Random Thoughts

Sharing my thoughts with the world from a Particular Baptist perspective

Menu

Skip to content
  • Home
  • About
  • My Web Sites
  • Other Blogs I Recommend

Tag Archives: portrays

ANGLICAN CHURCH OF CANADA PORTRAYS JESUS AS A RECOVERING RACIST

Posted on March 6, 2009 by particularkev

In a brochure on ‘2009 Lenten Meditations’ put out by the Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC), Jesus is portrayed as a recovering racist, reports John-Henry Westen, LifeSiteNews.com.

The brochure’s reading for March 27 is taken from Matthew 15, which relates the familiar story in which Jesus has a discussion with a Canaanite woman. According to the ACoC, “This is not a story for people who need to think that Jesus always had it together, because it looks like we’ve caught him being mean to a lady because of her ethnicity.”

The brochure quotes the Bible passage Matthew 15 22-27 (citing it incorrectly as Matthew 14), which reads: “a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, ‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.’ He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ But she came and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’ He answered, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.’ “

The brochure meditation on the passage says of Christ: “At first, he ignores her cries. Then he refuses to help her and compares her people to dogs.”

The meditation continues: “But she challenges his prejudice. And he listens to her challenge and grows in response to it. He ends up healing her daughter. What we may have here is an important moment of self discovery in Jesus’ life, an enlargement of what it will mean to be who he was. Maybe we are seeing Jesus understand his universality for the first time.”

More traditional Anglicans, however, did not take kindly to the suggestion that Christ was a cruel racist whose “prejudices” were “challenged” by the Canaanite woman.

Bishop Carl Reid of the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada, a traditional Anglican group which separated over 30 years ago from the ACoC, explained to LifeSiteNews.com that the translation of words and the context must be taken into account for a proper understanding of the passage.

“The Greek word that is used for ‘dog’ in the passage, is actually a different from that of another word used as an insult for non-Jews in those times,” he said. The word used in Matthew 15 refers to a “puppy or family pet” rather than the insulting term said Bishop Reid. “The significance (of Christ’s selection of words) would not have been lost on the woman because it would not have been caught as a rebuff.”

Rather than an indication of Christ’s racism, the passage has always been interpreted by Christians as a test of the Canannite woman’s faith and an example to the Pharisees who were present and unbelieving. The text is often cited as an encouragement to perseverance in prayers of petition.

Notably, the ACoC brochure leaves out the most important line of the passage: “Then Jesus answering, said to her: O woman, great is thy faith: be it done to thee as thou wilt: and her daughter was cured from that hour.”

In recent years the ACoC has been rocked with splits, in large part due to the fact that the hierarchy has attempted to force priests to engage in official blessings of homosexual partnerships. As a consequence, some Anglican churches in the country have sought Episcopal oversight from more traditional wings of the Anglican Church.

Report from the Christian Telegraph

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pocket
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Reddit
  • LinkedIn
  • WhatsApp
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...
Posted in Anglicans, Canada, Christianity, Homosexuality, Jesus Christ | Tagged 2009 Lenten Meditations, according, account, ACoC, Anglican Catholic Church of Canada, Anglican Church of Canada, Anglicans, answering, attempted, Bible, bishop, blessings, brochure, Canaanite, Canada, Carl Reid, caught, challenges, Christ, Christians, church, citing, compares, consequence, context, continues, country, cries, cruel, cured, daughter, different, discussion, dogs, engage, enlargement, episcopal, ethnicity, example, explained, fact, faith, familiar, family, force, Greek, group, grows, healing, help, hierarchy, homosexual, ignores, important, incorrectly, indication, insult, insulting, interpreted, Jesus, lady, life, listens, lost, mean, meditation, moment, non-Jews, official, Oharisees, oversight, partnerships, passage, people, perseverance, pet, petition, portrays, prayers, prejudice, present, priests, proper, puppy, quotes, racism, racist, rebuff, recovering, refuses, relates, response, rocked, selection, self discovery, separated, significance, splits, story, suggestion, term, test, think, traditional, translation, unbelieving, understand, universality, used, wings, woman, Word, words | 1 Comment

IMPORTANT NOTE

News reports of persecution and other information posted here does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the 'Blog Author-Master.'

ADMINISTRATION LINKS

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,446 other subscribers

Random Thoughts

  • 340,615 visitors

Search Random Thoughts

Categories

ALP Australia Bill Shorten Boko Haram bushfires China Christianity Communism crime disaster Donald Trump economy Egypt Health and Fitness Hinduism India Indonesia Iran Iraq ISIL - Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant Islam Liberal Party Malcolm Turnbull National Party news New South Wales Nigeria Pakistan Politics Queensland Roman Catholicism Russia Scott Morrison Syria United Kingdom USA Victoria video War War on Terror

Tags

ALP arrested article attack Australia authorities children China Christian Christianity Christians church churches Coalition Communism communist communists community coronavirus country district Donald Trump economy election faith family fitness government group health Hindu Hinduism Hindus India Iran Islam Islamic killed Labor Party law leaders Liberal Party local media members Muslim muslims National Party new news New South Wales NSW officials Pakistan Pastor people Persecution police Politics President religion religious Scott Morrison security state Syria United Kingdom USA vaccine Victoria video violence War women worship

Archives

Blogs

  • At The BookShelf
  • Kevin's Wilderness and Travels
  • Kevin's Daily Photo, Video, Quote or Link
  • Kevin’s Walk on the Wildside
  • Tea Gardens Particular Baptist Church
  • The particularbaptist.com Blog
  • Tracing our History

Links

  • Kevin's Portal
  • Kevin’s Family – History Site
  • Kevin’s Wilderness Journeys
  • particularbaptist.com
  • Tea Gardens Particular Baptist Church
  • RSS - Posts
  • RSS - Comments

Categories

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,446 other subscribers

Tweeting Thoughts!!!

  • Happy New Year Everyone - Hope It's a great Year! 1 month ago
  • 7% done with Urban Jungle, by Igor Josifovic goodreads.com/user_status/sh… 9 months ago
  • I'm #reading Succulents by Maurizio Sajeva goodreads.com/review/show?id… 9 months ago
  • I'm #reading Urban Jungle by Igor Josifovic goodreads.com/review/show?id… 9 months ago
  • I'm #reading Shock Wave by Clive Cussler goodreads.com/review/show?id… 9 months ago
Blog at WordPress.com.
  • Follow Following
    • Random Thoughts
    • Join 1,446 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Random Thoughts
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
%d bloggers like this: