That women should not be ordained ...
And, those who still believe that "people of color" are less than the white race ...
... use an inverted triangle, balanced on its peak ... by taking a few verses and building huge ideologies on them, ideologies invariably of exclusion and domination, feeding into the power of those in charge by diminishing the power of others.
Not only are these huge ideologies based upon a few verses, less than ten in each case, but verses that have proven to be hard to translate, and have, over the centuries, been mistranslated. Give or take a few verses, there are 31,102 verses in the Protestant Bible. To build a huge system of repression and damnation on fewer than 10 verses, and mostly fewer than 5, is irrational at best and, at worst, dangerous.
Going back to the triangle image - the nature of an inverted triangle, trying to balance on its peak, is inherently unstable, requiring constant attention, lest it tip over to find its inherent stability. The frantic preaching of RW religionists is rooted in its inherent instability. It just doesn't stand up very well, so it has to be propped up again and again. Those who build their faith with an inverted triangle are weary to the core, frustrated and angry, and always eager to lash out at others whom they perceive as "enemies of the faith."
Rather, the great doctrines of faith, hope and love are clear and consistent throughout Scripture. The message of social justice woven into the fabric of the prophets is clear and consistent, and so is the teaching of Jesus and Paul.
Sure, there's plenty of room for interpretation - e.g. supralapsarianism or infralapsarianism? or free will vs. predestination, and "did Jesus die for our sins or because of our sins?"
But the great ideas of Scripture, the large doctrines of faith - the grace, mercy and peace of God - these are clear and consistent, and from these large doctrines, encompassing huge portions of Scripture, emerge the ethics of inclusion, welcome, equality and social mercies.
When Scripture is situated on the firm foundation of understanding - when the triangle firmly seated on its wide base - there's still plenty of opportunity remaining to consider the lesser verses, stories, etc., but the triangle isn't balanced on a peak, about to tip over, but rest on its broad and stable base.
Sadly, RW christianity has always been attracted to the few verses that consternate. Rather than saying, "I don't know," or "I'm not sure," or more accurately, "This little piece of Scripture simply doesn't align with the body of the text," they've proceeded to "tell the world what they mean," and, as noted above, tend to gravitate to those social ideas that exclude and dominate.
RW interpretation is NOT one alternative among others; RW hermeneutics are flawed and dangerous, revealing their inherent character in exclusion and domination, rather than welcome and equality. We know them by their fruits, and their fruits are not good, having caused much harm in the world - whatever the religious tradition might be.
Religious traditions will always "enjoy" variety and have their internal disagreements, simply because they're large, but it's time to be clear, very clear, that RW hermeneutics of exclusion and dominance, based upon a few verses, are flat-out wrong!
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