Jesus Would Have Shared Coffee with the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

2 Mar 2012 14:10 Africa/Lagos

Jesus Would Have Shared Coffee with the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Says Author of New Book, Woman Meets Jesus

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., March 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- "Lisbeth Salander, the troubled female in the Oscar-winning film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, is exactly the kind of woman that Jesus would invite for coffee," says Ruth Vander Zee, author of the new book Woman Meets Jesus (Edenridge Press). "Salander," says Vander Zee, "may not fit in at most churches but is the type of exploited woman that Jesus would befriend in the face of social and religious criticism."

Salander, played by Rooney Mara, is a gifted, but deeply troubled young woman with bleached eyebrows, a black Mohawk, tattoos, leather-and-chain dress, combat boots, and atypical body piercings.

"Jesus was a radical rabbi who reached out to females who didn't fit in with the religious and social communities," says Vander Zee. "He didn't care what the religious elites - the Sadducees and Pharisees - thought about women."

Vander Zee, who spent years studying Jesus' often-overlooked interactions with women, concludes in her new book that Jesus challenged the religious establishment's oppressive view of women and befriended and advocated for females like Salander. "Jesus stood up for exploited, rejected, isolated, desperate, and self-destructive women," says Vander Zee.

Vander Zee grew up in the church, learned the popular Bible stories, and eventually married a pastor. But later she chose to look at the second-class status women often occupied within the walls of the church. She decided to dig deeper into Jesus' personal encounters with women. What she discovered changed her view of women and Jesus.

In order to show how radical Jesus really was, Vander Zee retells the stories of Jesus' encounters with biblical women from their own, first-person perspectives. One woman is the prostitute who visited Jesus at Simon the leper's house and offended the respected guests by lavishing perfume upon Jesus. Another is the ostracized woman at the well who had multiple husbands. Yet another is the untouchable woman who hemorrhaged for 12 years.

"The whole idea that Jesus was anti-women is a modern myth," says Vander Zee. "I can imagine Jesus sitting in a Stockholm cafe with Salander, tearfully listening to her life story and encouraging her to follow the way of the prophet Micah to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with her new-found advocate, Jesus."

Ruth Vander Zee is the award-winning author of social-issue-oriented children's books, including Erika's Story, Mississippi Morning, Eli Remembers, and Always With You. A self-described late bloomer, she earned her college degree when she was 40, wrote her first book when she was 55, speaks to church and women's groups across North America, and writes the popular blog journey-of-faith.com. She lives in Miami, Florida.

For more information about Ruth and Woman Meets Jesus: How Jesus Encourages, Empowers, and Equips Women on Their Personal Journey of Faith (ISBN: 9780982706350; $14), please visit http://www.journey-of-faith.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Ruth Vander Zee
ruthvanderzee@gmail.com
786-374-7606

PUBLISHER:

service@edenridgepress.com
FAX: (616) 365-5797

This press release was issued through eReleases(R). For more information, visit eReleases Press Release Distribution at http://www.ereleases.com.

SOURCE Ruth Vander Zee

Web Site: http://www.journey-of-faith.com



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Rules Vs. Relationships

Friday, May 23, 2008

1. Rules Vs. Relationships

"He [Jesus] looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored."1

God is not into rules. He's into relationships. For example, when Jesus healed the man with the withered hand on the Jewish Sabbath, the religious leaders began to plot how they might kill him. Jesus was angry with these Pharisees because, among other things, they loved their rigid rules more than they loved people. They may have had religion, but they certainly didn't have Christ, Christianity, or God!

What is even more absurd is that these same religious leaders who murdered Jesus insisted that he be taken off the cross before sundown (the beginning of their religious Sabbath day) on the day they killed him because it wasn't "lawful" for him to be hanging dead on the cross on their Sabbath. To leave him there would have broken one of their laws and they would have felt ceremoniously unclean! Imagine that!

As strange as it may seem to many, religion may send more people to hell than anything else! That is, religion that depends on one's own "good works" or man-made laws, rules or traditions. These will never get anyone to heaven. God's Word, the Bible, makes it very clear that: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."2

Again, God isn't into religion or rules. He's into relationships. Jesus died so that we could be reconnected to God and have a right relationship with him. He also wants to make us whole so we can have wholesome relationships with others and live in harmony with God's laws—not to get us into God's heaven, but so we can live wholesome lives.

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you that you gave your Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for my sins so that I could have a right relationship with you, others and myself. Help me to live by your laws that give life and not be bound by man-made religion, legalistic rules, or traditions that are not based on your Word, the Bible. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."

1. Mark 3:5 (NIV).

2. Ephesians 2:8–9 (NKJV).

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The Curse of Theological Rigidity

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

1. The Curse of Theological Rigidity

"Care for the flock of God entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly—not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God. Don't lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your good example."1

People who are theologically rigid are the very opposite of what God's Word encourages leaders to be. They see themselves as being very spiritual and good Christians. The Pharisees of Jesus' day saw themselves in the same light.

The fact is that people who are theologically rigid are not spiritual at all. They are theologically rigid because they are emotionally rigid. And they are emotionally rigid because they are living in denial—denying their insecurities and inner unresolved painful issues. Some are very angry. Others are control freaks. Some are both.

Furthermore, theologically rigid people who become leaders in the church (or in politics or any other area) do great damage to people both psychologically and spiritually. They keep people immature, over-dependent, and in denial just as they themselves are. They, like the Pharisees, love their rules more than they love people. They use people to fulfill their own manipulative purposes. They are legalists who demand that others conform to their unrealistic expectations and, if they refuse to do so, they will be rejected—in some religious and political environments they can be totally ostracized and/or even killed.

God's word describes people who fall back into legalism as being bewitched.2 Remember though; they only control us if we allow them to. In some extreme cultures one may be forced to be controlled outwardly or be killed but it is important that, with God's help, one keeps control of his or her mind and beliefs.

Suggested prayer:

"Dear God, please deliver me from the trap and curse of theological rigidity and legalism and give me the insight to recognize it whenever it appears. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."

1. 1 Peter 5:2-3 (NLT).
2. Galatians 3:1.

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