{"@attributes":{"version":"2.0"},"channel":{"description":"Avery (MDiv, they\/them or ze\/zir pronouns). \n\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f Here for the liberation of all peoples and flourishing of all Creation \ud83c\udf31\n\nDECOLONIZE PALESTINE!!! \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf8 LAND BACK ACROSS THE GLOBE! \ud83c\udf0e\n\nCheck out my pinned post for more.","title":"ONE SPIRIT, MANY GIFTS","generator":"Tumblr (3.0; @blessedarethebinarybreakers)","link":"https:\/\/blessedarethebinarybreakers.tumblr.com\/","item":[{"title":"Jesus talks in Luke 16 about a rich man who ignored a poor beggar named Lazarus who was inside his…","description":"

sacredheart-stigmata<\/a>:<\/p>

Jesus talks in Luke 16 about a rich man who ignored a poor beggar named Lazarus who was inside his gate. They both die, and the rich man goes to Hades, while Lazarus is “carried” by angels to “Abraham’s side”. […] The rich man asks Abraham to have Lazarus go get him some water, because he is “in agony in this fire.”<\/p>

[…] Note what it is this man wants in hell: he wants Lazarus to get him water. The rich man wants Lazarus to serve him. In their previous life, the rich man saw himself as better than Lazarus, and now, in hell, the rich man still sees himself as above Lazarus. It’s no wonder Abraham says there’s a chasm that can’t be crossed. The chasm is the rich man’s heart! It hasn’t changed, even in death and torment and agony. He’s still clinging to the old hierarchy. He still thinks he’s better<\/i>. <\/p>

[…] To reject Lazarus was to reject God. The rich man Jesus tells us about hasn\u2019t yet figured that out. He\u2019s still clinging to his ego, his status, his pride\u2014he\u2019s unable to let go of the world he\u2019s constructed, which puts him on the top and Lazarus on the bottom, the world where Lazarus served him<\/i>.<\/p>

He’s dead, but he hasn’t died– he’s in Hades, but he still hasn’t died the death that brings Life. [The death of greed, of cruelty to one’s neighbour. The death of his own place in the oppressor class]. He\u2019s living with the reality that comes from not dying that death that will lead a person into the only Life that will ever be worth living.<\/p>

Lazarus and the Rich Man and what they can teach us about Christian Hell as seen in Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Has Ever Lived <\/i><\/p><\/blockquote><\/blockquote>","link":"https:\/\/blessedarethebinarybreakers.tumblr.com\/post\/832851598993719296","guid":"https:\/\/blessedarethebinarybreakers.tumblr.com\/post\/832851598993719296","pubDate":"Mon, 09 Nov 2026 19:06:19 -0500","category":["lazarus","lazarus and the rich man","luke 16","hell","reading and studying the bible"]},{"title":"Curling up in the arms of God like a wounded animal in its den","description":"

laurelindorenan<\/a>:<\/p>

Curling up in the arms of God like a wounded animal in its den<\/p><\/blockquote>","link":"https:\/\/blessedarethebinarybreakers.tumblr.com\/post\/832851541807513600","guid":"https:\/\/blessedarethebinarybreakers.tumblr.com\/post\/832851541807513600","pubDate":"Mon, 09 Nov 2026 19:05:24 -0500","category":["this was me all october","us and god","comfort"]},{"title":"In ten minutes — Monday Nov 9 at 7pm ET — come hear my friend and colleague Brooke discuss…","description":"

\"PhotoALT<\/span><\/figure><\/div>

In ten minutes \u2014 Monday Nov 9 at 7pm ET \u2014 come hear my friend and colleague Brooke discuss recovering from spiritual trauma! <\/p>

“Join Rev. Brooke Scott, licensed social worker and therapist, as we discuss what spiritual trauma looks like, how it affects LGBTQIA+ people, and the ways in which we can care for ourselves and others as we seek to dismantle systems that perpetuate harm, including the church.”<\/p>

Submit this to immediately receive the link<\/a>; only info you have to give is your email and it’s not to spam you, it’s just to ensure we don’t get repeated jerks coming in. You can show up late, it goes till 8pm ET<\/p>","link":"https:\/\/blessedarethebinarybreakers.tumblr.com\/post\/832850656756940800","guid":"https:\/\/blessedarethebinarybreakers.tumblr.com\/post\/832850656756940800","pubDate":"Mon, 09 Nov 2026 18:51:20 -0500"},{"title":"“Growing up in Poland, I remember the icon of the Black Madonna traveling from home to home. She was…","description":"

sacredheart-stigmata<\/a>:<\/p>

\u201cGrowing up in Poland, I remember the icon of the Black Madonna traveling from home to home. She was a mother with skin as dark as the earth and scars across her face. When we gathered with our neighbors before her, we brought our own wounds, too. We held our difficulties and heartbreaks before her and trusted that she understood. The rosary was always part of those gatherings, but it was also the prayer we turned to again and again throughout our lives. When someone died, we prayed the rosary. When someone was born, we prayed the rosary. When someone was sick or got well, we prayed the rosary. When political regimes pushed us against the wall, we prayed the rosary. It was our prayer.\u201d<\/p>

the words of Adam Bucko<\/b>, Episcopal priest and author of Let Your Heartbreak Be Your Guide: Lessons in Engaged Contemplation<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/blockquote>","link":"https:\/\/blessedarethebinarybreakers.tumblr.com\/post\/830131353092800512","guid":"https:\/\/blessedarethebinarybreakers.tumblr.com\/post\/830131353092800512","pubDate":"Sat, 10 Oct 2026 19:29:10 -0400","category":["mary tag","black madonna","catholic tag","history","saints tag"]},{"title":"I\u2019ve been rereading my Bible and I\u2019m having an impossibly difficult time with the book of Joshua. God seems so impossibly cruel here, if not outright genocidal. I worry that feeling that way is falling into the old antisemitic \u201cthe old testament God is evil and violent but the new testament God is good and nice\u201d trope, but at the same time\u2026the text is just kind of embracing wholesale slaughter of innocent communities. I\u2019d appreciate any guidance you\u2019ve got in this direction","description":"

In her book Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again<\/i>, Rachel Held Evans says that growing up<\/a>, she was firmly told not to question any<\/i> part of scripture, and to believe that if the Bible depicts God doing or saying a thing, that thing is<\/i> just, even when it sounds unjust to us:<\/p>

\"But accepting the Bible\u2019s war stories without objection threatened to erase my humanity. <\/b>\u2018We don\u2019t become more spiritual by becoming less human,\u2019 Eugene Peterson said. How could I love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength while disengaging those very faculties every time I read the Bible?
So I brought my whole self into the wilderness with God \u2013 no faking, no halfway. And there we wrestled.\"<\/p><\/blockquote>

Honestly, I'm concerned for anyone who reads through the Book of Joshua without<\/i> being disturbed. As Daniel Delgado describes i<\/a>t:<\/p>

\"The Book of Joshua can be a tough read for many reasons. Not least of these is its very premise: G-d has commanded the Israelites (our ancestors!) to conquer the land of Canaan, exterminate the original inhabitants, and establish complete demographic and political domination. The text glorifies this sacred mission, at times seeming to revel in xenophobic brutality.\"<\/p><\/blockquote>

This text does<\/i> put genocidal commands in God's mouth, and we should<\/i> be deeply troubled by this fact \u2014 especially given the ways Joshua's been weaponized to justify violence throughout the centuries.<\/p>

If you recognize that there are many, many places in the Hebrew Bible where God is depicted as loving and a defender of the oppressed, it's not antisemitic<\/b> to recognize places where God is depicted otherwise; Jewish scholars and readers also notice and wrestle with these places! As the fantastic Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg explains<\/a>, <\/p>

It is the responsibility of all of us who have Joshua as part of our sacred canon to wrestle with the book and its fruits.<\/h2>

\"We cannot pretend that this massive narrative arc is not here. We cannot pretend that it has not done innumerable damage to many peoples and places over the course of history.\"<\/p><\/blockquote>

This isn't to say that everyone has to do that Right Now As Fast As We Can. The best way to unpack heavy parts of Bible and faith is in community, and\/or working slowly with lots of space for rest and reflection, interspersed with reminders of the good news of God in scripture, Creation, and in human relationship.<\/p>

That being said, what follows are places to begin, looking at: <\/p>

Joshua's history<\/b> of harm;
the sociohistorical<\/b> context<\/b> of Joshua;
and finally considering what good news <\/b>can<\/i> be wrestled out of the text.<\/h2>

Key examples of Joshua's harmful recent history:<\/p>