Tidbits from Seminary

This is from my Synoptic Gospels class, which has emerged by far as my favourite and the most spiritually invigorating. The other classes are interesting and I'm glad to be taking them, but this class rocks my world. Here's an excerpt:

"But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children who sit in the market places and who call to others, saying: 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance, we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.' For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said: 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they said: 'Look, this man is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.' And wisdom is justified by her deeds."(Matthew 11:16-19)

A portion of the notes that our prof gave us on this short passage:

"An Observation: Our kind of Christianity assumes that the more we abstain, the more godly we are. (Or, conversely, the more godly we become, the more we will abstain from things.) This assumption is in our hearts, and minds, and pulpits, and schools. But it is not in the Book. The Bible warns against such false spirituality in quite a few places. Our God is no friend of excess. But an abstinence kind of godliness is very hard to find in the Sermon on the Mount. And it was very hard to find in Jesus himself. Drop it."

Pretty cool, eh?