Seems Like God - Progressive Christian Perspective

Desiderata - No Doubt

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 15:32:00 GMT

And whether or not it is clear to you;
No doubt the universe is unfolding as it should
- Desiderata

No, it isn't always clear to me that the universe is unfolding as it should. In fact, there are times when it seems more like a train running down hill full tilt with no brakes. I think we sometimes believe that God is supposed to not only guide the universe, but should keep us from feeling any of the bumps in the road as well. God however, seems to have left it up to us to make each other comfortable on the way. Sometimes that's a little discouraging.

And then I come across something like this...

To read the entire article, or if you cannot view the embedded video, click the title link.

A (rather progressive) Conservative Pledge

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 19:08:41 GMT

If a conservative Christian followed the Golden Rule, what would their actions look like?

To read the complete article, click the title link

A couple of other resources you might find interesting:
- Jim Taylor's Edges
- David Keating's Golden Rule Radical

Gimme a Hug - a Seems Like God blog

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:05:33 GMT

The very first sermon that a friend of mine wrote was about hugs. What she asked was simple. That everyone just reach out and give someone else a hug.

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No Junk - a Seems Like God blog

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:57:26 GMT

I've raised three young 'uns. One of the most rewarding aspects of that frequently daunting task is to see them overcome some of the unpleasantness that life can throw their way

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Spring Cleaning - a Seems Like God blog

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:45:14 GMT

Every so often faith needs a little spring cleaning too. It can get so littered with debris that it's totally smothered. Or at least so hazardous to navigate that it never lives up to its potential.

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the Good Old Days - a Seems Like God blog

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:37:28 GMT

One of the things I like to do while shoveling snow, besides use colourful language, is contemplate life.

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Tragedy into Triumph - Easter 2008

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:21:37 GMT

This is the between time. Jesus was gone and all this metaphysical stuff about coming back wasn't very reassuring. How empty they must have felt. Triumph had become tragedy.

But wait until tomorrow. Wait until the Resurrection proves once and for all that God cannot be done away with. That it's impossible for priests or kings or swords or anything else to sever our connection to the Creator.

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Triumph and Tragedy

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:07:41 GMT

No doubt the backroom boys who plot political strategies were looking things over and rubbing their hands. What were the odds that Jesus would start an insurgency this week?

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It's Always Darkest When?

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:58:44 GMT

The Christian calendar squeezes everything that happened in Jesus' life into just about three months. It doesn't matter whether you take the Bible literally, consider it myth and metaphor, or fall somewhere in between. For most people, all the important stuff happens between Christmas and Easter.

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7 Questions - Part 4 - Ripples in Our Communities

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:51:36 GMT

We're in a community if we go to church or belong to a club. We're in a community wherever we work. We're even in community, a temporary one, if we go to a sporting event, the theatre or a restaurant.

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7 Questions - Part 3 - Doing Unto Ourselves

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:37:40 GMT

To do unto others as we'd have them do unto us means that we need to have respect for ourselves as well as the other.

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On the Web

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 22:56:39 GMT

A growing collection of sites with thoughts on interfaith and ecumenical efforts. Updated as new sites come to my attention.

7 Questions of the Golden Rule - Part 2.

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 01:05:21 GMT

In my last column I introduced what I've come to call the "7 Questions".

The Questions are based on the Golden Rule and on the old adage about how our choices in life spread out from us in the same way that ripples spread out from a stone thrown into a pond.

People sometimes say that the Golden Rule makes us think that we know what's best for someone else. As we would have them do unto us seems to imply that what we want is also what they should want. In its simplest sense, this actually works. sort of. After all, if I see someone in an accident I stop to help. And it's pretty much a given that if I were in an accident, I'd hope that anyone passing by would stop to help me. Same thing if I see someone starving. It's pretty easy to reach the conclusion that they would appreciate something to eat in the same way that I'd appreciate being given something to eat if I were in the same situation.

But George Bernard Shaw once said "Do not do unto others as you would expect they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same." Indeed.

When we start talking about matters of "taste" Shaw is absolutely correct. We've moved to an entirely different application of the Golden Rule. If it's still going to be what Matthew has Jesus call the thing on which all other rules depend, the way we understand it has to change.

Some people have reworded the Golden Rule to say that we should "do unto others as they would have us do unto them." They're trying to emphasize the idea that we need to "walk a mile in their shoes" before making decisions. That's a good first step; but what if what they would have us do is harmful, either to them or to us? Maybe they want us to help them commit suicide. Or give them all of our money (boy will they be disappointed if I do that).

Self care is another important consideration in our actions. I've known people who were emotionally scarred from trying to take the blame for everything bad that ever happened in the world. Which brings up another old adage that goes something like "if you want to look after others, you have to look after yourself." It's good advice.

That's why the first two Questions are focused on not just the "other" but also on us.

If the choice is whether or not to pull someone from a burning building, then it's pretty easy to say "yes this will have a positive effect on them". On the other hand, if the choice is whether or not to tell them what we overheard at the water cooler, we might have to give it some more thought. Will it really be a positive thing to tell them that we heard a third hand rumour that the boss was getting set to give them the heave ho?

And how will our choice affect us? Let's talk about that next time.

The 7 Questions
Will this decision positively affect:

The "other" (that person or part of Creation most directly touched by your choice)
You
Those closest to the "other"
Those closest to you
Your shared community (neighborhood, workplace, organization)
Other communities (beyond you and the "other")
The world/environment/Creation

7 Questions - an aid for making Positive Choices

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 20:30:11 GMT

I was looking for a way to summarize the the Golden Rule in a way that reflected how I actually applied it in day-to-day life. These 7 Questions are what I came up with.

About the 7 Questions -

These 7 Questions are drawn from the Golden Rule as written in the life affirming faiths and philosophies of the world. They are intended to help develop our moral intuition, and to encourage us to become more deliberate in the application of the Golden Rule in our daily lives.

The Golden Rule has been written in hundreds, perhaps thousands, of different ways. All sharing a common grounding in mutuality, that universal relationship that the ancient Greeks called agapé.

Through this Principle of Mutuality, the choices we make, like the proverbial ripples in a pond, flow outward from us to the "other" and beyond.

The 7 Questions are a tool to help us understand our choices in the context of that image. They are, in reality, one question, applied to ever widening circles of relationship.

Using the 7 Questions -

The Questions are not intended as a scorecard. However, a good place to start in your practice of using them is to simply see how many times you can answer "Yes" in response to them.

At first, it may seem simple. However, as you begin to reflect more deeply on the relationship symbolized in each question, you may find that the exercise takes more consideration than you had first thought.

Each of the 7 Questions starts identically -

Will this decision positively affect:

1 The "other" (that person or part of Creation most directly touched by your choice)
2 You
3 Those closest to the "other"
4 Those closest to you
5 Your shared community (neighborhood, workplace, organization)
6 Other communities (beyond you and the "other")
7 The world/environment/Creation

Don't force it. Like exercising any other muscle, beefing up our moral intuition can be painful. And its hard work But it's worth it.

The more we exercise our moral intuition, the more deliberate we become in using it. The more deliberate we are, the closer we are to creating a Golden Rule world.

I have also created a workshop based on the Golden Rule and the 7 Questions and am actively seeking locations to present it. If you or your group would be interested in hosting a program, or in having a short presentation, please check out details here

God Must be Busy - a Seems Like God Reflection

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 18:24:08 GMT

That everything happens for a reason lost any tiny bit of credibility it might have had with me when my sons' mother died in a car accident. When I tried to use this reasoning with my three year old son the words stuck in my mouth.

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Anointing - A Seems Like God Reflection

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 19:02:52 GMT

For those churches that follow the lectionary (a guideline of topics spread over a three year cycle) this past Sunday marked the baptism of Jesus. The little guy grew up pretty quick didn't he? Seems like only a couple of weeks ago that we had a birthday party for him.

In any case, in some churches this is one of the Sundays when folks can have their own little ones sprinkled or dunked. However, as it happened, there were no babies to do this to at the service I attended. Instead, the minister did something that, for me, was incredibly meaningful.

I did not want to let it go unremarked.

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A Little Bit - a Seems Like God Reflection

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 19:04:08 GMT

There's a little bit of good in the worst of us, and a little bit of bad in the best of us. You may have heard this before. It's a variation on a saying by Robert Louis Stevenson who wrote, among other things, Treasure Island. Strangely enough, I first read the quote in a comic book. I was maybe twelve at the time. It was a crime story, about a kidnapper who sacrifices himself to save the child he'd kidnapped. The quote was the epitaph uttered by the cop standing over the body in the last panel of the comic.

Those words have stuck with me for forty years.

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Community - a Seems Like God Reflection

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:58:25 GMT

I'm writing this column from a chair at the foot of Meaghan's hospital bed. I'll be here several more days. Which has given me ample time to reflect on just exactly what community looks like.

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Peace - Advent 4 - 2007

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 15:29:08 GMT

Humanity, it seems, has been seeking peace for a very long time.

I was particularly taken by Helen Keller's comments when I first read them. Keller seemed to have a gift for cutting through the rhetoric and getting to the heart of things. "The understanding that bringeth peace." I couldn't help but wonder what exactly that kind of understanding looked like.

I doubted very much that it was a particular set of beliefs, a certain way of doing things, a specific type of ritual. Christians don't even agree among themselves when, or if, Jesus was born, or whether or not Christmas should be celebrated. In the not so distant past, churches would lock their doors to make sure no one could get in on December 25th.

Charles Shulz, in the classic "a Charlie Brown Christmas", had Linus answer Charlie Brown's plea for an explanation of Christmas by quoting Luke. He ended with "Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, good will toward men".

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Joy - Advent 3 - 2007

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 22:53:58 GMT

This third week of Advent is usually called "Joy". I can't think of anything that fits that description better than Christmas cookies and baking.

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Faith - Advent 2 - 2007

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 22:47:51 GMT

Not too long ago, most people who called themselves Christian had faith that only those who believed the same things that they did who were destined for heaven. The Christian faith seems to be outgrowing this idea. Thank God.

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Hope - Advent 1 - 2007

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 04:05:27 GMT

This first Sunday of Advent is generally focused on Hope; on the belief that Jesus brought a new relationship with God into the world.

There are those who try to limit that relationship to an exclusive club. There are others who dismiss the idea altogether, citing the fact that even two thousand years after Christianity got out of the gate, that new relationship seems pretty far away. And still others look around and simply feel hopeless.

I'm not one of them.

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Password for Prayer

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 23:11:48 GMT

A guest column by Jim Taylor

We even have passwords for prayer. Devout people assure me that any prayer uttered in the name of Jesus Christ will always be answered. God has promised that, they insist. But no other password will do. I don't believe that any more. I'm not sure I ever did.

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Black and White

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 00:31:07 GMT

The comments on the passing of Jerry Falwell, founder of the organization "the Moral Majority", were, to say the least, interesting. Certainly he had many supporters. One does not build a church that seats six thousand if one is not saying what at least a few folks want to hear.

But in the larger faith community, at least in later years, Falwell became best known for the statements that he had to apologize for, including comments on 9/11 and Israel's ongoing confrontations with its neighbours. Even other prominent evangelical leaders began to skip his garden party invitations.
While, as a progressive Christian, I do not share Falwell's particular set of beliefs, I do appreciate his commitment to them.

It's customary to consider the legacy of prominent figures who've passed away. It seems to me that Falwell's greatest legacy is as a cautionary tale. He's an excellent example of what can happen when we make the mistake of thinking that we can define the mind of God. By allowing himself to think that his opinions were in fact the only possible explanation of God's presence in the world, Falwell repeatedly placed himself in positions that he was forced to apologize for.

We should not have to apologize for our faith.

I've always been a little amazed at those who have a need to turn faith into some sort of black and white process. For folks like Jerry Falwell, one thing is absolutely right while another thing is absolutely wrong. There is nothing in between.

There's probably no other aspect of our lives where we are so tempted to think this way. Take a simple example, the highway speed limit. If the sign says that the limit is one hundred kilometers an hour (think of it as sixty miles an hour if you're an American reader) then one hundred and one is breaking the law. So is one hundred and ten. Or one twenty. There's no "approximately" printed beside the speed.

Yet the number of drivers who rigorously follow the posted limit are, well, in the minority. Are all of the other drivers crazed lunatics, destined for the damnation of becoming part of a twisted metal mass in the median? Of course not.
They've evaluated the road, the traffic, the weather. They've decided that it's not necessary to adhere to the number on the sign exactly. There's some leeway.

Now, it may very well be that the police who patrol those highways may decide that a driver has been a little over optimistic in that evaluation. They'll write a recommendation on how to evaluate better on a little piece of paper that also has a number on it. One that is generally preceded by a dollar sign. But seldom do they consider a black and white interpretation of the speed limit to be the best choice.

If we can accept that it's normal to adapt how fast we drive based on the conditions around us, why do some find it so difficult to apply the same level of evaluation to faith?
When we understand that we're called first and foremost to be in community with each other we'll understand that we cannot live as if faith is just some numbers painted on the side of the road.

Rather, we'll see that it's agapé, the relationship that's unconditional and unlimited, that's painted there. Agapé doesn't allow us to create arbitrary limits to God's Presence.
It calls us to evaluate each situation and to act accordingly.

Out of love and compassion.

We won't always get it right. We may even get a ticket or two. But in the end, doesn't that make us better drivers, whether in our car, or in our faith?

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Mythology

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 13:24:15 GMT

Tom Harpur is in the news again. Tom says that Jesus never existed and that Christianity can never realize it's potential to transform the world until we get over our fixation with the idea that someone, divine or otherwise, is coming to rescue us from our shortcomings.

Richard Dawkins says that there is no God at all. That believing in the very idea of a divine overseer of Creation of any kind is akin to a poison running through our cultures. This train of thought says that humanity must divest itself of such notions or face extinction through our own inter-religious violence.

Karl Marx was often quoted as saying that religion is the opiate of the masses, a statement that was used to fuel anti-Soviet and anti-communist sentiment in another era. There are many people who have no interest in communism or the new/old state of Russia who would find Marx's comment perfectly understandable. They find little value in churches or the pronouncements of religious leaders. But Marx also said that religion is "the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation."

And then of course, there is the opposite camp. Those who argue that the Bible must be taken literally and that there are no contradictions within its pages, no matter how many twists and turns they have to take to make it all fit.
Is anyone confused yet?

Harpur, and those who believe similarly, feel that our sacred writings were intended to help us reach that spark of divinity within each of us. What the more literal minded call "The Holy Spirit". They don't want to eliminate religion; they want to return to the spiritual and metaphorical roots of faith. For them, our current literalism is a pale reflection of what faith should be.

Dawkins and those who believe that religion is the left over superstition of our cave dwelling ancestors, believe that as long as we insist on keeping one foot in the door of the supernatural we'll never be able to step into the utopian future that they envision.

The two are continually playing a tug of war game that Marx and others identified a long time ago. As long as people feel that they can't change the nasty things that they see all around them in the world, they'll always look to God or the promise of Heaven to make sense of it all. As one woman said to me, "Well, if I'm not going to Heaven, why should I believe in God at all? And why should I try to be a better person?"

Indeed.

Luckily, most of us take a more practical approach to our faith. We may think about Heaven occasionally. We may even wonder if we're "good" enough. But for the most part we work our way through each day doing the best that we can to get along with the people around us and to not damage the world in any way more serious than failing to pick up the candy wrapper that missed the garbage can on the sidewalk.

We're content to leave the rest up to God. Even if we don't have any particularly clear image of who or what God is. Or isn't. Or something like that.

And that's okay.

We're not expected to be religious scholars. Or to understand the origins of our creation myths. Or to know the timelines of the schisms that created the multitudinous branches of religion.

We're simply called to live our lives in a way that treats all of the other parts of Creation, whether people or plants or planet, in the way that we would want to be treated.

And when you come right down to it, what's so confusing about that?

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Rituals - A Seems Like God Reflection

Sun, 13 May 2007 19:27:04 GMT

There is no second generation of friends in lawn chairs at the flea market. This is a ritual that will be for one special group of friends and it will pass into oblivion with us.

The rituals around which we build our communities must change with the people who live in them or suffer the same fate.

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The Day the Earth Stood Still - a Seems Like God Reflection

Sun, 06 May 2007 18:21:46 GMT

According to the way some people read the Bible, God's way of fixing things is kinda like the way the robot in The day the Earth Stood still would have done it Wipe out most of the planet.

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A Bit of Sunshine - David Keating's Reflections on Life and Faith

Sun, 06 May 2007 18:20:36 GMT

The sun has not shone in three months. Well, okay, it hasn't been that long and in fact it was bright and sunny yesterday morning. But it feels like three months and that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

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Confession - David Keating's Reflections on Life and Faith

Sun, 06 May 2007 18:18:57 GMT

Any good therapist, or even the ones on TV, will tell you that the first step in changing negative behaviour is to admit that it's happening. That, to me, is the value of confession.

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an Easter Reflection

Sun, 06 May 2007 17:50:39 GMT

Easter, and the Resurrection, are about the ultimate triumph of faith over fear. Of hope over despair. Of the all encompassing, unconditional, spiritual love, the agape relationship, between the Creator and the Creation. Us.

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15 Minutes Late

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 01:29:09 GMT

One congregation I know starts every service with 15 minutes of "Praise" choruses to attract younger worshippers. My friends make sure they arrive 15 minutes late.

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Who Are We Fooling? - a Seems Like God Reflection

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 16:18:56 GMT

When things didn't go quite right, my father used to smile, shake his head, and remark - Might as well laugh as cry. - I've always thought that was pretty good advice.

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Ogopogo, Santa, and Jesus - Thoughts on Harmless Deceptions

Tue, 13 Mar 2007 13:38:49 GMT

Only when stories get stamped with the imprimatur of Holy Writ do we start teaching children to take legends literally.

Read Jim Taylor's reflection on the all too short steps between myth and heresy.

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Put a Little Love in Our Hearts

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 20:32:00 GMT

As human beings we all have a need to feel loved. To know that someone else cares about us and appreciates us. Which is one of the contradictions of our society's focus on the individual.

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an Unthinking Faith - a Seems Like God Blog

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 14:40:13 GMT

a guest column from Jim Taylor

For some people, the attraction of a political party, a labor union, or a religious faith is that they can let someone else do their thinking for them.

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No Snowboard This Year - a Seems Like God Blog

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 17:39:04 GMT

The Golden Rule, in Christianity usually rendered as do unto others as you would have them do unto you, can be applied to the planet as easily as it's applied to each of us.

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Cause and Effect

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 14:59:07 GMT

Cause and Effect - We Don't Need to See. We Know
A guest column from Jim Taylor

I wonder if some of us ever really get beyond a two-year-old level of reasoning, when we don't want to.

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A New Perspective

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 23:06:49 GMT

A fresh perspective lets us look at the world in a new way. And if we look at the world differently, we just might want to treat it, and each other, differently as well.

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Between the Extremes

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 15:22:12 GMT

Perhaps everything consists of polarities. The truth lies somewhere on the continuum between two extremes – but it's only those contradictory extremes that make the continuum evident to us.

Won't You be my Neighbour?

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 15:46:04 GMT

Won't You Be My Neighbour? is a question that should be particularly urgent for us today.

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Jesus in the Penthouse

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 18:21:12 GMT

Jim Taylor's guest column -
There's a truth in the evangelical mantra – we do need to be born again. Not just once, though, but constantly. To prevent us from assuming that a privileged position is a right.

What We Remember and Why - a Remembrance Reflection

Mon, 20 Nov 2006 15:13:53 GMT

Yesterday, I went to my kitchen and turned on a tap. Hot water came out.
Yesterday, in another part of the world, a man gave his son a pail and sent him on a mile's walk to fetch water. He prayed his son would be safe.

What Kind of God

Thu, 16 Nov 2006 14:45:44 GMT

A guest column by Jim Taylor
I want to know, what kind of God deliberately inflicts pain and suffering? I'll tell you -- the kind of God I thought I had outgrown. The kind of God who plays favourites

Gettin' Ink Done

Sun, 12 Nov 2006 20:52:25 GMT

Apparently, those who subscribe to the tattoos are evil camp draw on Leviticus for their support. This is where we're told not to cut ourselves for the dead nor print any marks upon your body. Check it out. It's immediately after the prohibition on marring the corners of our beards. Who knew? And I thought that I was just well-groomed. Guess I'll have to give up my trimmer.

All That We Are - A Reflection on Hospitality

Fri, 10 Nov 2006 20:33:20 GMT

All That We Are
by George Hermanson
A Reflection on the Twenty Third Sunday after Pentecost

My continuing education experience in New York was one of the best I have done over the past little while. Its theme was to have courage and the faith to help the kingdom of God be a reality on earth.
In getting at this theme we learned about those mainline churches that were thriving and growing. The research focused on the characteristics of such congregations.
Besides a healthy study and worship life, it was found that a deep spirituality and open hospitality were the values that grounded them. This deep spirituality and hospitality was nurtured by the ministers, and lived on by the people of the church.
Click the link to read the complete article.

Stupid Wars

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 01:07:23 GMT

a controversial column from Jim Taylor

This Remembrance Day weekend, hundreds of editorials and thousands of sermons will praise those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. They gave their lives for a cause.
        There will be a lot of high-sounding words to describe that cause – the preservation of freedom and democracy, the defeat of evil and tyranny…
        I'm not a betting man, normally, but I would wager that no one will apply those terms to glorify suicide bombers in Iraq or Afghanistan.
        Do they not also make an ultimate sacrifice? Do they not give up their lives for a cause they believe in?

Read the complete article at Seems Like God on November 8th.

This Week at Seems Like God

Sun, 05 Nov 2006 23:44:34 GMT

A brief listing of the weekly columns hosted at Seems Like God. To read the entire piece, please visit the site and click on the link.
Reflections - David Keating - A New Ride, the Stages of Life - You see, I drove onto the lot as the father of a trio of growing rug rats who needed taxi service for themselves and up to five friends. I drove off the lot as a man whose family is mostly grown
Soft Edges - Jim Taylor - Out of Chaos - Out of chaos came order - Perhaps that was our need. And we told the story of Genesis to validate our own compulsion to organize
Lectionary - Rev. John Shearman - Twenty Third Sunday after Pentecost - RUTH 1:1-18. The delightful short story of Ruth has an unusual place in the Old Testament. Several different hypotheses have been proposed as to its origin and purpose, none of them entirely satisfactory
Something new coming soon - the Lectionary Podcast !!! That's right! Receive John's Lectionary on your IPod, PDA, or cell phone. As soon as I work the bugs out of the recording process (read - figure out to make a decent MP3) we'll put up a sample file. Your feedback on the usefulness of this format, and your suggestions on how we can make it better, are, as always, appreciated.

all Hallow What?

Thu, 02 Nov 2006 19:41:28 GMT

The Pennies for UNICEF program took its inspiration, not from Dracula or the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but from a Philadelphia Sunday School class.

Who You Were Meant to Be

Thu, 02 Nov 2006 19:33:56 GMT

However you approach your faith, conservative, liberal, or whatever, there's one thing that we have in common. God often has more faith in us than we do in ourselves.

Something to Stand For

Thu, 02 Nov 2006 19:27:15 GMT

If we determine what we stand for by what we're against, then living out our faith becomes a continual act of opposition.

Dishrags and Doormats

Thu, 02 Nov 2006 19:21:10 GMT

If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything." Or, put another way, "If you stand for nothing you'll fall for anything.

Pots and Kettles

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 13:48:35 GMT

If we can start out with an acknowledgement of both our own value and that of the person or group we want to work with, we have a greater opportunity to both teach what we know and to learn what we don't.

Whither Prosperity

Sat, 30 Sep 2006 14:24:22 GMT

A recent magazine article discussed the Prosperity Gospel, an interpretation of Christianity that says that God gives your Gucci shoes and Armani suits the thumbs up.

Where The Love of God Goes

Thu, 21 Sep 2006 01:31:36 GMT

Where does the Love of God go in times of tragedy? It goes into you and me. It motivates us to set aside our daily routines to help victims of disaster.

Transitions

Thu, 14 Sep 2006 01:42:24 GMT

transitions happen in our faith lives as well. Events occur that change our understanding of God and suddenly Creation becomes a much larger place.

Unlimited Love, or Unconditional Love?

Wed, 12 Jul 2006 18:45:45 GMT

The biblical writers all begin realistically about spirituality. We have a sense of God yet that sense is not always fully understood. We have a sense of love yet we cannot always see love in action.

Pride, Prejudice, and Progress

Mon, 03 Jul 2006 16:57:00 GMT

I've never believed that it's possible to separate the spiritual from the secular. If God, whatever you conceive God to be, is part of the world, then it follows that God is also intimately involved in our societies.

Adopt-a-Bomb

Thu, 29 Jun 2006 21:32:17 GMT

For those who believe that we need to obliterate insurgents and other disagreeable types as if they were nothing more than video game images, I have a suggestion - Adopt-a-Bomb

The Triumph of Evil

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 14:33:57 GMT

All that's necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing - Edmund Burke, British parliamentarian

We Talk Too Much

Sat, 17 Jun 2006 03:24:59 GMT

Liberals, or Progressives if you prefer, take a heck of a lot of words to try to say something that a fundamentalist can rattle off in a single sentence.