Week 50 James 1
A woman once told me she thought that James 1:27 was a summary of the NT (pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world). She said that single verse had become her NT.
I figured then (and still figure now) that the NT is a pretty complex set of ideas. Boiling them down to a simpler set of components seems like a great idea. I start with a big batch of bible maximals and end up with a single (manageable) minimal.
I thought about the desirability of the scheme.
I wondered: does reducing a whole bunch of fragmentary bible elements into a dense singularity help me? I figured: ‘Yes’.
I also wondered: will losing all of the fragmentary elements be detrimental? I figured: ‘Yes it will be’.
Realistically I can’t have both. It’s either reduce & trim-down or else accept & try managing a forest of complexity.
At the end-of-the-day the choice wasn’t that hard for me. I can’t get completely on board with a seriously downsized NT. Can’t get rid of my concern about what I’ve I traded away to get the condensed version.
Decluttering the NT is a very tempting goal. But streamlining comes with a pretty high price-tag.
Note: quote from James 1:27 (CSB). Technically-speaking James 1:27 has two items: a) look after orphans and widows and b) keep (myself) unstained from the world. But that’s a minor point.