Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Martin admits he was wrong

A former student (agnostic) from my REL2011 class contacted me and asked me what I thought about the role of compassion and mercy in Christianity. He was troubled by conversation with his Christian friends about Bruce Jenner's transformation into Caitlyn and their condemnations of it as "sin." He wanted to know what I thought.

I told him that in classic orthodox Christianity, there is an understanding that we have all sinned, and that all sins are more or less equally sinful, but that the most insidious sins are the sins of the heart; such sins as self righteousness, pride and judgment. These are the sins that Christ vigorously confronted in the religious leaders in Matthew 23.

Then I shared with him this video clip from the 2003 film LUTHER.


 

8 comments:

  1. What an amazing response you gave to your former student. Glad students are still able to contact you even after not having you for a class.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good response! Some people are so caught up on a feeling that they don't understand the real meaning behind it all.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is a great never realised it

    ReplyDelete
  4. I strongly agree, I was raised catholic and was thought to believe homosexuality or transgender procedures are a sin.Yet, as I became older, I realized if there is a god he would only care about our happiness. Therefore, people should do whatever brings them joy, who are we to judge.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great response! I definitely agree. This video was a really great way to prove your point. I love that movie!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Greatly enjoyed this movie, and a very appropriate clip to illustrate your point.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This was a good scene in the movie. I hope your former student shows his friend this too

    ReplyDelete
  8. Great response to clear up the former student's confusion and great clip as well

    ReplyDelete