Thanksgiving 2010
Everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving... 1 Timothy 4:4 (NIV). Everything? That's what it says. Everything God created is good. And nothing is to be rejected - IF - it is received with thanksgiving. This is a radical, surprising, and controversial claim. While it may now be Christian theological orthodoxy (that creation itself is good, but fallen), most creation theologies and origin-stories are violent. Creation itself is often seen as suffused with blood, born out of the battle between gods, or between good and evil forces. Not every Christian even believes in the thorough goodness of creation, as seen in traditions which "deny the flesh" without also embracing it, or which fixate on the battle with evil. But this scripture is clear. Everything God created is good. And now the still more amazing claim. No part of creation is to be rejected, nothing denied or disowned - but its acceptability is determined by...