A fashion designer would describe it as “mesmerize.” I would describe it as “slate.” A normal person would describe it as “bluish gray.” It is the color of our new church building.
I grab a roller and a tray, position my headphones and pick Steve Reich’s The Four Sections. It is minimal and meditative without being simplistic or repetitive. The mallet percussion become little monks ringing little bells in my ears, calling me to divine serenity.
And I need SERENITY NOW! It’s that damn Dallas Willard. Such a harmless name, isn’t it? Like a southern small town high school math teacher. To me, he’s more dangerous than Michael Jackson. Particularly for referring to a certain Bible version’s translation of a verse as “terribly mistaken.”*
Terribly mistaken?
This statement is like selling bombs to terrorists. It’s like giving Satan the key to the front door, the back door, the cat door. It’s like, wrong? God’s not powerful enough to ensure accurate translation of this verse? What about the rest of His Word?**
I remove my headphones and release all of this to my Pastor, who is painting next to me.
“Yeah, well, you know, the original Hebrew doesn’t say Mary was a virgin,” he informs, “it says she was a young maiden.”
“What has been primed and what has been painted?” I snap, waving at the wall. “I can’t tell the difference.”
“I know they’re close, ” he says, “but get some light on it, you’ll be able to tell.”
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*Context of the quote, for those who care: “…translations of Matt. 5:28 that say, ‘everyone who looks at a woman and desires her,’ or ‘everyone who looks at a woman with desire,’ are terribly mistaken.” And now the context of me, for those who care: Although I look at women, especially when they are talking to me, I do not and desire them or with desire them. I do desire to be them, but only when they are touching some intolerably attractive man.
**The slippery slope argument, or, as I call it, the Slip ‘n Slide argument. It’s all fun and games until someone breaks their neck. Which, sadly, actually happened a couple of times.
bendanielparman.com 
I highly doubt you have ever wanted to be me darling… though I’m sure I’ve been with a few intolerably attractive men, by my standards, if not yours, or ours. I delight when you let us into your thoughts, into your world. I’m glad you’re a key member in mine.
My thoughts on that particular verse differ depending on with whom I’m speaking. Hm. But I like your interpretation.
It didn’t say she was a virgin?? In the words of Ella, when being asked if she was a monster….”WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?”
Even in the scriptures people got interpretation wrong until they met Christ in the moment. If our hearts are in the right place, seeking after God and truth, we’ll know what we need to know when we need to know it. The rest is just background information.
I think Dallas Willard sounds like the name of the protagonist in a Christian detective novel. (Like Encyclopedia Brown for youth group kids, right?) I don’t know why…
I don’t know which pastor that was, but I love ALL of your pastors because each seems likely say something like that in passing. When Wayne says stuff like that, I stop breathing for a moment. This is why God has not called me to teaching Bible… If I accidentally teach them something wrong about Oedipus or Stanislavski, who the heck cares?
And I love the last line of this post. And I love you. That is all.
On a side note… YOU are an intolerably attractive man and I do believe that I wish to touch YOU.
“I do desire to be them, but only when they are touching some intolerably attractive man.”
So have you wished you were me when seeing my now inumerable pictures with Hanson?
🙂