Although perhaps they weren't Manichees on campus Friday. Just the run-of-the-mill, anti-gay-lifestyle (although I guess "anti-gay" would be more accurate), magic Bible quotes on one side of one guy's standard, the other side having a picture of two guy about to kiss with a red diagonal slash through it. The Other guy with the longer standard, listing everyone goin to hell on one side and on the other...idunno.
I tried to avoid them the hour in between classes mostly 'cause I don't know anyone on campus anymore, so the likelihood of running into anyone I know in the crowd was close to nil. Still had to pass by them to get home a couple hours after though, and somehow the crowd was even larger than before.
The guy with the longer standard was standing on a milk crate with a whistle, yelling about how a man needs a woman helpmate. In between Huey and Duey was Louie, a chunky male student in a NIN t-shirt with long brown hair holding up a side of cardboard with a pentagram on it that said ...something Santa.
Whatever. I guess since it's the fall quarter, this is the first time a lot of freshmen manchilds see em.
In related news, I got into listening to sermon/Bible studies from the local-ish radio station. A couple of the pastors/teachers are okay...well out of the three I regularly listen to only one is genuinely still rad to me, he's the one who enunciates every. Single. Syllable. Perfectly. There's the one who sounds like a white boy...I'm not sure how that describes. He complains that people study Biblical criticism, that people study evolution, sounds like a fundamentalist. And then there's the guy who runs at 1AM. He kinda. I don't like him.
Was explainnig Matthew 16:13-20. Non iam from my Reformation class exactly a year ago, nor the Middle Ages class that had a lot of Papal docs earlier this year, sed etiam dating a Catholic for a couple years up until bout a monthish ago...and I'm really interested in how an evangelical/fundamentalist talks through this one.
So...the money verses:
17Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed
to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.
He pointed out that Jesus used Peter's old name. Not really sure if he said why He did that. (It was 1am)
18And I tell you that you are Peter,[b] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades[c] will not overcome it.
uuuuuuh you have to do the very thing that everyone gets mad at the Catholics for doing, which is know the linguistic mysteries and secrets of the text. No, in this one time you cannot "just read the plain words of the Bible" but understand that if you took Hebrew, that "Peter" isn't Petra but is petras which means little pebble, small stone or some such. When Jesus says on this rock we're all supposed to somehow know that Jesus is pointing past Peter to the...some important rock behind them. The term that comes up to my mind is Dome of the Rock, but I'm not sure. Perhaps it was where Jesus was later crucified. Building the church upon the cross and whatnot.
