishpat alone shows up 65x in 33 different Psalms.

2. The poor are completely absent in the top 25. By contrast, the Psalter uses varied language to describe the poor on nearly every page.

3. The widow, refugee, oppressed are completely absent from the top 25. The orphan gets two mentions, one occurrence of which appears to refer to a "spiritual" orphan

If you leave your church (for reasons besides abuse), and your leaving doesn't incl some sustained conversation w/fellow congregants & church leaders, it feels like you're treating the family like a fast food restaurant that you've stopped buying hot spiritual to-go meals from... ...I promise I'm not trying to be dismissive of the pain of leaving, and again, if you've been seriously harmed by your church, you're not the person I'm talking to. But as somebody who has been in volunteer leadership while married to a church staff person, I feel l've gotten...

THREAD: My Christian upbringing seemed to see Rom 13 as God's first and last word concerning what the state is FOR. Ignoring the questions a/b the limits of submission to evil rulers, we seemed to hear Paul saying the gov't is there primarily to wield the sword to keep the peace This often appeared as a major plank in arguments about the role of government... what is the government good for? what can IT do? Wield the sword... both internally (as in Rom 13), and through the military (unlike Rom 13, at least explicitly) Retributive justice=gov'ts role.