Tinsel or Gold?

But in order to be a truly positive person in all circumstances, one has to learn how to distinguish real gold from tinsel. It is hard, because tinsel sometimes glitters so dazzlingly. I confess, my child, that often in my life I was dazzled by glitter. And sometimes it even shone so falsely, that one dropped pure gold from one's hand and reached for, or ran after, false gold.

This quote was written by Milada Horáková the night before her execution on June 27, 1950. She was convicted of high treason; found guilty of plotting to overthrow the communist regime in Czechoslovakia.  It is an excerpt from a letter she wrote to her 16 year old daughter.

I came upon it on a blog called Letters of Note, a website that features under the radar correspondence from/to famous people. If you love obscure quotes that you can't find on sites like BrainyQuotes, it is an interesting place to visit.

It makes me wonder what I might feel compelled to write to my kids if I knew I was going to die tomorrow. She was a brave woman. She was very wise. I’m not sure I could write anything as profound as what she penned in the letter. I wonder if she wept as she wrote it. I wonder if she questioned the choices she made in her life....whether what she thought was gold what actually tinsel.

One day, when you grow up, you will wonder and wonder, why your mother who loved you and whose greatest gift you were, managed her life so strangely. Perhaps then you will find the right solution to this problem, perhaps a better one than I could give you today myself. Of course, you will only be able to solve it correctly and truthfully by knowing very, very much. Not only from books, but from people; learn from everybody, no matter how unimportant! Go through the world with open eyes, and listen not only to your own pains and interests, but also to the pains, interests and longings of others.

Until my last breath I shall pray for your happiness, my dear child!

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.

The Raven Foundation Revisited

Back in 2008, I wrote a post about a new (then) site that focused on mimesis, mimetic rivalry and Girard’s theory called The Raven Foundation.  By (divers and sundry) happenstance  I found myself there again tonight. 

My how they’ve grown!!!

There is so much information there for anyone interested in learning about mimetic rivalry.  There are a lot of links at the top of the page.  Hover over and a drop down list appears with a plethora of links to blogs, movie reviews, events, online study guides that all deal with Girard’s theory of mimesis, mimetic rivalry and scapegoating.  The focus is on how an understanding of mimetic rivalry can further the cause of peace on earth, goodwill to men. 

It really is worth a visit….but if you explore even a few of the many resources available there.  plan to stay awhile.

Oh and a side note…in my original blog post….several years ago, I linked to an article called Girard For Dummies.  It is now a dead link and unfortunately, I can’t find the article anywhere else online. 

I didn’t know Tony Campolo had a blog….

I happened upon it yesterday as I was wandering around the internet. My launching pad was the google alert I set up for “mercy not sacrifice.”  Every day an email arrives listing when and where the phrase, “mercy not sacrifice” caught google’s attention.  I’ve found several really interesting sites that way.  This time it was Tony Campolo’s blog, Red Letter Christians. 

And so I poked around the site a bit and found several blog posts I paused to read.  Among them….

Whose Death Does God Cheer? ….a post about the killing of Bin Laden.

Hiroshima and the Transfiguration, a Meditation

Why Christians Don’t Like Jesus

Ahhhh….there you go.  The title of that last post mirrors a line in a series I am reading called “What the Bible Really Says.”  The chapter about the Good Samaritan (something I’ve written about here before) closes with this….

The Gospels report that many people who heard the teachings of Jesus became his disciples. But there were many others who heard him and became his enemies.

In today’s world it is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between a disciple and an enemy. Many times those who claim to most reflect his heart and teachings miss the mark spectacularly.  Those called by his name….Christ One’s….seem to have skipped entirely the chapters on love and forgiveness, compassion and generosity, loving your neighbor AND loving your enemy. 

Tony’s focus is emergent, peace promoting, social justice seeking red letter theology.  The God we see revealed in the red letters.

It’s all a matter of perspective :)

And another snippet from Craig Harper’s motivational blog…a blog I mentioned a while back. He has a great sense of humor…although in some of his writings he is somewhat on the….ah….course side. Quote follows….

A few years back, I met with a guy who wanted my help to lose some weight; not an altogether uncommon request in my world. Without giving you specific details, it’s fair to say that he was morbidly obese. That is, huge. Somewhere in the vicinity of double his ideal bodyweight.

Or, half his ideal height.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like so many other things, it's all a matter of perspective....

You can find this wiener dog magnet at Cafe Press

Bucket List? Phucket List?

I came upon a post this morning…long after I should have been in (and back out of) the shower…on The Naked Pastor. It was buried within the feeds from the (way too) many blogs that live in my google reader account. 

The blog is called…The Naked Pastor..and is owned and operated by David Hayward.  The post was called The Phucket List.  Yep…a play on words…a sort of round about phonetic spelling…enabling him to say a word without really saying it…although we know exactly the word he is sort of saying.  Very clever.

The post was inspired by the movie, Bucket List.  We all have a Bucket List….things we want to do before we die…and I suspect we all have a Phucket List too…or we should.  In the bucket…stuff that, upon first glance, seems totally pertinent and important but upon further pondering and evaluation actually isn’t…and so it should go live in the Phucket Bucket. 

Check out the post.  Check out the blog.  He’s also an artist/cartoonist and his cartoons are sure to bring a wry smile to your face.  And give some thought today to what’s in your phucket bucket….what it should be filled with….and what it shouldn’t. 

Ruffled Feathers….

While cruising hither tither around the internet one morning....checking out productivity blogs....I came upon several very interesting snippets here and there.  A couple from this guy....Craig Harper topped the list. 

In an article about why we have become such an overweight world he devoted several paragraphs to what he referred to as the feather ruffling answer. (he is writing in Australia...ranked #21 on the list of fattest nations.  But FYI...the US is #9) His opinion…we make the wrong dietary choices, of our own accord…sometimes spur of the moment…sometimes in less than ideal circumstances…but as the old adage goes.  Nobody puts a gun to our head and makes us eat.

While his article is mainly about diet and healthy eating, it occurred to me that some of the wisdom carries over into other areas of our lives.  Anytime we ask a question or venture to offer our opinion about something we risk ruffled feathers….other folks…or even our own.

The thought that I am probably ruffling a few feathers crosses my thoughts every time I broach some of the more controversial topics I write about here on this blog….which is….often.  Inerrancy, homosexuality, free will/sovereignty, Islam…..and the list goes on. 

And truthfully, I find my feathers ruffling a bit in my journeys around the internet and in my day to day life. 

Picture from The Telegraph…Reuters

We all have opinions.  I’m pretty sure every one has heard the off color catchphrase….comparing opinions to….well, you know.  Something else we all have.  So I am going to close this post with some wise words from one of the founding fathers of this country….Benjamin Franklin. 

“For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions, even on important subjects, which I once thought right but found to be otherwise.” Ben Franklin

CS Lewis Blog…

From time to time, when I check my blog stats...one of the posts that comes up again and again in the most viewed posts is the one entitled "CS Lewis and Prayer." In fact, I checked just now and it was the number one viewed post for the week....and the month.  Apparently, even though I didn't have a clue when I named the post, CS Lewis and Prayer is an oft used search query and google has sent many visitors my way because of it.  So CS Lewis is a popular guy....and a popular search on google.

Recently, I came across a blog dedicated entirely to the words of CS Lewis.... quotes from Lewis along with the author's thoughts and opinions and views about the quotes. It is called Mere CS Lewis. I just added it to my google reader...and you should add it to your RSS reader of choice.  Check it out HERE.  

As If I Don’t Have Enough To Read….

On Greg Boyd's blog (I really like Greg Boyd) he posted a link to a list on "Super Scholar"...a site, self described as follows:

Super Scholar highlights the best and brightest in the academy while also helping up-and-coming students to get the most out of their academic experience. Our aim for this site is twofold. First, we want to showcase the highest achievements at colleges and universities from around the world. Second, we want to show students how to excel in their studies, in athletics, in charting a career path, in finding success and happiness. We believe that students excel when their expectations and aspirations are raised, and that this is best accomplished by exposing them to the exciting individuals and ideas that populate the academic world.

The list is entitled "The 20 Most Influential Christian Scholars" folks who have....

profoundly influenced the world by advancing Christian belief, by reconceptualizing it, or even by fundamentally challenging it.

Everyone on the list...

has deeply impacted Western culture’s self-understanding.

Boyd is on the list for his belief in open theology. 

Others on the list include....

• Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger)
• Francis Collins (teaches the compatibility of evangelical Christianity and Darwinian evolution)
• John Dominic Crossan (head of the infamous Jesus Seminar)
• R. Albert Mohler (head of the Southern Baptist Theological Institute and Convention...need I say more)

And 16 others...conservative and liberal.  There are links to their writings, websites, lectures...what have you.  Looks like a lot of interesting, far flung beliefs to read about...if I can only find the time....

Jesus said…Ye shall know them by their fruits…

LOL…LOL..LOL….!!!  This video is hilarious.  Catchy tune, too…if you like twangy country music.  And using parody, Antsy McClain and the Trailer Park Troubadours remind us that Christians are indeed ambassadors for Christ…

 

 

This morning…since o’dark thirty, I’ve been going through some old stuff…files, bookmarks, draft copies of emails in my “Send Later” file, message board posts and ideas for blog posts.  I came upon this video on a site called dabmin.org …that I saved long ago and faraway.  I revisited this morning.  There were several videos there that impacted me.  More about them in a later post….if I don’t get distracted and lured down some rabbit trail by an interesting but unrelated notion.

Anyway…this video reminded me of a joke I have oft heard told on Christian message boards and email lists….

Mistaken Identity

A man was being tailgated by a stressed out woman on a busy boulevard, when suddenly, the light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing and stopped, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.

The tailgating woman hit the roof, and the horn, screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection.

As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, finger printed, photographed, and placed in a holding cell.

After several hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.

He said, I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the 'Choose Life' license plate, the 'What Would Jesus Do?' bumper sticker, the 'Follow Me to Sunday-School' bumper sticker, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk.

Naturally, I assumed you had stolen the car.

2 Corinthians 5:20

Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. KJV

From the Message -

We're Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he's already a friend with you.

Enlightenment Next....

Not long ago, I came across...for the second time, the website and magazine formerly know as the WIE...What Is Enlightenment....by Andrew Cohen.  I found it the first time...well, I don't remember how....by happenstance probably.  I pilfered a quote from the cyber mag and was used in a recent post in the series of posts about Truth.

Anyway...the site is now called Enlightenment Next...and it has all kinds of resources....and I do mean ALL kinds of resources. The magazine is billed as the magazine for "revolutionaries." Each issue is devoted to a particular theme.  Archives...including those from when the magazine was still What is Enlightenment...are also available pretty much in their entirety on the website.  An example of the diversity?  Well.....

• The Many Faces of God 
• Constructing the New Man
• The Mystery of Evolution
• Death, Rebirth and Everything in Between
• Spirituality vs. Religion
• Is God a Pacifist?
• What Does It Mean To Be In the World But Not Of?

And there are a lot more....

If it wasn't neigh on bedtime I might cyber browse through the Pacifism issue....but alas, it is getting late...and I am getting sleepy...so it will have to wait for another day....

Very, very cool web apps....

Major digression coming up....

I've been busy lately....doing...other stuff. Nothing important really...just trying to get my whole freaking life in order.  I've been on a bit of a relentless (obsessive?) search driven on by the certainty that somewhere...out there...in cyber space, there is THE perfect web app that will help me ORGANIZE everything.  A place to capture these ideas and thoughts and to do's and don't forget's and the tell him/her/them...this/that/or the other thing....blog ideas...things I want to read, watch, listen to, think about, ponder...muse...cook.  Cook?  Did I say cook? Ahhhhh...scratch cook from the list.  

         

Oh...and it has to be free.  I have found so many cool...really cool, very cool, beyond cool...unbelievably cool apps out there.  And I think I've got some sort of a "system" figured out because...alas...even though there are unbelievably cool apps out there...none of them "does it all"....even though they say they do.  I've been reading some of the principles of Getting Things Done....and they make a lot of sense.  But actually doing it is more difficult than reading about doing it. 

As you have probably surmised by now, this post has nothing to do with mercy...or sacrifice...or anything spiritual really...but just a little about some of those cool apps I've been dinking around with.

First of all there is google calendar.  I love google calendar.  You can have an unlimited number of calendars...and they are all COLOR CODED...colors are automatically generated...but you can change to a color of your choosing.  So you could have a calendar for work (green) and a calendar for home (purple)...one for a blog (pink)  or for your family (green) ...or your husband...or spiritual pursuits etc etc etc.  What you enter on the calendar does not necessarily have to be time specific. You can enter "tasks."  Check it out if you have any anal tendencies...like me. 

Another app that I have been using for a while...free....is called reqall.  After you sign up for an account and register your phone number with them, you can add things to your to do list on the fly...via phone.  It is then transcribed and sent to you via email and to your account on the reqall site on the web.  There are all kinds of ways to categorize it there....labels, locations, times....mind boggling.  There are also some other bells and whistles that are available...for $2.99 a month or 25 bucks for the year.  It's come in quite handy...mornings I am hurrying out to my car...late for work and suddenly remembered something I absolutely could not forget.  Sometimes the transcription, which is done electronically...with a touch of human intervention, is amusing.

"What are Emily's plans this weekend" turned into "Water Emily's plants this weekend"

It will also remind you of stuff...if you know the right questions to ask when you call the number.  I haven't used that feature yet. 

Then there is zoho notebook...and scrapbook plus (a firefox extension) that will let you save stuff you find on the web.  And Instapaper and Read Later which also saves stuff from the web that you want to "read later."

So that is what I've been up to for days.  My kids have oft described me as OCD...I think they might have a point.....

Interesting Websites - "New" New Testament Translations....

I received an email yesterday from the Greater Emmanuel International Website...which piqued this post...

It announced a study on Revelation by Jonathon Mitchell...a frequent contributor on the GEIW website.  Like the study by David Fields, it takes a look at the book of Revelation, chapter by chapter, verse by verse...with explanations that differ from the standard status quo, "OH MY GOD THE SKY IS FALLING" interpretation.

FYI...another resource for a study on Revelation...if you have lots and lots of time to devote...is Preston Eby's From the Candlestick to the Throne series.  It is not a chapter by chapter study...and is kind of meandering....written with Eby's usual prolificness. Very detailed and encompasses more than just an interpretation of Revelation.  Oh, and of course, there is Ray Prinzing's, Revelation, a Positive Book.  Just saying...for anyone interested in looking into a view of Revelation the authors of the Left Behind series forgot to include in their collection of horror books.... 

So anyway...I am on the mailing list of the GEIW website because Keith and I became acquainted with their ministry...somehow....five or six years ago...perhaps longer when we attended a very small gathering they hosted at the YMCA in Hamilton.  At the time it was a real life...though very small....fellowship in Hamilton, Ontario.  John Gavazonni was the featured speaker.  I've always liked John G ....ever since his writing "The Great Misrepresentation" affirmed a view of the atonement I carried within my heart (but did not realize could be supported sculpturally) Since then the founder of the website, Alan Savage, passed away and it has become mainly an internet ministry. 

Their site houses or provides links to the writings of many kingdom ministries....Eby...Gavazonni...Ray Prinzing, Bill and Elaine Cook, Richard Wayne Garganta...AP Adams...and many more.  The site is definitely worth checking out.  And Jonathon Mitchell...well, in addition to the Revelation study...and quite a few other articles, has also translated the New Testament.  John Gavazonni often uses that translation in his writings.  It is one of the new New Testaments I referred to in the title of this post.  It is a translation that is not so much an easy read since it is akin to the Amplified Bible... on steroids.  Lots of study notes included in this version separated from the Biblical text with the use of parenthesis.  It does not flow off the tongue but does provide lots of details and insight into the meaning of the original words etc. 

Another new New Testament I've happened upon in the past year or so is called "The Source," a translation by Ann Nyland.  It was available at God's Word To Women....I have the pdf saved on my computer.  Unfortunately you won't find it at the GWTW anymore. They are miffed at Nyland for publishing a version of her translation earmarked especially for Lesbians, Gays, Bi, and Transgender--With Extensive Notes on Greek Word Meaning and Context.  I found this version  online.  I compared it, side by side, with the version I have on my computer and it is very (very) similar to the original version of The Source. There are some differences however...such as the study notes on the GLBT clobber versus are not neutral as they are in The Source.  So....up to you...if you want to read the biblical text of Nyland's translation....with a plethora of unique study notes, the majority of which have noting to do with homosexuality, you can find it HERE.  Otherwise, there is an online version of just the biblical text...no notes....HERE.  And of course you could always pay for a hard copy version available at Amazon....starting at about $20 used....

Interesting Website - Wabash Center....

For a plethora of writings on religion (mainly Christianity) from a scholarly perspective....and I do mean a plethora....check out the Wabash Center.  More here than one could hope to read in years.  While I still find the sheer magnitude of information available on the internet amazing, I find it frustrating too.  So much to read..so little time to read it.  Some of the topics?

 

Aspects of Religion
•  Apocalyptic thought and millennialism
•  Death and dying
•  Fundamentalism
•  Gnosticism
•  Interreligious dialogue
•  Liturgics
•  Monasticism and religious orders
•  Mysticism
•  Religion and anthropology / sociology
•  Religion and architecture
•  Religion and art
•  Religion and colonialism
•  Religion and culture
•  Religion and drama
•  Religion and economics
•  Religion and film
•  Religion and film -- Reviews
•  Religion and humor
•  Religion and journalism
•  Religion and law
•  Religion and literature
•  Religion and medicine
•  Religion and music
•  Religion and politics
•  Religion and psychology
•  Religion and rhetoric
•  Religion and science
•  Religion and violence
•  Religion -- Introductory courses
•  Religion on the Internet
•  Religion -- Relief and development work
•  Religion -- Study and teaching
•  September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001
•  Spirituality
•  Women -- Religious aspects

Religious Thought
•  Abortion -- Religious and moral aspects
•  Biomedical ethics -- Religious aspects
•  Capital punishment -- Religious aspects
•  Church and state
•  Environmental ethics -- Religious aspects
•  Feminist theology
•  Liberation theology
•  Philosophy and religion
•  Postmodernism -- Religious aspects
•  Religious ethics
•  Sexual ethics -- Religious aspects
•  Social ethics
•  Theology
•  War and peace -- Religious aspects

 

And much...much more....

Explore Faith.org

I came upon the Explore Faith web site a while back...saved it in the queue of ideas for just such a time as this....when I have not posted for three days...and when all the half formed ideas that are banging into each other in my brain have not seemed to congeal into a stream of words lucid enough to become a blog post.  Perhaps the ideas are in the process of coming to "fruition."  You know...ripening.  Although I know some might see them as far past ripe (which is synonymous with RIGHT) but that is the subject of another post.  (oh great....more stuff to churn around up there and "ferment")

Anyway, I came upon the site Explore Faith a while back, saved it in the queue...checked it out a bit yesterday here at home and yesterday at work during a break.  It is an interesting site...slanted heavily toward the Christian perspective, but inclusive at the same time. There is a page with links to articles about other religious traditions...but it is a small portion of the site.  

There are articles about prayer, meditation, peaceful living, parenting, oneness, everyday spirituality, an eclectic page of links, guided journaling, etc.  Worth a visit. You will find much food for thought there. 

The Three Stages of Human Consciousness?

I came upon a snippet today (one of many interesting fragments of thought I came across this morning) while “researching” a whole bunch of other ideas that have been ping ponging around in my head for the past few days (weeks/years/lifetime?) I come across about a million quotes/thoughts/ideas/excerpts that would make a good blog post every time I sit down with my laptop, pick up a book, read the Bible, watch a movie or read the posts on the lists. More posts than I could ever hope to write…more thoughts than I can ever hope to think through.

Perhaps this is the sad travail it talks about in Ecclesiastes…you know…that God hath given to the sons of man to be humbled by…. exercised with…wearied of….burdened by (depending on the translation of Ecclesiastes 1:13 you happen to read) But alas that is the subject of a whole other post so I am going to leave that alone for now and just get on with the snippet du jour that I came across by happenstance (and google) this morning….and what came to mind when I read it.

The link on google, led to a PDF file…which led back to the web site paragonian.org. I skimmed some of the writings there…long….deep…metaphysical. I don’t have the time or energy to be exercised with all the wisdom there this morning. I think some of Ken Wilbur's  theories are incorporated in this writing…entitled, An Integral Theory of Evolution. It is about 19 pages long…and written in a very scholarly fashion…with footnotes and references and too much new information for me to ponder in it’s entirety. So anyway…..back to the snippet….

……. we can look at the phylogeny of human consciousness from about 25,000 years ago in three stages, which we can call innocent, mental, and spiritual. During the first phase, our ancestors were like innocent, young children, from the Latin nocentem, present participle of nocere, ‘to hurt, injure’. So someone who is innocent is literally ‘harmless’. It seems that this innocent matrifocal or matriarchal age was comparatively peaceful, in contrast to the conflict-ridden mental epoch.

I am thinking that we are probably in the thick of…heading perhaps to the death throes of…..the conflict ridden mental epoch. The reign of the carnal/adamic/natural/egoic man. If Jesus ushered in the beginning of the spiritual age….the age of the realization of the christ in you, the hope of glory, perhaps we are in the transition period. The out with the old, in with the new. (Doesn’t Paul talk about this in his theories of old man/new man…the new creation man?)

And this age of innocence…when our ancestors (adam and eve?) were like innocent, young children. When they walked in the cool of the day (in the spirit) with God--when they had no inkling they were naked. Eckhart Tolle thinks the Fall came about when mankind started to think solely with their brains. Is that when the pineal gland shrunk to the size of a grain of rice and the pituitary gland…the gland that controls all things human, took over? When mankind closed their “third eye” and began to overthink things….and have been overthinking things ever since? The day we ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil” and wandered away from the Tree of Life?

We are a species that has lost its way. Eckhart Tolle/ A New Earth

And doesn’t the Bible….if not taken literally, illustrate these three stages pretty graphically? The Garden…the age of innocence, the Old Testament with its atrocities and carnality oozing from every page (but with the voice of the spirit breaking through here and there...spoken by the prophets who sometimes proclaimed the true character and nature of God) And then the New Testament….the Gospels, where Jesus, THE prophet proclaimed what our true character and nature really are. Declaring boldly that the kingdom of God is within you and "Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?" A living, breathing, walking amongst us expressed image of the invisible God….the God who lives within us and in whom we live and move and have our being? And then the rest of the New Testament with Paul’s proclamations of what is carnal and what is spiritual….leading into the promises written about in Revelation….the new earth…the New Jerusalem.

Are we in the midst of the continuation of scripture? Are we living in the age of the  New(er) Testament? The ushering in of the spiritual age? The New Earth? The awakening?

 

A new species is arising on the planet. It is arising now, and you are it! Eckhart Tolle/ A New Earth

A new species? Perhaps what the Bible refers to as “the new creation man”?

These are just my thoughts this morning….not etched in stone….and I may rethink them as the day goes on and decide they don’t fit….but for now, this morning, they seem to make sense....

Revisiting the Gay Wars....

I read an article on line (where else?) last night...about a gay man who spoke about his life, his coming out, his families reaction, etc. at a very conservative Christian college.  It was a really interesting article but...dumb me...I did not bookmark it and for the life of me....I cannot find it in my "history" on AOL or Chrome...and I can't get it to come up in a google search.  I hate when that happens! Alas...no link to the article.  Also...recently on the yahoo e-list, Christian Universalism, where I am a (mostly lurking) member, another battle in the gay wars was waged.  No winners...and one (very) conservative member there, stomped off in a huff...supposedly never to return. These two things jogged my memory about this post that was hiding out in the queue. It was written a month or so ago but shuffled to the holding tank (the Someday/Maybe file)  which comes in very handy on a morning like this when I am hung over (figuratively speaking) from staying up too late to watch Gray's Anatomy.   Queued post follows....

On the blog Pomomusings, in a post written about a year ago...

The Bible and Homosexuality, Enough with the Bible Already...

the author suggests that, for those who are steeped in condemning....or defending.....homosexuality using the Bible as their weapon of choice, they might want to set the Bible aside for a while.

Christians have a history of using the Bible as a weapon (this is a bit of a caricature – but probably not far from the truth). Whether being used to condone slavery, oppress women or support wars, it’s clear the Bible has been misused by many [insert here accusations that I as well am misusing the Bible with my hope for acceptance of LGBT folk]. When the Bible becomes used as a weapon, as a tool for discrimination, as a way in which people can justify beliefs of hatred and injustice – one has to think and wonder if we haven’t gone horribly wrong somewhere.

For some, I believe the Bible has become an idol. Some place the Bible above Jesus’ compassion and love, Jesus’ radical inclusivity, and hold steadfast onto what they believe to be the correct interpretation of a small amount of verses that speak about same-sex relations. To those who repeatedly start quoting Leviticus and Romans verses as soon as anyone brings up the topic of homosexuality, I’d suggest perhaps you stick your Bible back up on the shelf for awhile. Perhaps it should collect a little bit of dust. And maybe, just maybe, you need to go out and grab coffee with someone who’s gay. Maybe you need to hear their story, learn about what they’ve been through, how they’ve experienced Christians and the church.

He goes on to say

So I’m not arguing that we should throw out the Bible; but at least for some people, it might be more productive – and better for society – if they put the Bible aside for awhile, stopped listening to the hateful rhetoric of James Dobson & Friends, and engaged in some thoughtful reflection and conversation with the LGBT community.

Isn't that the truth?

Check out this website. Some very interesting writings reside there. Including a 7 or 8 part series summarizing the book Jesus, the Bible and Homosexuality by Jack Rogers.

The Message and Mission of Christ Conference

The other day on EU, Dena posted the following link to the 2010 Transmillennial Texas Regional Conference...theme of which is...Jesus.  Following is "e-flyer" from the website.  Their stated purpose is:

Viewing God's redemptive work as truly universal, not just in potential but in fact, not only restores the majesty of God but also answers so many of the nagging issues which trouble Orthodoxy. This understanding, variously known as "comprehensive grace" , "gospel of inclusion", or "ultimate reconciliation", provides a viable biblical viewpoint without many of the logical inconsistencies and obvious ethical problems so pronounced in traditional Christian theology.

It is for the purpose of sharing this new view of God and his purpose for mankind that this web site is dedicated.

The website has quite a few articles that discuss inerrancy, Christianity, Churchianity etc. etc.  The articles I clicked on were not long and drawn out.  Check out the site.  The information about the conference follows:

Theme: The Message and Mission of Christ

The Sjolander Road Fellowship announces the fifth annual Texas Regional Transmillennial Conference for February 5-7, 2010. The conference site will be 4464 Sjolander Road, Baytown, Texas (approximately 30 miles east of Houston, exit 795 off Interstate 10).

Many would probably assume that the message and mission of Christ are too well known and understood to be the topic of discussion in any meaningful way. In the conventional understanding Jesus was the God sent Savior who died to pay the price for all mankind's sins and thereby make it possible for those who "accept" Him as Savior to enjoy the blessings of Heaven. Under this paradigm, mankind's sin, or lawbreaking, is the problem which separates God and man, and Jesus primary mission was to end this separation by appeasing God. Supposedly, all these "facts" are biblically indisputable.

Well, are they really? This gathering proposes to challenge an array of speakers of various backgrounds to re-examine the entire issue of what Jesus came to do and how He accomplished that mission. The problem with much that passes for Bible study is that it starts off assuming much and challenging and confirming very little. It is the desire of the organizers of this year's conference, that speakers feel perfectly free to question everything, leaving no assumption of Orthodoxy untouched. Let the evidence speak. Any quest to find a more reasonable and majestic God in the Bible cannot be condemned, except by those who have a vested interest in the fearful status quo.

Individuals interested in participating in the presentations and discussions in person are encouraged to see our website,www.knowingtodaysgod.com, or to contact us at rlcppc@aol.com or 281-383-7054 for details, including a schedule of speakers. As an alternative, anyone can hear all the presentations live on-line, making arrangements by e-mailing Kevin Beck at Kevin@Presence.tv.

Amen...

I came upon a web site a while back...World Prayers.  Self described below:

The objective of this website is to gather the great prayers written by the spiritual visionaries of our planet into an online database representing all life affirming traditions. Many of these prayers have been used for hundreds if not thousands of years. Others are from spiritual contemporaries in today's intricate global fabric. Though these sacred verses arise from divergent paths, voices, languages, cultures and heritages, they all carry within them the same burning flame - the same impassioned love for life and the divine mysteries.

There are hundreds of prayers on this site "representative of all life affirming faiths and spiritual practices." They are divided into the following categories:

 ADORATIONS
Prayers of devotion, surrender, love, praise and offering.
CELEBRATIONS
Prayers of thanksgiving, initiation, affirmation and blessing.
INVOCATIONS
Prayers of petition, supplication, calling forth and healing.
MEDITATIONS
Prayers of reflection, contemplation, being and teaching.

The site is searchable by author, tradition, source, type, keyword and quote.  There are more than a dozen traditions listed...

• African Traditional
• Asatru
• Baha'i Faith
• Buddhism
• Celtic
• Children
• Christianity
• Confucianism
• Gaian
• Hinduism
• Islam
• Jainism
• Judaism
• Native American
• Sikhism
• Sufism
• Taoism
• Zoroastrian

Many of the prayers were more poemlike than prayerlike. Many (most) expressed my own thoughts and beliefs, worded a bit different than I might put it...but still expressing a viewpoint, an understanding of God that I share.  Prayers that I can wrap up in my own heart and mind with "Amen."

I've heard Keith say many times that Amen is the equivalent of "Those are my words."  Meaning that the prayer so reflects the  heart and beliefs of the listener that to add anything would be redundant. 

I like that.  I've experienced that many times with prayers...and with quotes, which are snippets of encapsulated truths...broken down to their lowest integer.  My favorite quotes are those which take profound truths and express them in a bare bones fashion...not all dressed up and wordy.

Tomorrow I am going to look a little more closely at the word "Amen" and pepper the post with some quotes (a few a bit wordy) and interesting facts that I found in the "virtually" unending resource library available on...the World Wide Web. 

Christ of the Abyss...

This morning, via a message board for bloggers called Authority Blogger, I happened upon a blog....Adam Snider - Writer For Hire.  The author is based in Edmonton, posts on Authority Blogger and has written a Christmas post entitled, Taking Christ Out of Christmas, from the perspective of someone who is not Christian...yet not at all militant about it.  Check it out.

The picture he used to illustrate his post is rather...ahhh....eery?  At first glance, I thought it was a mountain like structure somewhere. A religious Mount Rushmore of sorts.....picture taken from afar...and that the bits of green were actually patches of wild brush.  When I investigated the photo, it turns out that it is actually a submerged statue of Jesus called Christ of the Abyss.  As I look at it a bit more closely I can see that it is obviously not a mountain sculpture. Duh.  The thought that this is submerged is really kind of eery...or is it?  Any thoughts? 

And giving credit where credit is due, this photo was taken by vgm8383 and resides on Flickr.

There are three well known casts of this statue in various underwater places plus other casts in lesser known locations above and below the waterline.  There is  more info on the statue\...where else...Wikipedia.   

 

And below another pic from the State Library and Archives of Florida