What I Think I Know

I finally picked up a book that I have had for some time to start reading it. This is a book called The New New Testament edited by Hal Tussig. I even started reading the forward to the book by the biblical scholar John Dominic Crossan, although I often skip the Forwards, Prefaces, etc. I learned something new. Well, I knew that not all the letters that were attributed to St. Paul were written by St. Paul, however, I had come to believe that St. Paul was a misogynist. It turns out that the misogynist writing were in letters written at least 50 years after St. Paul died but attributed to him. Crossan says on p. xiii in the forward that: 

"There is a massive scholarly consensus--based not externally on political correctness but internally on linguistic differences--that the three letters, 1-2 Timothy and Titus, were written well over a half century after Paul's death. They were reacting flatly to his radical views on equality for all those in the Christian community--whether they entered as Jews or gentiles, females or males, slaves or freeborns (Galatians 3:26-29)." Crossan then talks about what caused this reaction. Patriarchal dominance in his view. It was also because his radical call for celibacy and for women to choose violated what was considered normal in the Roman world.

So, what else do I assume I know? What does everyone, in fact, assume that they know. I heard a woman caller to the On Point program on National Public Radio make a comment during the discussion about the possible move of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. She said that the Muslims lost the battle 3000 years ago, so they should give it up. 3000 years ago? Really? Lost Jerusalem? Really? She clearly was convinced of this as fact. (I suppose I could take a side track here and write a longish lament on the sorry state of history education in the US, but won't.)

Many people blindly believe what they read on Facebook or other social media sites. They pass it on. I'm sure that I have been guilty of this, but I do try to check something out before I pass it on. I now also check things out on snopes.com and politely (hopefully) ask the person posting it or messaging it to please check before passing things on. A recent message I received on Facebook claimed that women were dying by smelling poisoned perfume samples. Snopes said it was a hoax which was my first reaction as it didn't seem likely to me. But, clearly the woman who had sent a mass message out believed it and thought she was being helpful. 

I think it is good to question things, to look things up myself. Years ago it was circulating that the there was a bill in Congress that would ban home gardens. Then it circulated that this same bill would force home gardeners to use pesticides and herbicides. This is where that law background becomes useful. I looked it up. Nope. It was a bill to give the appropriate federal agency more authority over the manufacturing and the importation of food. Nothing anywhere in the bill about home gardens. 

Another time it was circulating around the the Federal Drug Administration was going to make it so that only doctors could practice acupuncture, and I think reiki as well. I looked at the guidelines. It was merely issued to clarify things, and, in fact, the regulations being explained had been in place for about 10 years. The guidelines clearly said that the FDA doesn't regulate the practice of anything. 

The people circulating these rumors clearly believed they were true and didn't question the source or look into this themselves. 

And, what do we truly know about others? I know that what I know is my perception of others, how I read what they do or say. So, I suppose it is not unreasonable to assume that the same is true of those that I know: that what they perceive or think they know about me is from the outside.

So, I hope I continue to read, question and think about what I think I know. 

The first 2 images are images from my book, Opening the Heart: Meditations on How to Be. I found the 3rd image on unsplash.com. It was taken by Kyle Glenn.