How (Not) to Read the Bible: Making Sense of the Anti-women, Anti-science, Pro-violence, Pro-slavery and Other Crazy-Sounding Parts of Scripture

by Dan Kimball

Some of the people following Jesus were from Jewish synagogues, and they may have understood the Old Testament law but were now being taught a new way of relating to God through Jesus. They might find some of the teaching confusing since they were used to the older ways of worshiping God in the temple and synagogues. People were coming into these churches from pagan backgrounds, having been immersed in the worship of other gods and goddesses. Paul wrote several letters to these churches during this dynamic, chaotic time period, a time filled with change and confusion about how churches should best function and operate. He wrote to instruct them in what to do as they met for worship and how to live their lives as followers of Jesus.