A four-day conference convened to examine the viability of the United Church in Canada didn’t have much to consider. If the Church has 3,400 congregations and a membership of 558,000, as reported, that works out to 164 God-fearing souls rushing to each congregation. Obviously, we don’t fear  the Almighty as much as we once did.

Questioning the credibility of your church takes courage indeed and a few theologians are now taking the lead. Clinging tenaciously to any hope of keeping their jobs, most clergy appear to question nothing at all.

Like it or not, we live in a world of Internet and accountability. If you’re going to save souls, you better have a good program to do it. A new religious leadership is desperately needed in the Christian Church. However, those who seek change are not always popular. A lesson learned by Jesus Christ himself.

GSG (God Seeker Guy)

The challenge within the story of Adam and Eve is to spot the true villain.When the Almighty finds Adam and Eve hiding in the bushes and demands to know who ate from the famous tree, Adam immediately blames Eve; the rest of course is history. It’s not an easy task shouldering the blame for the downfall of the human race, but Eve has born the weight on her broad shoulders with admirable stoicism.

Author Jack Holland notes “Eve’s curious mind and audacious spirit proved to be unsettling to many. Ever since the famous fall – all the world’s major religions, and most of the world’s renowned philosophers, have regarded women with scorn.” Aristotle saw women as “failed males” and thirteenth century Catholic Philosopher St. Thomas Aquinas saw women as helpmates and suggested that women were “a necessary object needed to preserve the species and provide food and drink.” Not their finest moments, even considering the times.

To keep the ladies in line, Holland suggests: “the ever resourceful church developed the concept of purity for women. The virgin myth has been employed ruthlessly to show women just how shameless they really are”.

Surely Eve has been given a bad rap. One small culinary error and she gets dumped on for all eternity.

GSG (God Seeker Guy)