Ann Voskamp - a treasure

I need to type fast because I have a lot to say and it is already three minutes past the time I should be up and moving toward my final goal for this morning.  My goal this morning? Clocking in before my start time (instead of shortly after.) Nobody is really watching. I am allowed to be independent like that because I have willingly taken on a lion’s share of work and I have permission and the willingness to stay long after my normal clock out time. 

A department within our larger department is in transition. There is a lot I could say about that, but I won’t.  We really aren't supposed to talk specifics about our job on social media. Well, I really think it is probably more that we are not allowed to talk TRASH about our job on social media.  No problem….about this situation, I have no trash to talk.  

It is very challenging. As they say in PC speak, it is one of those “opportunities to grow.”  I should take notes so I can write about it….my methodology, my thought process…..the life jacket systems that are keeping me from drowning. Ad lib, ad hoc, systems …… improvising as I go along. I’m  pedaling….or should I say paddling…..as fast as I can.  

But that is not what I wanted to write about this morning. l wanted to write about someone named Ann Voskamp. You may be familiar with her but I wasn't. She is a repeat NY Times best selling author. Mother, wife to a farmer, home schooler, missionary, Christian, blogger, photographer, author, baker, hard worker. She has a way with words unlike most...any?....I have read before.  Using them in peculiar ways and places in her prose. Pairing unlikely words together in a sentence. Sometimes a phrase takes me aback.  A sharp inhale of resonating recognition. “Wow,” I think to myself. “Profound,” I silently whisper.  

Somehow her blog comes to my AOL email. I can’t remember how I ended up on her website. I vaguely remember it was via Pinterest….and she had something free that I wanted.  The price….sign up for her mailing list. I am so glad I did.  She “waxes poetic” several times a week in my in box. 

I encourage you to check out her blog, her ministries, (scroll down to the bottom for links to ministries like Compassion and the Esther Initiative and more) and her books.

More about the churches-1600 years ago to present

So…the majority of the (very) early churches were universalists. 

The Early Churches:

According to Edward Beecher, a Congregationalist theologian, there were six theology schools in Christendom during its early years - four were Universalist ( Alexandria , Cesarea, Antioch , and Edessa ). One advocated annihilation ( Ephesus ) and one advocated Eternal Hell (the Latin Church of North Africa) The Salvation Conspiracy: How Hell Became Eternal by Dr. Ken R. Vincent

What about now a days. Ahhhh….not so much.  There are, of course, exceptions, but the overwhelming majority buy into the big lie…(ECT) or the smaller lie (Annihilation)

There are some exceptions…but the vast majority of churches do not believe in universalism.  And…the stakes for a belief in UR are usually high. There are some mighty big consequences.

Witness Carlton Pearson’s ousting….and the Rob Bell controversy….and other lesser known folks who were shunned or fired when they came to believe the “heresy” of universalism.  

At one time…for over 90 years…there was a whole denomination…The Christian Universalist Church of America. Their blending into the melting pot of the Unitarian Church was their demise. 

From Wiki:

The Universalist Church of America was a Christian Universalist religious denomination in the United States (plus affiliated churches in other parts of the world). Known from 1866 as the Universalist General Convention, the name was changed to the Universalist Church of America in 1942. In 1961, it consolidated with the American Unitarian Association to form the Unitarian Universalist Association.

There is a fairly new organization called The Christian Universalist Association that has been on the scene five years or so.  There is a lot of info on their website.  There is a list of some churches that openly proclaim a belief in UR on their site…the process for ordination and history/facts/opinions about universalism.  Check them out HERE.

I’ve also been to some universalist churches for conferences…small…Pentecostal feel to them.  Bob Torango’s House of the Lord Fellowship in Dickson, TN…Shalom in Ontario….and others that, while not overwhelmingly Universalist see it as a valid belief option. I’ve been in home bible studies…and met some of the well known universalist preachers/teachers.  Bob Torango….Gary Amariult, Gary Sigler…and other lesser known folks who preach that God will reconcile all of his creation. 

Mainstream denominations?  I find it interesting that the United Methodist Church’s official stand…though not well known…is “dunno.”  On the official website…now relegated to the archives, their official statement is this:

The Confession of Faith of the Evangelical United Brethren Church echoes the beliefs stated in the doctrinal statements of The Methodist Church (see particularly Articles VIII, IX, XI, and XII).

While these statements of doctrine state that salvation is AVAILABLE to all persons, they stop short of saying that salvation is GUARANTEED to all persons. There is the stated or implied condition that, while God's grace is necessary for salvation and that humankind cannot in any way attain salvation without God, that there is certainly an element of awareness and cooperation on our part to order our lives after the image of Christ if we have the capacity to do so.

There are persuasive arguments that include the faithful, thoughtful, and respectful use of Scripture on both sides-- affirming and denying universal salvation. The Book of Discipline, which is the only official printed voice of the UMC, does not make a statement specifically about universal salvation. This places the question in a possible gray area, but the Discipline says what it says. One must read the doctrine there and attempt to understand it as well as possible.

Rev. Dr. Diana Hynson
Director of Learning and Teaching Ministries in the Congregation
General Board of Discipleship

And any UM readers here on this blog are going…nuh-uh.  Does it really say that?  Yes, it does indeed say that.  And it didn’t used to be in the archives.

Another denomination proclaims their belief in the name of their denomination…a (small) group of Primitive Baptists known as the No-Hellers.  Although that is kind of misleading because they do, indeed, believe in a hell.  They think hell is where we find ourselves right now.  In THIS life. Official name -- The Primitive Baptist Universalists.  A down home, no nonsense group of people from Appalachia.

And there were three seminaries that were universalist. 

Crane Theological School in Medford, MA.  1869 to 1968

Theological School of St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY.  1856 to 1965

They Ryder School of Divinity at Lombard College in Galesburg, IL.  1853 to 1930. 

So…while far from the status quo belief of most Christians…to dismiss it with a statement like “almost no major theologians for the past 1600 years” is quite misleading. 

More in my next post about preachers/teachers and authors who, in varying degrees, believe in and teach universalism. 

Erasing Hell – What Did Jesus Preach?

In Chapter 3, Chan talks about what Jesus said/believed about hell. In the preceding chapter, he takes a look at the commonly held beliefs of first century Jews concerning the afterlife.  His conclusion

In the last chapter, we took a tour of Jesus’ world and saw that, without a doubt, first-century Jews believed in hell. They believed that hell was a place of punishment for the wicked after they faced God’s judgment. They used various images to describe this hell, such as fire, darkness, and lamentation. Some Jews believed that the wicked would be annihilated after being cast into hell, while others described hell as a place of never-ending torment.

He only mentions the Sadducees in the footnotes. They did not believe in any afterlife....and thus, they did not believe in hell.  Some info about the Sadducees.....

"The Sadducees were a small party of very wealthy and influential aristocrats. Most Sadducees were priests, and the high priestly families (those families from whom the high priests traditionally came) controlled the sect and its membership.(Robinson, The Gospels, pp. 24

The only two solidly established traits of the Sadducees are that they were members of the ruling class, and that they did not believe in resurrection" (Murphy, The Religious World of Jesus, pp. 239).

So it is is a bit misleading to simply say that “without a doubt, first-century Jews believed in hell." Let’s just edit that statement a bit....

"without a doubt SOME/MOST first century Jews believed in hell....

But it was definitely not unanimous....yes?

And then he goes on to say that.....

Jesus grew up in the world of beliefs described in the last chapter. He would be expected to believe the same stuff about hell that most Jews did. And if He didn’t—if Jesus rejected the widespread Jewish belief in hell—then He would certainly need to be clear about this.

Says who? Frances Chan?  Because the Bible...and Jesus....are crystal clear on everything? There is no ambiguity? There is only one way to interpret, understand, comprehend the words and actions of Jesus?  Uh-huh.  That's why there are so many different interpretations....leading to so many different denominations and creeds and "this is what we believe" statements.  Because the Bible....and Jesus.....are totally clear on everything.  Yep.....God said it, I believe it, that settles it. Perhaps we all read the same written words in scripture but we all interpret what God mean through our own particular filter.

Then he says....

That last line is very important. Better read it again.

Okay then...let's read it again:

if Jesus rejected the widespread Jewish belief in hell—then He would certainly need to be clear about this.

Okay....we read it again....go on.....

In other words, if Jesus did not agree with the view of hell presented in the last chapter, then He would have had to deliberately and clearly argue against it.

Really?  Says who? Frances Chan?  But wait a minute.  Jesus = God, right?  And God can do whatever he wants.....right?  Earlier in the book (in a section that I will talk about later) Chan declares.....

God has the right to do WHATEVER He pleases

And so....since we aren't "the boss of Jesus" he didn't HAVE to do anything. 

I don't think Jesus believed in hell...at least not as in ETC...Eternal Conscious Torment.  And I certainly don't believe he preached it. 

Many preachers/teacher smarter than me believe that his warnings of destruction were to the folks living and breathing during that generation, the first century Jews.   (as in "...this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled") Maybe Jesus was warning THAT generation about the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD if they (THAT generation) did not straighten up, fly right and heed his warnings..

So the Pharisees and the Essences....Jewish sects in the time of Jesus....believed in a hell like place of unending torment. Did Jesus endorse those beliefs? I don't think so....and I think Jesus articulated his beliefs in a way that was very clear to his contemporaries.  More on that tomorrow/soon......

Francis Chan’s Erasing Hell….2

LONG. TIME. NO. SEE.  I have been AWOL for a few weeks now.  What can I say….a big chunk of those days were spent getting ready for….and going on….my first cruise.  Reluctantly, and with much trepidation, I went.  And I loved it. 

We sailed out of New York….two days at sea…stop offs at Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay and then Nassau.  I drank pina coladas on the beach….on a lounge chair….nestled under the shade of a coconut tree…looking out at cream colored beaches and water that was several shades of aqua.  Beautiful….lovely…..amazing.  Then two more days at sea on the way back to New York.  I waved to the statue of liberty on my way to Pier 90 last Sunday morning at 8 am…told her I would be seeing her again sometime…and then four hours later…. home and back to real life. 

I had planned to spend so much time reading and writing blog post drafts.  But alas…the only thing I read was a Christian novel(surprisingly not hokey) Very unusual for me to read fiction. I did next to no “blog” reading or research. 

But now it’s a week and then some since we arrived back home…and this Erasing Hell nonsense has been on my mind since I read the book….time to put cyber pen to cyber paper. 

I was kind of spurred on by a blog post I read last night….a post that showed up on my FB feed…..from a blog called “What God Does.”  While I was goofing off, the author of the What God Does blog was writing….a series no less….presenting long, well thought out counter arguments to Chan’s conclusions about hell.  Check out the series HERE.

Perhaps one of the reasons I’ve been lolly gagging and putting off getting on with this series is because there is so much to say about the subject. I don’t know where to begin. As I mentioned in the first post about Erasing Hell, Chan comes across as disingenuous and manipulative.  Like he’s selling me a Kirby vacuum for goodness sakes!!! Important pieces to the puzzle are left out, skimmed over or hidden in the appendix in the back of the book.  He’s not playing fair….and he seems to have a severe case of confirmation bias. 

He says so many things I disagree with….not sure where to throw my two cents worth first. 

Tomorrow….yes…TOMORROW…or at least soon…I’ll address one of his arguments proving hell….a biggie….since it came “right from the horses mouth” From Jesus no less.  And since we all know that “Jesus talked more about hell than he did about heaven.” How can you argue with Jesus?

 

Wurmbrand on Truth, Burning Hearts and Finite Crimes

I’ve been listening to Wayne Jacobsen’s multi part series, The Jesus Lens.  Today, while hoofing it around the neighborhood, on a perfectly gorgeous, sunny Easter Sunday, I took note of a quote he used to illustrate his point….a quote by Richard Wurmbrand. 

I know who Richard Wurmbrand was. He came up a time or two in discussions with Keith during my five or so year stint of wrestling with theodicy and the suffering that abounds all around us. The, if there is a good God, how can there be starving children question. Wurmbrand’s book, Tortured For Christ, moved here with Keith ten years ago and is in the bookcase…along with a few other books he authored.

The short version of his life story can be found on the Voice of the Martyrs website….an organization he founded after he was finally released from prison….the second time. He spent years in a Communist prison…enduring tortures that defy the imagination.

So when I got home from my walk…and settled down on the couch with my I Pad, I looked up the quote on Google.  I came across several other quotes that struck me…and I am sharing them in this blog post…..

On Truth…the one Wayne used:

The Bible is a wonderful book. It is the truth about the Truth. It is not the Truth. A sermon taken from the Bible can be a wonderful thing to hear. It is the truth about the truth about the truth. But it is not the truth. There have been many books written about the things contained in the Bible. I have written some myself. They can be quite wonderful to read. They are the truth about the truth about truth about the Truth. But they are NOT the Truth. Only Jesus Christ is the Truth. Sometimes the Truth can be drowned in a multitude of words.

On the flame in his heart:

"In solitary confinement, we could not pray as before. We were unimaginably hungry; we had been drugged until we acted like idiots. We were as weak as skeletons. The Lord’s Prayer was much too long for us—we could not concentrate enough to say it. My only prayer repeated again and again was, 'Jesus, I love You.' And then, one glorious day I got the answer from Jesus: 'You love me? Now I will show you how I love you.' At once, I felt a flame in my heart, which burned like the coronal streamers of the sun. The disciples on the way to Emmaus said that their hearts burned when Jesus spoke with them. So it was with me. I knew the love of the One who gave His life on the cross for us all." Tortured For Christ

And how all crimes….no matter how horrendous….are crimes of a finite nature.  Sheds a bit of light…perhaps… on the age old, “What about Hitler” question.

"God sees things differently than we see them, just as we see differently than an ant. From the human point of view, to be tied to a cross and smeared with excrement is a horrible thing. Nonetheless, the Bible calls the sufferings of martyrs light afflictions. To be in prison for fourteen years is a long period to us. The Bible calls it 'but for a moment,' and tells us that these things are working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (2Co 4:17). This gives us the right to suppose that the fierce crimes of the Communists, which are inexcusable to us, are lighter in the eyes of God than they are in our eyes. Their tyranny, which has lasted almost an entire century, may be before God, for whom a thousand years are like one day, only a moment of erring astray. They still have the possibility of being saved." Tortured For Christ

Lots to ponder in those three quotes.  More quotes can be found HERE.  Some of his books can be found HERE and HERE

Oh My God! the movie….

This morning on Facebook, someone posted a quote from "Oh My God," the feature length documentary by Peter Rodgers, The premise of the movie intrigued me. 

In every corner of the world, there’s one question that can never be definitively answered, yet stirs up equal parts passion, curiosity, self-reflection and often wild imagination: “What is God?”

Filmmaker Peter Rodger explores this profound, age-old query in the provocative non-fiction feature Oh My God. This visual odyssey travels the globe with a revealing lens examining the idea of God through the minds and eyes of various religions and cultures, everyday people, spiritual leaders and celebrities.

Keith checked to see if it was available on Netflix and indeed it was.  It should arrive sometime the end of the week, in time to watch on Christmas afternoon. Our Christmas Days are usually quiet....the kids head off to their dad's about noon and we eat leftover Chinese food and hang out.  Everybody has to have their traditions, afterall.

I will post a review of sorts after we watch the movie. It did not get very good reviews for content.  (although the photography is described as stunning) so we'll see.....

There is also a book called the "Oh My God Chronicles" written by Rodger.  There is an excerpt from the book to read PDF style on line.

He talks about his father, famed photojournalist George Rodger, known for his photographs of WWII that were published in Life Magazine.  He was with the British army when they liberated the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp on April 15, 1945.  His photographs were among the first "proof" of the atrocities committed by the Germans. Of the scene he witnessed, he says this....

Under the pine trees the scattered dead were lying, not in their twos or threes or dozens, but in their thousands.  The living tore ragged clothing from the corpses to build fires, over which they boiled pine needles and roots for soup.  Little children rested heads against the stinking corpses of their mothers, too nearly dead themselves to cry.  An emaciated man approached me.  "Look, Englishmen," he said.  "This is German culture." And he fell down dead in front of me.  Bodies with gaping wounds in the region of the kidneys, liver and heart testified to the cannibalism that had been resorted to, degradation begetting degradation.  

Which brings us back to the oft asked questions of theodicy....a question way beyond the scope of this post. 

“Particular People”

So...a while back....I wrote a few posts about the gay agenda....and how several folks did an about face in their views when they began to interact one on one with folks they had once considered their enemy.  They began to see specific human beings or what Ted Grimsrud refers to in his article "What Did Jesus Do?" as "particular people."  But like a Buddhist koan, there is a paradox in this truth. 

….the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth. Niels Bohr

While it is easier to love and accept particular people…it is also easier to hate and avoid particular people.  

And, yes, it is easier to hate huge chunks of hypothetical people....it is also easier to LOVE huge chunks of hypothetical people. 

Martha Beck said that she recognizes burn out in herself when she develops the following attitude.....

Though you live to serve humanity, you hate everyone.

That is a sentiment echoed by one of Fyodor Dostoevsky characters in The Brothers Karamazov

The more I love humanity in general the less I love humans in particular.

In my dreams, I often make plans for the service of humanity, and perhaps I might actually face crucifixion if it were suddenly necessary. Yet I am incapable of living in the same room with anyone for two days together. I know from experience. As soon as anyone is near me, his personality disturbs me and restricts my freedom. In twenty-four hours I begin to hate the best of men: one because he's too long over his dinner, another because he has a cold and keeps on blowing his nose.

I become hostile to people the moment they come close to me. But it has always happened that the more I hate humans individually, the more I love humanity.

And he goes on to say:

"I must make one confession," Ivan began. "I could never understand how one can love one's neighbours. It's just one's neighbours, to my mind, that one can't love, though one might love those at a distance.

Critic James Breech writes…about the above confession/insight

 “He loves humankind in general because he hates his concrete neighbor”"

Ahhhhh....but Jesus....had a keen insight into human nature. 

.....he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man for he himself knew what was in man.

And he understood this catch 22 "particular people" principle..and he is not letting us off the hook about loving the guy next door.  The one with the barking dog and the lawnmower at 6 am….or the loud party in the middle of the night.

In fact, he summed up the law as loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself. 

Jesus healed and ministered a wide variety of people...the woman at the well, the woman caught in the act of adultery, blind beggars,  epileptics, a leper, a centurion's servant, Peter's mother-in-law, two Gentile demoniacs, tax collectors, sinners, the daughter of a synagogue leader.

He announced he had come to the lost sheep of Israel but his ministry crossed all boundaries and social classes. 

Jesus showed us ….by word and action….that everyone is our neighbor…..

More on that in my next post….

ICU Psychosis

My mom did not do so well right after the valve replacement surgery.  (FYI…presently she is doing very well even though she has a long way to go to recover fully) Physically she was in good shape....but she let her mind and worries get the best of her.  Anxiety attacks...that raised her blood pressure very high, dangerously high, after heart surgery.  She thought she was in immediate danger.  The trite, oft repeated phrase, my  perception is my reality comes to mind.  Her perception became her reality.  Because she thought she was doing poorly...she did do poorly.  So began the balancing act.  Calm her down with meds so she had no choice but to relax...sort of.  The meds, however, disoriented her to the point of paranoia.  It was a classic case of (another trite saying) damned if you do, damned if you don't.  It was not pleasant.  It was not fun.  It was kind of the straw that broke the camels back (another one.....!) and I was impatient with her. 

I spent hours and hours of time.....sitting.....bedside... aware that I would much rather be spending my two weeks vacation time sitting beach side (with her sitting there with me....sipping frozen strawberry daiquiris)  Or probably more to my liking...sitting at home, reading and typing and pondering.  Two weeks of that would be, for me, bliss.  But no...there we both were, logging another day in the Butler Hospital...in ICU.  At one point, as if reading my thoughts she said..."This has been a wasted day, hasn't it?"  "It's just been a day, Mom. It's fine, I'm fine....you are fine... everything is FINE,"

I lied. It wasn't fine.  I was tired...and cranky and homesick....and she was in the throes of recovering from open heart surgery.  She was obviously less "fine" than I was....but neither of us was "fine."

Coincidentally, at the time I was reading a book called "Living on 24 Hours a Day" by Arnold Bennett.  At some point, don't remember when, I downloaded it (for free) onto my kindle.  It was an old book, written in 1910...missing the copyright restrictions by a decade.  He describes time as the most precious of commodities.....

The supply of time is truly a daily miracle, an affair genuinely astonishing when one examines it.

You wake up in the morning, and lo! your purse is magically filled with twenty-four hours of the unmanufactured tissue of the universe of your life! It is yours. It is the most precious of possessions. A highly singular commodity, showered upon you in a manner as singular as the commodity itself!

No one can take it from you. It is unstealable. And no one receives either more or less than you receive. Talk about an ideal democracy! In the realm of time there is no aristocracy of wealth, and no aristocracy of intellect. Genius is never rewarded by even an extra hour a day. And there is no punishment. Waste your infinitely precious commodity as much as you will, and the supply will never be withheld from you. No mysterious power will say:--"This man is a fool, if not a knave. He does not deserve time; he shall be cut off at the meter." It is more certain than consols, and payment of income is not affected by Sundays. Moreover, you cannot draw on the future. Impossible to get into debt! You can only waste the passing moment. You cannot waste to-morrow; it is kept for you. You cannot waste the next hour; it is kept for you.

I said the affair was a miracle. Is it not? 

Okay...so barring death we all get the same amount of time in our day.  24 hours.  But there's the rub.  (another one of those sayings)

You have to live on this twenty-four hours of daily time. Out of it you have to spin health, pleasure, money, content, respect, and the evolution of your immortal soul.

And thus the anxiety of wasted time....

Which of us lives on twenty-four hours a day? And when I say "lives," I do not mean exists, nor "muddles through." Which of us is free from that uneasy feeling that the "great spending departments" of his daily life are not managed as they ought to be?

Which of us is not saying to himself-- which of us has not been saying to himself all his life: "I shall alter that when I have a little more time"? We never shall have any more time. We have, and we have always had, all the time there is.

We are haunted, more or less painfully, by the feeling that the years slip by, and slip by, and slip by, and that they have not yet been able to get their lives into proper working order.

Yep...that's me.  I am keenly aware of time passing...almost to a point of preoccupation (bordering on obsession) with it.  I know I have a limited amount left here in this earthly realm...and want to spend it wisely since I have wasted vast years and years in the past.  Lost in my thoughts...my mind constantly getting the best of me....in a mental state not that much different than my mom's as she teetered on the edge of what they call "icu psychosis."

Most of us do it....waste time in a state of self induced psychosis.  Sometimes we waste time by struggling against circumstances....like I've been doing for the past 10 or 12 days.  Rather than going with the flow (<<<<<) and walking in the spirit and trying to live in a state of awareness of his leading.  Another trite saying I've heard concerning time management with the focus on spiritual things (which is most definitely not the main focus of Mr. Bennett's book)

There IS enough time to do everything God wants us to do...when we follow his leading and focus on discerning what he wants us to do. 

I was listening to a Gary Sigler message on my way to the hospital the other day.  He said that the answer to every situation we find ourselves in is within us.  That would include how to use our time wisely, no?  If we go inside and seek God's leading...he will lead us. He is the ultimate "day timer."  Franklin Covey's 7 Habits...David Allen's Get Things Done System pale in comparison to God's time management program.  More on that in the next post.... 

PS…In this post, I’ve pointed out several trite and overused expressions.  That’s because I learned another new word in the 24 Hour book…and I’m going to, perhaps, turn it into a post.  The word? 

Hackneyed. 

Definition?

banal: repeated too often; over familiar through overuse

It occurs to me that many Christian catch phrases fit this description…and thought it might be a good topic for a post or two.  Whether I get anything written or not…only time will tell :_)

Comment - Steps to letting go...

I tried to post this in the comments section of the post "Steps to letting go" but Blogger was having no part of it.  First it was too long..so I split it in half...and it was still too long. And then I would have lost it if I hadn't caught on to their sneaky little tricks a long ago (after losing numerous comments when trying to "preview" them) Now, I always copy what I've written before I trust them enough to click "Preview"  So anyway...what I've written below actually started out as a comment...a very long one, I'll admit. 

Jack...
I think I get what you are trying to convey. These lists are hokey and meaningless without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. I don't altogether disagree but as one who believes we can drag our feet a bit even when the spirit is urging (compelling) us to forgive, I think a bulleted list can be helpful.

Recently, I leafed through a copy of Flawed by Design by Jeff Priddy that Keith was rereading. I know, he goes by Martin Zender these days...but I read his stuff years ago when he signed his real name Jeff Priddy...and it seems to have stuck. Anyway...in it I read, 

A disturbed reader objects vociferously. It is Monty: Then why does God exhort us to do the right thing?
Answer: You need to know what the right thing is Monty. There must be a standard. How will you know you've fallen short if there is no standard? How will you know how righteous God really is? How will you know when you've arrived at perfection? You are assuming, I think, that God gives exhortations as a means of testing you, to see what you will do. You may be thinking that God puts forth these exhortations as a challenge, so that you can impress him with your accomplishments.
Not so Monty. This isn't about you; it's about God. Think of scriptural exhortation as a matting inside which God intends to paint a masterpiece. These exhortations are God giving Himself an opportunity to show the world what He can do through you.

Not a bad quote...and parts of it I agree with. The part that pertains to this post is where he says...that exhortations are in scripture to clarify what the right thing is...to set the standard...even though, according to Priddy, Monty does not have a snowball's chance in hell of actually doing any of the things on his own.

That's how I see some of these lists. Some people want to forgive but the thought "forgive your enemies" can seem a bit vague. Sort of like telling a 2 year old to get ready for church. They need it spelled out a bit more....wash your face...get out of your PJ's...put on your shirt...etc. etc. And actually bulleted lists have helped me sometimes. You know...with titles like "10 things you can do today to improve your relationship with your kids." Either by thinking...that's bullshit...or...sometimes...hey....that's a good idea.

But....while surfing extensively for the past few days...I came upon a short excerpt by Corrie Ten Boom. I am pretty sure you have probably read it. I've read it before...several times...but...in light of this series...and your comments, I copied it to post here. I think you will like it....

It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former S.S. man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there – the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie’s pain-blanched face.

He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. “How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein.” he said. “To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!”

His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in Bloemendaal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side.
Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him.

I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness.

As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me.

And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.

Fun and Faith...in the same sentence.....

I came across an interesting book today...in my web travels.  I've been all over the place this morning and have happened upon dozens of interesting web sites, books, snippets, ideas and thoughts. What differentiates what actually makes it to the front page of this blog and what ends up on a list of Blog Post Ideas...I'm not sure.  Something just piques my interest enough to digress from whatever the series du jour is (which is probably a digression from a digression from a digression from a by-gone "current series")  This book..."Yeah Dave's Guide to Livin" in the Moment...contained a quote in the introduction that piqued my interest enough to postpone my nap long enough to write a short post about it.  The quote follows....

Imagine a man meditating on a secluded mountaintop.  Imagine another man with juggling manboobs dancing at a rock concert.  Now imagine something in between, and you have me and my approach to life. 

Wow..that conjures up quite the mental image....

I tell you this not because I want you to envision me chesty and hairy while showing up to meet you for lunch.  rather, I want you to think about fun and faith in the same sentence.  Because there is a place where the party and the prayer can coexist peacefully. There is a place where the chocolate tastes sweeter, the music sounds better, the inspiration feels richer and the visions look clearer. That place is The Moment. 

Hmmmm....The Moment.  Another way of saying "Living in the Now?"  Another way of describing mindfulness? 

It occurs to me that Jesus had it down pat when it came to combining faith and fun....and it got him into trouble with the religious police of the day. 

'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax
collectors and "sinners." (Luke 7:33-34)

He was known as a wine bibber and a glutton...aka a party boy...spending way too much time with "those people."  You know...the tax collectors...the whores....the unclean... ewwwwwwwww.....sinners.  Perhaps, in part, Jesus came to teach us how to live a life where the party and prayer co-exist peacefully....how to enjoy the moment....and enjoy the people sharing the moment with us.  A valuable lesson to learn. 

 

                                  

Excerpt From A New Kind of Christianity....

I really, really like the following excerpt from Brian McLaren's new book, A New Kind of Christianity.  I bought two McLaren books at a discount book store in Pigeon Forge when we were there for a day or so during our recent vacation.  I haven't gotten a chance to read either one of them.  One is "Everything Must Change"....the other....ah....Finding Faith...a Search for What Makes Sense.  (I also got both Shane Claiborne books....Jesus For President and Irresistible Revolution...but haven't read them yet either)  Anyway...I came upon the following excerpt from A New Kind of Christianity  on the Reflections blog...which you really should check out too since he often posts thought provoking writings, both his own and from others.  The excerpt below....

 

To repeat, Revelation is not portraying Jesus returning to earth in the future, having repented of his naive gospel ways and having converted to Caesar’s "realistic" Greco-Roman methods instead. He hasn’t gotten discouraged about Caesar seeming to get the upper hand after his resurrection and on that basis concluded that it’s best to live by the sword after all (Matt. 26:52). Jesus hasn’t abandoned the way of peace (Luke 19:42) and concluded that the way of Pilate is better, mandating that the disciples should fight after all (John 18:36). He hasn’t had second thoughts about all that talk about forgiveness (Matthew 18:21-22) and concluded that on the 78th offense you should pull out your sword and hack off your offender’s head rather than turn the other cheek (Matt. 5:39).

He hasn’t given up on that "love your enemies" stuff (Matthew 5:44) and judged it naive and foolish after all (1 Cor. 1:25), concluding instead that God’s strength is made manifest not in weakness but in crushing domination (2 Cor. 12:9). He hasn’t had a change of heart, concluding that the weapons he needs are physical after all (2 Cor. 10:3-4), which would mean that the way to glory isn’t actually by dying on a cross (Phil. 2:8-9) but rather by nailing others on it.

He hasn’t sold the humble donkey (Luke 19:30-35) on eBay and purchased chariots, warhorses, tanks, land mines, and B-1s instead (Zech. 9:9-10) … He hasn’t decided that the message of the cross is a little too foolish after all (1 Cor. 1:18) or that Christ killing his foes is way more exciting than that lame, absurd, "hippie" gospel of "Christ crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2).

He hasn’t decided that … nobody can be expected to worship a king they can beat up (Matt. 27:27) … Jesus matters precisely because he provides us a living alternative to the confining [violent] narrative in which our world and our religions live, move, and have their being too much of the time.

Revelation celebrates not the love of power, but the power of love. It denies, with all due audacity, that God’s anointed liberator is the Divine Terminator, threatening revenge for all who refuse to honor him, growling, "I’ll be back!" It asserts, instead, that God’s anointed liberator is the one we beat up, who promises mercy to those who strike him, whispering, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34).

More on Scapegoating....

I have been rereading many articles I have saved on my computer and in my bookmarks/favorites to help me write this series. 

I want to highlight (and urge you to read in their entirety) The Theory of Rene Girard and its Theological Implications - Part I

and Part II  both written by Rob Moore.

These writings provide an excellent explanation about mimetic rivalry and scapegoating.  My special thanks to Mr. Moore for providing so much food for thought through his research, his quotes and his own insights. 

They can be found at a site called kyrie.com self described as

a site for those who seek to remain in that space between the outer and inner life, between being active and contemplative, and to find, in the words of Thomas Merton, how "we can become what we already are".

Now some of my muddled thoughts....

Scapegoating has been going on since the dawn of time, in all cultures, all over the world.  It is hidden in the founding myths that describe the origin of cultures, societies and religions.  In a nutshell (even though I am very good at this nutshell stuff) A group of people living together fall into mimetic rivalry...which escalates to the apocalyptic "all against all" situation.  When mimetic rivalry reaches this fever pitch it becomes metaphysical and the participants usually don't even remember what the original rivalry was about.  Think of long standing feuds...between countries, between sports teams, between families.  Sort of the Hatfield's and McCoy's thing. 

Even animals have a form of mimetic rivalry referred to as animal mimicry which is also acquisitive and follows a pattern very similar to the human variety, however, animals have a built in "braking mechanism" that prevents the "group destroying violence." In animals, the rivalry usually stays at the level of competing for the coveted object and does not become metaphysical the way it does in humans (as I mentioned in the example above where the object that was the original cause of the rivalry has long since been forgotten)  In the animal kingdom, the weaker animal usually submits to the stronger animal and the conflict ends there....not contaminating the relationships of the rest of the group (pack).

So, in humans, when violence has reached the point where the survival of the group is threatened, the all against all becomes all against one. The angry mob focuses their murderous rivalry on a victim...one who is different or weak....someone they can blame for the escalation of violence and calamity and all the problems they are facing (including their sense of guilt and shame.)  Then they vent their collective displaced anger on the innocent (or not nearly as guilty as presumed) victim. 

Or as James Fredericks in the Cross and the Begging Bowl words it:

“By organizing retributive violence into a united front against an enemy common to all the rivals, either an external enemy or a member of the community symbolically designated as an enemy, violence itself is transformed into a socially constructive force.”

Or as Girard says:

All the rancors scattered at random among the divergent individuals, all the differing antagonisms, now converge on an isolated and unique figure, the surrogate victim.”

  

       

(From the Missouri State University Department of History website)

The surrogate victim can be an outsider (from a different clan/race/geographic location).  Or someone from within the community that is different (deformed/mentally ill/poor) or one that is especially valued and often the object of rivalry (Virgins...as in the poor unlucky victims tossed in the flames to the volcano god, or animals vital to the survival of the society....as in spotless lambs and red heifers.)

(From the Missouri State University Department of History website)

So again...to avert the destruction of the "all against all," the "all" diffuses their anger and frustration on "one"...one who becomes the victim of the all.  Since the violence against the one is usually unanimously agreed upon by the all, it is a form of sanctioned violence.  And it works!! 

As if by magic, their rage dissipates....and there is cohesion in the crowd. 

It is at this point, after the fact, the angry crowd suddenly realizes there is comradery and goodwill...replacing the anger and division that was present before the sacrifice.  They are awed and conclude that the victim must surely have been supernatural, a god of sorts, if his sacrifice and death could bring calm where before there was so much chaos. So they immortalize the victim, turn him into a god and hide the violence with a myth.  There are countless examples of this down through the ages.

After originally discovering mimetic rivalry in  great and enduring literature...the classics... Girard went on to study the creation stories of ancient societies and religions. In their myths, he found evidence of the scapegoat mechanism as the birth of the society/religion/culture, however, the founding murder and violence is often disguised and glossed over and hidden.

As Gil Bailie has written:

Myth then remembers discretely and selectively; the violence inflicted upon the scapegoat remains hidden.

Examples of these founding myths abound....and Girard discusses some of these examples in his book "I See Satan Fall Like Lightening." We did a book study several years ago on the Beautiful Heresy message board on this book.  Some of his examples include:

• Sumerian mythology – cultural institutions emerge from a single  victim (Ea, Tiamat, Kungu)
• India – the dismemberment of Purusha by the mob offering sacrifices (and if I remember correctly from reading the book...the distribution of her body parts) produced the caste system
• Similar myths in Egypt, China and the Germanic people

And there are many others.  One in particular is discussed in the article I mentioned in the beginning of this post.  More on that tomorrow......

Just so you don’t forget me….

It is, supposedly, the bane of bloggers to let more than a few days go by without a post.  I have been very lax with my posting lately.  I’ve been sick (sick, sick, very sick) with this kick ass upper respiratory thing that will not let go.  I am still hacking away, although I see incremental improvement with each passing day. Thirteen days have passed thus far.  I am weary of coughing. I am fed up with being sick.  I even had a case of pink eye thrown into the mix for good measure.  I haven’t had one of those little teeny bottles of antibiotic eye drops since my kids were little.  I do now.  Two drops a day for 14 days.  

And we’ve been getting ready to go away….and we actually are away as I type this, sitting on the floor of a recently renovated “family owned motel” somewhere about two hours from Knoxville.  Between Kingston and Bristol TN.  I am on the floor trying to hide the light from my computer screen…since Keith is still sleeping….or trying to.  The Lark and the Owl go to Pigeon Forge.  Final destination is Lake City, TN for a conference at Justin Phillips Church.  Detour through Pigeon Forge.

We ran into some snow last night….yes….in Virginia.  It didn’t stay snow once it hit the roads but it was coming down at a pretty fast clip and visibility was not the best…and the roads were slick….so we decided to call it a night here at the Red Carpet Inn…at the recommendation of the janitor who was mopping up the Welcome Center.  Not bad…and for 39.99…what can you expect?  It has free wifi.

So while there are quite a few posts in the churning (around in my brain) phase…I have not done the necessary research to bring them to fruition.  I’ve read some interesting things about inerrancy and Biblical interpretation from Greg Boyd, Thom Stark, sharktacos, on the Sanctimonious Bob blog and also from a series I found on an eclectic vegetarian/Girardian/peace church kind of site called, “What the Bible Really Says” by J.R. Hyland.  True to my picking and choosing mindset, none of these writings expresses exactly what (I think) I believe….although some come very close.  There are also some things about sacrifice and mimetic rivalry/scapegoating I’ve been mulling over and want to write about. 

I will briefly mention that I made 8 CDs for Keith and I to listen to on the way here.  Four of Gary Sigler, four of Preston Eby.  We listened to an older Preston Eby message yesterday….from 1999.  We both heard the message before….long forgotten…..but our memories were jogged as we listened. 

The name of the message was “The Divine Perspective.”  It was a message that included an example I’ve used many times since I first heard Eby use it.  The gist of the message is that our perspective is limited…God’s is not.  The word picture Eby uses to illustrate this point is of a parade on “Main Street.” 

Our perspective is similar to the guy who sits down in a lawn chair in front of the hardware store…cooler of Pepsi beside him….to view the parade.  He can only see the small portion of the parade that is passing directly in front of him.  He can’t see the parts that have already passed by his chair and he can’t see the parts of the parade yet to come….and for sure he can’t see how all the parts fit together.   But God….Go'd’s perspective is akin to the view from the top of the three story building that houses the hardware store.  Not only can he see what has passed, he can see what is passing….and what is yet to come.  That is the divine perspective.  Eby urges us to get up out of our chairs and rise above our street level view and see things from God’s perspective….atop the three story building. 

He also talks a lot about the NOW….which is where God dwells.  It reminded me a lot of what Eckhart says about the NOW and coincidentally, while packing, I grabbed a copy of The Power of Now to bring along to read. 

We also listened to Gary Sigler’s message “Practical Spirituality.” One comment that stuck with me was the tendency even in the kingdom ranks, to put ourselves into doctrinal boxes and shun fellowship with those outside of our particular box.  Gary knows a lot about being shunned. Summing up Gary’s entire message in just a few words is mirrored in the signature line of a guy I who posted on Tentmaker a long time ago.  His name was PD…short for Pastor Dave.  His tag line? “It’s all about love.”  And isn’t it  REALLY all about love?  Doesn’t Paul declare that in 1 Corinthians 13?

1 Corinthians chapter 13 (TEV)

1 I may be able to speak the languages of human beings and even of angels, but if I have no love, my speech is no more than a noisy gong or a clanging bell.

2 I may have the gift of inspired preaching; I may have all knowledge and understand all secrets; I may have all the faith needed to move mountains-but if I have no love, I am nothing.

3 I may give away everything I have, and even give up my body to be burned-but if I have no love, this does me no good.

And then just in case we need a further explanation of what love is, he goes on to say:

4 Love is patient and kind;
it is not jealous or conceited or proud;
5 love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable;
love does not keep a record of wrongs;
6 love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth.
7 Love never gives up; and its faith, hope, and patience never fail.

8 Love is eternal.

We should not let doctrinal differences separate us.  Yet we do far too often. It is just the kingdom variation of the denominational “us four and no more” stance so many mainstream churches take about salvation.  And now, having said much more than I intended to talk about, I am going to close this post.  More….to come…..

Church...Good or Bad?

A week or so ago I wrote about Stephen Knapp...his website and some of his views on religious unity and religious divisions.

Here is some more from Stephen Knapp on religious unity. The whole article can be found on his web site….HERE.

If we are mature enough to see the purpose of each religion or spiritual path, we will recognize that there is very little difference between them. Once we get past the superficialities and variations, like dress, language, rituals, diet, or architectural styles of churches or temples, we can see that the essence of each religion is the same. That is to pray to God, sing His praises, discuss His pastimes and instructions, study the guidance of the prophets or messengers of God, and to think of God or meditate on Him in any number of ways. The process is the same, summarized as hearing about God, chanting or singing about Him, and remembering and serving God. That's it. Anything else is an expansion of these items. The goal is the same: To learn how to surrender to God and love Him with all our hearts and minds, and then to treat and love others as parts and parcels of God. Simple.

Why do we gather at temples, churches or mosques? Simply to learn and practice how to do this, and associate with others who wish to do the same. Thereby we all help each other in this direction.

So Knapp seems to take a pretty optimistic view of religion…all religions. He see it as the finger that points to the moon. Recently, I read parts of a book called “How God Changes Your Brain.” Some of the activities that take place in organized religion (praying, chanting, meditating, contemplation) actually make changes in the brain chemistry…..stimulating certain parts of the brain that govern good stuff like empathy, goodwill, compassion etc. A few quotes from the book:

But religious and spiritual contemplation changes your brain in a profoundly different way because it strengthens a unique neural circuit that specifically enhances social awareness and empathy while subduing destructive feelings and emotions. This is precisely the kind of neural change we need to make if we want to solve the conflicts currently afflicting our world. And the underlying mechanism that allows these changes to occur relates to a unique quality known as neuroplasticity: the ability of the human brain to structurally rearrange itself in response to a wide variety of positive and negative events.

And

When you intensely and consistently focus on your spiritual values and goals, you increase the blood flow to your frontal lobes and anterior cingulate, which causes the activity in emotional centers of the brain to decrease. Conscious intention is the key, and the more you focus on your inner values, the more you can take charge of your life.

The emotional centers the book talks about are the areas of the brain that control anger and like emotions.

So we find different religions the world over…and contained within these varied religious traditions… we find practices and activities that stimulate the parts of the brain that make us kinder, gentler people. Doesn’t sound like a bad thing…does it?

Well, according to Preston Eby organized religion is a very bad thing. He refers to it often as Babylon, the Harlot…the Mother of Harlots....the Whore…..the Great Whore. According to Eby, It is fueled by the spirit of antichrist. (which means “instead of” not necessarily “against” Christ) And the goal of spiritual maturity and a right relationship with Christ is to “come out of her, my people.”

In his series, The Heavens Declare, Part 18 he says:

All religion is the invention of man in his effort to meet man's spiritual need — apart from the anointing! Alas! they understand not that the reality of God's life is not contained in, nor ministered through, doctrines, programs, rituals, ceremonies or ordinances. Those who live in that realm know nothing of the mighty power of the indwelling Christ of God. Man's religion is of the world, for it is outside of God, being not of the Spirit, nor by the anointing.

Generation after generation, people have been raised up from childhood in this atmosphere and have absolutely no knowledge of anything else or another way. It never even enters the minds of these people that THE CHRIST WITHIN is the Head of the church, the life of the church, and the whole sufficiency for the church, its people, its work, and its needs. Each church must be constantly creating new plans, programs and activities to keep the people busy "doing something". The idea is to keep the people busy and to keep up the interest, so that they may be kept in that church. In the church world such a church is known as a "lively" church, and the pastor is known as one of the "successful" pastors. Spirituality has little, if anything, to do with it, for the whole group, including the so-called pastor and church leader, is simply a natural body of people, carrying on what they imagine is a church.

So while Knapp sees the religions of the world as more or less of a good thing that bring people closer to God, Eby sees them as an obstacle. Eby also writes from a very Christian paradigm. He does not think that people from other religions can really know the Christ and their relationship with God is, at best, second rate. At worst, it is bogus and the spirits they are in relationship with are not the true Christ/God. He talks about this in (among other places) The Seed in Every Man.

In How God Changes Your Brain, they discuss fundamentalists and how their activities and beliefs actually stimulate the wrong parts of the brain. Well, wrong if you are going for kinder, gentler. More on that tomorrow.

Ray Prinzing and The Shack....

I came upon the following quote on one of the many...(too many?) blogs I have stashed away at Bloglines.  The name of the blog is Baxter's Ongoing Thoughts.  The post was entitled "Two Gods." 

Since Christmas I have been working around the clock on a book on The Shack. For the next stretch I will be posting some of the material I am working on. By now, The Shack has probably become the best selling book in history, apart from the Bible, or at least it is close to it. Well over 11 million copies have been sold in about 30 languages. At least ten more translations are in the works. The wild, global popularity of The Shack in itself tells me that there is serious spiritual hunger in people’s hearts. I hope and pray it is a sign of the passing of the Augustinian captivity of the Church. Perhaps I am too critical of Augustine, but he is the Father of Western Christianity, and that version has handed down the deadly quagmire of deism, legalism and rationalism—the unholy trinity of the Latin West.

So much has been written on The Shack (pro and con) but I think the vast popularity of the book speaks for itself.  The world is desperate for the God portrayed within the pages of The Shack.  Listen up, world!!  Good news!!!  Great news!!!  He is that God!!  The Good News of the Gospel...if you've seen me, you've seen the Father!!  Hooray.  But...I digress. 

Upon reading this blog post, it reminded me of a post of my own that I started to write a while back comparing a point of theology between a quote from The Shack and a quote from kingdom minister of yesteryear...Ray Prinzing. 

It touches on the total sovereignty issue....a horse I've beaten to death in my mind many times!!  I am dredging my post from the queue....

On EU there was a recent thread called Salt and Peace.  It was a long thread...and honestly, I only had a chance to skim over some of the posts. The topic?  The problem of evil. Exactly what is evil?  Where does it come from? When we deem something evil are we eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?  How about when we deem something good?  Same tree?

Some of the posters seemed to look at evil as an illusion.  That really doesn't work for me.  I look around me and I see evil in the world.  If it is an illusion...man oh man, is it ever convincing!!

Does evil come from the hand of God?  Great minds have pondered THAT question down through the ages.  So following are two of the many things that have been said and written about the POE.  The Problem of Evil.  

Are these two unlikely folks ("Papa" from The Shack) and Ray Prinzing expressing similar thoughts?

The Shack:

“Just because I work incredible good out of unspeakable tragedies doesn’t mean I orchestrate the tragedies.” 

and

Ray Prinzing:

So, what about the evil we suffer?  Did God cause this?  Certainly not in the sense that He would speak a word into a man, saying, "rape this child." Absolutely not! We will not "charge God foolishly." (Job 1:22).  However, as Creator, HE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS CREATION, so the ultimate charge is laid at His feet. 

If He allowed it, in a sense He is responsible for it.  He has, however, given man a limited amount of freedom for self-expression, and it was out of this evilness in the wicked heart of man that the deed was wrought.  An example: you have a man with a dog on a leash, and the dog bites a child.  The man did not deliberately bite the child himself, nor did he command the dog to do so, yet, because the man held the leash, we lay the ultimate charge on him.  Satan is the dog on God's leash.  God has the power to control him, yet He allows the adversary to cause much havoc.  So what is the answer?  Look past the dog, look past the leash, and SEE THE HAND OF GOD IN ULTIMATE CONTROL!

Prinzing's message is usually total sovereignty but he back pedals a bit here when asked flat out by a woman who was repeatedly sexually abused during her childhood.  Did God plan it or not? 

More fodder to ponder on this issue that used to haunt me, hound me, torment me. 

Questions and Answers....

A while back I came across  an e-book  produced  by  a very popular blogger by the name of Seth Godin.   He has several blogs and web pages (including lenses on Squiddo) and has also authored quite a few books...including the e-book that contains the article...that contains the idea...for this post (and for at least one other post yet to come) The book is called What Matters Now.  Kind of an eclectic grouping of quotes, short (very short) articles and blog posts about a range of topics from a variety of authors.  Be sure to check it out. 

The article that caught my eye and birthed this post was about how web communication has changed...well...changed communication.  But not just communication. It has also changed the way we search for answers...for truth...for knowledge.  It has given us answers...but sometimes conflicting answers. It has given us questions without definitive answers...and plenty of questions, too. We may end up with more questions than when we started looking for answers. That can be a good thing.    

The article mentions how, in times past, we mainly looked for our answers in books.  And we found answers in books.  But many of our questions don't have just one definitive answer. Oh sure.... algebraic equations or scientific formulas may have just one answer but there are an unlimited number of questions that do not. Like questions pertaining to theology and philosophy, baking, abortion, politics...morality...art. 

Yep, for sure, art. A trip to the Carnegie Art Museum a few summers ago confirmed that art, like beauty, is definitely in the eye of the beholder. There is no carved in stone criteria for what is and what isn't art. 

So books provide answers but answers that are filtered through the viewpoint of the author.  Answers that are many times one sided and single dimensional. 

But alas...the Internet...with its message boards....blogs....google (especially google)...has changed the way we search for information.  As the article points out,

A hyperlinked world...the Web....is made for this way of networked knowing.  A hyperlinked world includes all the differences and disagreements, and connects them to one another.  We are all smarter for having these differences only a click away. 

The challenge now is to learn how to evaluate, incorporate, respect, and learn from them.  If we only listen to those who are like us, we will squander the great opportunity before us: To live together peacefully in a world of unresolved differences. 

Yes, that is the challenge.  THE challenge.  One needs only to join a yahoo e-list to realize that we aren't there yet. THE challenge looms in front of us.

My quest for answers on the Internet changed my life. It continues to change my life. It has inspired my spiritual growth to travel along at warp speed.  While searching for answers, I just so happened to find my husband on Tentmaker, a UR message board.  I have found friends online who have embedded themselves in my heart as deeply (if not deeper) than the people I interact with every day..in real life.  (hi annie!!)  And I have found people with opinions I vehemently disagree with.  Sometimes I'm not all that crazy about the people who hold those opinions, yet I try to interact and disagree agreeably. 

Perhaps some of the answers we find online have little to do with the questions we start out with or the topic at hand.  Perhaps the answers we find have more to do with tolerance and respect and reigning in those emotional responses and learning  "to live together peacefully in a world of unresolved differences." 

Anne Lamott on Prayer

Tomorrow it's back to work after four days off for Christmas.  I would really like to know how four days can go by so fast. 

And alas...alas....while I did do some blog "research" and "organizing," I did not post as much as I had planned.  And the time is tick, tick, ticking away...so...I am going to post a few Anne Lamott quotes that deal with prayer (which was a recent, pre-Christmas topic here) The first two are from her book, "Plan B, Further Thoughts on Faith."  The last one is from her book "Traveling Mercies." 

I've been (very slowly) reading her three latest books...marking page after page with florescent green post its so I can come back later and find the "quoteworthy" quotes. The woman is brilliant.  I plan to write more about her in the future.  Her thoughts resonate.

But tonight, in lieu of a post that might require much writing on my part, I am going to post what she has to say about prayer...and perhaps a comment or two here or there. 

About answers to prayer:

The problem with God, or at least the top five annoying things about God is that He or She rarely answers right away.  It can take days,weeks. Some people seem to understand this--that life and change take time. I, on the other hand, am an instant message type. 

Uh huh...yep...I know just how she feels. 

....when you pray, you are not starting the conversation from scratch, just remembering to plug back into a conversation that's always in progress. 

Perhaps why Paul reminds us to "pray without ceasing?"

And from Traveling Mercies:

Here are the two best prayers I know:    
"Help me, help me, help me" and "Thank you, thank you, thank you."  A woman I know says for her morning prayer, "Whatever" and for the evening,"Oh, well,"

And now since it is definitely time for bed, my bedtime prayer might as well be...what else...

Oh well...

The Recycle Your Faith Website

Check out the Recycle Your Faith Website. Self described thusly:

Short and compelling videos are posted every Monday at recycleyourfaith.com. Each video encourages spiritual exploration through candid interviews, thought-provoking topics, and stories of people attempting to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. Various perspectives are presented and topics are left unresolved. It is our hope that these videos challenge you to question your faith and perhaps recycle it into something more closely resembling your personal experience with Jesus.

I watched ten or so of the high quality videos..most of which are under 3 minutes...but with lots of thought provoking ideas to sit up and pay attention to. It would probably not be a web site to recommend to very traditional Christians because they talk about all kinds of things, including the inerrancy of the Bible, homosexuality, leaving the institutional church and other controversial topics.

There are also two interviews with Paul Young (of The Shack fame). One is a snippet...3 minutes or so...and the other is a longer interview. About 17 minutes. It is a very candid interview about his past. I didn't know how much of his real life story paralleled Mack's story. Some of the statements that impacted me the most were..

It took me fifty years to wipe the face of my father off the face of God.

Shame destroys your ability to distinguish between an observation and a value statement.

He talks about his visit to a prison in Edmonton.

This gal comes over, falls into my arms. She is weeping. She's weeping and her tears are running down MY face. And she whispers as she's weeping, between her sobs, "do you really think Papa is fond of me?" And I said, "Honey, he's especially fond of you." and she said, "That's all I needed to know."

Check out this video...check out the site. And for heaven's sakes, if you haven't read The Shack...read it.

More About That Path

And a quote from Anne Lamott who is quoting E.L. Doctorow about "the path"

"E.L. Doctorow once said that 'Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.' You don't have to see where you're going, you don't have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way. You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you. This is right up there with the best advice on writing, or life, I have ever heard." — Anne Lamott (Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life)

Hmmm...just enough light to see a few feet in front of you. 

The other night I was going through some old AOL files on the geriatric computer that sits in the dining room. The computer is about 7 or 8 years old and the files date back to about 2004.  There were over 4800 emails. Many of them were written to yahoo email lists...the Wider Universalist Fellowship, Christian Universalism and others.  It is eye opening to go back and read emails you've written even just five years ago. 

There was one email I came across that was in reply to the following question:

Were you given a book of your entire existence from birth to death, opened of course to today's page, would you dare turn that page to know what "the morrow shall bring?"

       

                             Photo by TON70

My reply...

Hmmmmm....would I turn the page?  Ignoring the fact that it might all be predetermined whether I would turn the page or not....my first reaction is that I would not.  If tragedy looms ahead, I don't think I would want to know for sure. 

Matthew 6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. KJV

Would I want to know if tomorrow my health would fail....or one of my kids would be hurt....no.....I don't think I could cope with the certainty of it.  So, no, I don't think I would peek ahead to future pages and chapters to see what was going to happen.  If we are believers in UR, we know how it all ends anyway......

That reply was written during the period of my incessant, obsessive, relentless search for the answer to the free will/total determinism question.  You know like the old Miss Clairol commercials...Does she or doesn't she? (have "free will") Even though I wouldn't "bet the farm" on the conclusion I've come to, I do have more peace about the question. 

And my answer to the question about the book of my life.  Well, it is the same answer I gave five years ago.  I wouldn't turn the page.  I guess it is really God's mercy that he gives us just enough light to see a few feet in front of us....