this post was submitted on 16 Feb 2025
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted, clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
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I grew up Christian and no longer believe but with the exception of Matthew 15:21-28, which you only quote a piece of, you are taking these out of context.
Matthew 10 is Jesus sending his apostles to preach his word. The bit about not bringing peace but a sword is a reference to the changes he promised and the suffering he tells the apostles they will face for preaching his word. This is also where Jesus tells them to separate from family that turns their back on Jesus' word.
It's not an endorsement of violence.
John 14:6 is properly read in context. You cannot follow a path different than the one Christ set and get to heaven. The guy who constantly steals, cheats, abuses people, and only pursues wealth or the praise of others isn't a "good guy" in most religions. This isn't as controversial as you make it out to be.
Luke 12:47-48 is part of a parable which discusses how since you cannot know when Jesus would return you always need to be ready.
This isn't an endorsement of slavery nor is it a refutation of it, rather, it is part of a metaphor and wasn't taken literally. If you got this one off a website or infographic rather than your own knowledge of the texts it's a trash tier source. If this came from your own knowledge WTF this is one of the most famous passages in the whole book you shouldn't be fucking this one up if you know the NT.
The last part is the only thing actually taken correctly in context. Jesus wasn't there for the gentiles. The idea he was here for all comes from all the Paul related writings aka the gentile who never met Jesus IRL.
When you see something that looks as off as these quotes do you should look at the larger passage because they rarely mean what the atheists think they do.
Matthew 15, yes, shows the point.
I highly disagree on Matthew 10, that seems like strong apologetics. I don't see how saying he brings the sword means his people will suffer from spreading his word.
John 14, still is gatekeeping. Also theres some irony there with the wealth of the church
On Luke 12, yeah I get it. He also doesn't condone slavery when having that discussion at all. Yes he uses the metaphor of servants awaiting their master's return to illustrate accountability and judgment. But damn that's a bad metaphor, equating followers to slaves. If you read further you also see v47 refers to someone who understands what God expects but willfully ignores it. Jesus warns that such a person will face severe consequences. Kinda like a slave being beaten for not listening, cool... Then in v48 he goes on that if the servant still does wrong but does not fully understand their responsibility. As a result, their punishment is lighter. Again, equating followers to slaves, and still punishing someone for something they don't understand, very chill. Not only does he seem to not have issues with slavery, he seems to agree with some of the principles of it.
The quotes don't seem off to me, they seem to express the point I was trying to make. Maybe I could have offered more color or explanation but I stand by what I called out.
Go read all of Matthew 10. It might take 2 minutes tops. It's very clear. It isn't violent in a "imma kick your ass violent" it is about breaking apart families that refuse to follow Christ which IMO is a different problem.
John 14 makes sense in context and at the time it was written the Church was poor.
I think your perception of John is colored by a misunderstanding if the place slaves had in society and how they were viewed. Jewish slavery laws are NOTHING like chattel slavery. Slaves were humans and while less than their master it isn't as evil as a modern American might think. Literally every society had slavery at this time.
The don't look off to you because you don't see them in their fuller context and you seem to not understand how specific things like slavery were different.
I won't argue Matthew since either way you look at it, it's bad. Right there we've shown not everything he says is loving.
Yes, everyone had slaves. But slavery is slavery, I'm not interested in the different flavors of slavery or justifying it because everyone did it. Jesus speaking about it and relating his people to slaves while not condemning it seems evil af to me. It's owning people, it's clearly wrong.
I don't misunderstand the difference, but you seem to think Jewish slavery was apparently not that big of a deal. I think owning someone, even if they seem like part of the family, is still wrong. Indentured servitude is wrong. Trying to split hairs is just justifying it. Jesus said "and a servant who knows what the master wants, but isn’t prepared and doesn’t carry out those instructions, will be severely punished." Doesn't sound loving to me.
Here are some of the rules for Jewish slaves, and the consequences for hurting them
A master who knocked out a slave'gs eye or tooth must let him go free. No punishment, you just get to be free without an eye now.
If a master beat or harmed a slave, the slave could go free. Again no punishment, you just get to actually be free
Kind seems like they aren't treated fair. Jesus could have said something about that, but he never did. In fact he spoke to it without issue.