As I began to gather a list of what people felt were the most controversial scriptures in the Bible, a lot of the ones I expected people to say came up. People asked about the scripture that talks about women not leading over men, the way slaves should behave, homosexuality, and women being submissive to their husbands. As I was looking these passages up, I came across the website whatchristianswanttoknow.com and found an article titled “Top 5 Controversial Bible Verses With Commentary.” Since this was exactly what I was looking for, I proceeded to read. I was surprised to learn that all 5 scriptures referenced were things that Jesus said. It dawned on me: this is where we should begin. If Jesus is the one who reveals to us God and the one whom we should follow, it is his words that should inform the way we read everything else. We are going to start with Jesus, and you guessed it, we will spend the next 4 weeks talking about some very controversial things he has said.

Photo by Ujwala Prabhu