Recently I have commented a couple of times on a popular ‘christian’ bloggers post about things that were not quite right on his posts about the Bible.1 This is a person who does lots of demystifying of the Bible which I think is wonderful and he has written alot about his own vulnerability as a writer. So, each time I comment I try to be very careful about how to frame the critique. I usually want to generally affirm the message, but I also want him to get it right. However, the good girl in me feels guilty for being picky.
In my own work, I actually love feedback. I think it helps me grow as a writer and thinker, and even when I don’t agree with it, it makes me think through why the critique is wrong which I hope helps me articulate my ideas better in future.
So recently, a couple of people contacted me to say that I had got something wrong in my is this church safe for me post. In that post I said that Baptists don’t ordain people and that wasn’t 100% correct. Baptists apparently do ordain, but they don’t require people to be ordained. The Baptists settings I have been connected or adjacent to didn’t have ordained leaders. Apparently it is a church to church thing which is a big part of Baptist polity. Now, I don’t want to say anymore on this for fear of getting it wrong,2 but I did want to acknoweldge that I am thankful for those who reached out and helped me to get it right.
It has taken me a little while to get around to addressing it becuase I have been snowed under, but I appreciate the critique nonetheless. Now I need to go back and update that post.
The David and Bathsheba story was characterised as an ‘affair’ and the use of feminine pronouns in Ezekiel 16, which relate to the sisters Jerusalem, Samaria and Sodom, was used as a reason that that Genesis 19 couldn’t refer to homosexuality.
If you want to know more, perhaps seek out some Baptist people who can tell you more.