My “Former Life”, #2
Ξ October 29th, 2009 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
I can remember that in my "former life" I had a tendency to resist every new insight into how the world operates if it was perceived as challenging my religious suppositions.
My Former Life
Ξ October 28th, 2009 | → 1 Comments | ∇ Life |
I remember in my "former life" when I came to the conclusion that I could not reconcile human tragedy with a benevolent deity who has supernatural power.
Self-Conscious/Self-Aware & Afraid to Die
Ξ October 26th, 2009 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
The difference between us and the animals, as far as I can determine, is that we realize that we are alive (self-conscious), that we exist, and that some day we will all die.
Once we realize, at a very young age, that we do exist and are alive, we also intuit, at a later time perhaps, that we will all die.
Some say that religion was developed as a coping device to help us deal with our mortality. To prevent our religions from being seen as fraudulent, we ascribe to them the claim that they are not human creations, they were divinely revealed to us. That prevents a detailed study of that for which a divine initiative is claimed.
These propositions and the questions they raise cannot be successfully dealt with until one is outside religion. None of us can truly be outside until we cease to be practioners of religion. How many of us would be willing to do that? When we view religion as a coping device to help us deal with our mortality, it immediately ceases to do its job.
So, to explore the possibilty of life beyond death in any positive way, we have to step beyond religion.
Do you have to become an agnostic, or even possibly an atheist to accomplish this. I don’t believe so. But, you do have to come to a place in your journey where you can face reality squarely. Some have said that religion doesn’t help us to do that. That often religion helps us to hide from reality; a reality which we are not prepared to face (our own mortality).
Is the anxiety of self-consciousness, and its related fear of death, so great that only the belief in a supernatural deity, who can come to our aid and promise us life after death, the only way to quiet our fears? Is religion little more than a human creation to help deal with those fears? Those are the tough questions that we must be willing to broach, to deal with. Those are the tough questions that most religious people today cannot discuss.
~Some ideas and material from: "Eternal Life: A New Vision", by John S. Spong
A Halloween Repost
Ξ October 21st, 2009 | → 3 Comments | ∇ Life |
Well folks, it’s almost that time of year again. You know, late October, harvest time, scarecrows, pumpkins, ghosts and goblins, witches, and ghouls. Deep down, I always enjoyed celebrating the arrival of Autumn (and the free candy!), even if, here in Texas, it often still feels like Summer. I guess the only objection to the celebration is the plentitude of horror movies and a concentration on violence and death instead of the true celebration. Speaking of horror, death, and violence, no wait!..It’s just the fundamentalists advertising for their "Hell Houses" again. Here’s a post from this exact date one year ago. Still very timely, thanks to the fundies.
*time for a confession: As a child, I enjoyed Halloween with my parents approval. Then came my fundamentalist days. I refused to let my children participate in this "pagan, anti-Christian" ritual. My children complained but followed their father’s direction. I sincerely apologize, guys. Now, I see the celebration in a different way after researching its origins. Check it out if you wish. Google "Samhain"
As most of you know, churches all over the country are setting up "Hell Houses" for Halloween to as they say, "scare the Hell out of kids". These "Hell Houses" come in kit form for the church to build for themselves, for only $299!! The object, of course, is to run kids through the "house", simulating Hell with all it’s horrors. Frightening them to the point that they will "accept" Christ and be "saved". I was reading in the local paper all the details about the local churches who are participating. The details, complete with pictures, almost brought tears to my eyes. The "fear" factor is the major part of this idea. How very sick this is. What kind of gospel relies on fear to gain followers? It really hurts my heart to see these tactics used on young people as a way of dispensing the "gospel". What’s wrong with this picture????
*Follow up- Erusso, at A God-sized Puzzle, has posted a link to a film on "Hell House" if you would like to explore them further. Here’s the link . It’s the Oct. 24th post.
A Conservative’s Story
Ξ October 20th, 2009 | → 3 Comments | ∇ Life |
con⋅serv⋅a⋅tive [kuh
n-sur-vuh-tiv] 
–adjective
| 1. | disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change. |
As I continue my journey through this life, I have been reminded time and time again how much I have changed in the last five or so years. For 59 years of my life I would have been defined as a conservative. As I look back on it now, I try to understand why my life was lived so long as a religious and political conservative. Certainly one of the reasons was familial. My parents, their parents were conservative. We rarely stray from our roots. I was a part of a rebellious young generation (the sixties) yet I remained "true" to my conservative upbringing, never getting caught up in the changing times. I was a true conservative, perhaps even fundamentalist, religiously speaking. How is it then that in my 59th year I made a conscious decision to change all that. I have no good answer, save that I began in earnest to read, explore, and question everything I had ever been taught. I have tried before to analyze this and arrive at an answer. There were extenuating circumstances which took place in my life which played a role of some sort. But, I have trouble placing these "circumstances" in a hierarchy of causes. Perhaps they were only general catylsts.
Whatever precipatated the change, I am very grateful for it. Those catalysts led me to see things as I have never seen things before. I have the desire now to research, study, question as never before.
I often go back and read old (earlier) posts that I have written. It is often startling to me how I have changed in some five years. Advice given or comments made several years ago now seem so foreign to me. I seems to me that "change is the only constant" in my life.
I was reading a post from Tim King today. Tim was discussing change as it has occurred in his life. He made a statement to the effect that he now saw the world in entirely different ways than he had before. I could fully identify with him. My world has completely changed. Even the things I identified with five years ago have changed. I find myself wondering how I can justify the changes I’ve undergone since beginning my journey. There is no way to "justify" the changes. There is no need for justification. I simply don’t believe as I did just three years ago. Then, I understand that part of my thinking is still stuck in a conservative mindset that needs justification. Part of me is still trying to preserve existing conditions, trying to limit change. It is then I realized just how much I’ve changed. I don’t believe I can preserve conditions or limit change, lest I become irrelevant (stagnant). That is a big statement for me to make. If I don’t continue to change, I will become irrelevant . I now see stagnation as a negative state for me. My spiritual journey has led me to consider options I never would have earlier. I am very reluctant to make a statement of where I am at present. Tomorrow that statement may become moot.
I am reminded of a quote I read just the other day:
“For many of us the process of unlearning or unknowing our previous images of God might include a stage of atheism or at least a period of grappling with a de-personalized God. But as our search continues, and especially if we are learning from Jesus, we will come to experience God in personal terms. This will of course be very different from the childish images of a personal God some of us grew up with.”
~Albert Nolan, "Jesus Today"
I was thinking to myself how much I agreed with that quote, then was reminded that a year ago I would never have made such a statement.
I have changed in the past five years. I have changed so much that old friends would no longer recognize me theologically or philosophically. Many of my own family consider my beliefs eccentric, kooky, or simply heretical. I would expect that from them as they are still very conservative in their thinking. I still respect them and their beliefs even though I can no longer agree with them. No matter, I cannot go back.
I find more and more that no label fits me. As soon as I label myself, I change again. I am OK with that. I will continue to evolve my thoughts and beliefs…If I don’t I will become irrelevant.
Kevin Strikes Again
Ξ October 15th, 2009 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
Kevin Beck, at Transmillenial, has written another great post! Go figure… Kevin has written a post dealing with the implications of the Nobel Peace Prize and our president. Wow, could he tackle a more visible project? I don’t think so. Why has the awarding of the Nobel Prize become such a flashpoint for conservative political pundits and their followers? He’s democrat (Liberal at that) and they’re Republican. Yes, but for me it goes even deeper to speak of an idea that really troubles me, PEACE. It’s almost as though the word has a negative connotation for them; that they don’t really want or care that much about PEACE. That really bothers me. I know, since I was in that camp for so many years, that the standard answer which comes from the fundamentalists is that Peace will never happen in this evil old world. So, why bother? The fundamentalists will tell you that they are for peace, and will probably quote a scripture or two about it, maybe from "The Beatitudes", while at the same time expressing a belief that peace cannot prevail on earth until Jesus returns to set up his kingdom (that’s a post for another time and place!). So, what they are basically telling us is "why polish the brass on a sinking ship". We will make a cursory attempt at peace, knowing all the while it is not to be! That attitude really upsets me…..
*To read Kevin’s post, here’s the link
A Video You Should See
Ξ October 12th, 2009 | → 3 Comments | ∇ Life |
If you have a family member or friend who is gay, and perhaps you are unsure of what to do or how to deal with homosexuality, you should see this video. It is called: "For the Bible Tells Me So". It is available at Amazon at a very nominal price. It will change your life. 
"For The Bible Tells Me So" is a thought-provoking and informative movie for people who are struggling with guilt and oppression resulting from conflicts over religion and homosexuality. The film gives an accurate analysis of the passages on homosexuality in the Bible context of the time period, and offers brilliant insight in showing the true status of sexual minorities. Are they sinners as has been taught by religious scholars for centuries, or are they something else? Maybe they are just human beings making their way and largely misunderstood by the church, Christians, and religion today.
If you have fast broadband internet service, You can watch it online at YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04AVRslVRbY
You will not regret the time spent watching this dramatic video.
A Brief History of the New Testament
Ξ October 12th, 2009 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
*I continue to take for granted that most readers of this blog know about the history of the New Testament. I should not do that. Here is a good summary of that history for any interested readers. This short history came from Geoff Trowbridge.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
In the two thousand years since the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, the world of Christendom has seen incredible changes, including a split with the Eastern Orthodox Church and a Protestant Reformation, accompanied by a rejection of much core ideology. Yet throughout it all, the collection of scripture called the New Testament has remained unchanged and largely unquestioned, even though it was assembled by the same church leaders whose beliefs many now refute.
To challenge the veracity of the canonical New Testament is, at best, an uncomfortable position; such questions strike at the very heart of most Christians’ faith. Nevertheless, these sacred writings have come to us only after decades of oral traditions and centuries of scribal rewrites, much according to the beliefs of select groups in the early days of Christianity. It is only by attempting to study the origins and evolution of the New Testament scriptures that one can hope to discover the true historical Jesus—a worthy goal of any Christian believer.
The source texts:
Sifting through the scores of different English versions of the New Testament, one is poignantly reminded of how translation, particularly of archaic language, is subject to personal interpretation. It is therefore vitally important that we get as close to the original source as possible. The oldest surviving complete text of the New Testament is the Codex Sinaiticus, dating back to the middle of the fourth century. The oldest fragments, the Bodmer and Beatty Papyri and Papyrus 52, date back to the second century but only contain bits of the Gospel of John. All of these texts are Greek. This presents a few disturbing problems.
First, Jesus’s native tongue was Aramaic, and even if he knew Greek, he certainly did not speak it to his apostles, many of whom were uneducated fishermen. Without any surviving Aramaic texts, the actual words of Christ are lost forever, mired in a sea of subjective translation by ancient scribes. Second, we are faced with a gap of as much as three hundred years between the composition of a text and our surviving copies. In a world without a printing press, texts would often undergo drastic evolution through centuries of handwritten duplication.
Origins of the canon:
Our four canonical gospels did not begin their lives as the gospels of "Matthew," "Mark," "Luke" and "John." Different groups of early Christians maintained their own oral traditions of Jesus’s wisdom, as writing was a specialized skill and not every fellowship enjoyed the services of a scribe. When written accounts of Jesus’s teachings began to circulate (i.e., the theoretical "sayings" gospel Q and the Semeia or Signs source), the independent groups would supplement them with their own traditions about the savior, each believing their own versions to be "the Gospel." Eventually, as these expanded writings spread through other communities, some versions were viewed as having more authority than others. It was not until the pronouncement of Bishop Irenæus (185 C.E.) that Christians began to accept only the four familiar gospels as authoritative, and to refer to them by their modern titles.
The rest of the canon was much slower to develop. For the next two centuries, the four gospels would be coupled with a myriad of different letters, epistles, stories and apocalypses, according to what a particular congregation judged as relevant to their understanding of Jesus Christ and his message. Catholicism was only one of the dozens of "denominations" within the early church—Gnosticism was prevalent throughout Egypt, Montanism in Asia Minor, Marcionism in Syria. Eventually, the Catholic church was adopted as the state religion of the Roman Empire, and all other systems of belief were branded as heresies. Following the Epistle of Athanasius in 367 C.E., the Church finally reached agreement upon which writings were truly authentic and representative of apostolic tradition, thus forming what we know today as the canonical New Testament. Although factions of the Church continued to debate the merits of various books for centuries, and many even used other writings in their liturgy, most uncanonical writings were ordered to be destroyed. In many cases, possession of heretical literature was punishable by death. We are extremely fortunate that many of these texts have survived the millennia, giving us insights into the development of various early Christian traditions.
The Ego and Doubt.
Ξ October 8th, 2009 | → 2 Comments | ∇ Life |
Our ego is a very powerful thing. The ego must always be right or it has failed to do it’s job.
"The ego attaches to form in order to make itself right, more (fill in the blank: holy, righteous, smart, insightful, saved, accepted, ad-infinitum). Once people attach TO their belief system, any challenge to that belief system gives birth to a strong defense mechanism – one that ultimately ends up going on the offense."
~from Tim King
Is this why Christians are so vehement about defending their beliefs or even resorting to violence (warfare)? Or could it be that their vehement defense, which often goes on the offense, is an attempt to conceal a soul-deep, disquieting doubt about those beliefs. I believe it could well be the latter.
Experiencing Ernie
Ξ October 5th, 2009 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
Frank Herbert put it this way, “Life is not a problem to be solved but a mystery to be experienced.”
If you haven’t read Ernie Fitzpatrick’s daily commentaries, you don’t know what you’re missing. Check the following one out, then read some others. You will not regret it.
http://www.lrchouston.com/archive/holistic-healing.php
Stumble it!
