I was reading in Genesis 1 this morning and had a realization, something I hadn't noticed before. Maybe you guys have already thought about his but--we were intended to be vegetarians?

29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.

To me that sounds like all living creatures were to eat only plants. That makes sense I suppose. It's hard to imagine all of creation being in harmony if some animals had to kill others for food. So eating meat is a consequence of the fall? That's interesting. What do you think?

This doesn't make me feel like I need to become a vegetarian, by the way, anymore than I feel like I need walk around naked.

I read through the book of Jonah the other day. I really like that book. You should read through it too, it's only four short chapters long and easy to do in one sitting.

It's slightly comical how Jonah is so defiant against God--and kind of whiny. For one, he ran away from God's command and got swallowed by a fish because of it. But God had mercy on him and let the fish spit Jonah out, after Jonah humbled himself and asked for God's forgivenss and help:

"[Jonah] said, 'I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple'" (2:4).

That's in chapter two, which has Jonah's beautiful prayer. But even then, Jonah argues with God in chapter four. This is when Jonah becomes particularly prideful and just plain whiny. He disagreed with God's decision to have mercy on the city of Nineveh, who had turned from their wickedness after hearing God's message spoken through Jonah.

"But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, 'Isn't this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate god, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to dies than to live.'" (4:1-3)

Jonah doesn't understand that what God did for Nineveh, is the same as what he did for Jonah himself by forgiving him for running away. It's also funny because this has to be one of the only times in the Bible when God's graciousness and compassion are spoken about as a bad thing.
Of course Jonah wasn't the first to try and run away from God (Adam and Eve) and certainly not the last (me). It's easy for us to think Jonah is just plain silly, but we do the same things.

Anywho, I just wanted to share that. Because I like it.

Something that has been in my mind a lot this semester is the issue of biblical gender equality. I'm in a Women in Christian History class, and this has led to lots of dicussion about how to interpret what the bible says about women and how that has been misunderstood and applied for most of church history. I've also talked to people who are confused about the issue or uncomfortable using the words "Christian" and "Feminism
together (I can understand that. Feminism is a loaded term). I've stumbled across some cool websites on the topic. Just now, I've discovered the Christians for Biblical Equality's (CBE) website. You should check it out and see what they have to say.

I liked what Shane Claiborne had to say about the organization:

“This is beautiful work--simple, genuine, redemptive. It shouldn't seem radical... but it is. It shouldn't even be necessary to say 'men and women are equal...' but it is. Hopefully in another ten years, the saints of CBE will end gender inequality and put themselves out of jobs. Until then, may we all live in discomfort amid a booming choir of white men, while the church is pregnant with women who are ready to lead and write and preach but still get funny looks or cold shoulders.”

I have a lunch date with Linh I have to get to now. Let me know what you think.