It's really about power and territory

Here's this week's Bible study blog entry for i.ucc.org:

It’s really about power and territory.

When someone or a group of people abuse the Bible and use it to degrade, exploit, marginalize, or reject a person or group of people, the ones who degrade, exploit, marginalize, or reject need to be stopped. Abusing the Bible to degrade, exploit, marginalize, or reject is never right. It is never Christian. It is never good.

When someone or a group of people who abuse the Bible to degrade, exploit, marginalize, or reject a person or group of people find themselves chastised, uninvited, or prevented from degrading, exploiting, marginalizing, or rejecting a person or group of people, they are not having their rights violated or their religious liberties attacked. Those who abuse the Bible to degrade, exploit, marginalize, or reject are being called to task for abusing the Bible and ignoring God’s rules of love.

No matter how you dress it up, the real reason behind the righteous indignation of those who abuse the Bible to degrade, exploit, marginalize, or reject others is the loss of power and territory. People in power don’t like to lose it. People whose power hold comes from degrading, exploiting, marginalizing, or rejecting others will try to make their cause seem righteous. It is not.

In this week’s Bible reading from Acts 16:16-34, Paul and Silas were thrown in jail with false religious accusations when what they really did was heal someone who had been degraded, exploited, marginalized, and rejected.

It was really about power and territory.