Ironically, many biblical literalists and
evolutionary materialists share the view that there’s a lot wrong with the world,
including defects of function and purpose. As horrible as these instances may
sometimes be, this position often mistakenly assumes a perfect standard by
which to evaluate creational or evolutionary history. It appears, at least
presently, that there is no such norm and that the natural world has been like
this for an awfully long time. Why precisely that’s the case, even though the
human mind desperately wants to ‘construct’ an answer, escapes us.
Thursday, July 19, 2018
Thursday Thoughts - July 19
Wednesday, July 18, 2018
Living Spiritual Rhythms - July 18
A realistic faith is a constant dialogue between the
because of and the in spite of. In living a spiritual life,
we traverse periods of belief in God that are like the vistas of a changing
landscape. Sometimes the viability of the reasons for faith are convincing and
firm, while at other times we are clinging to faith with little conviction or
strength. We can experience the joy of sufficient answers or the dread of the
awareness that many questions are left unresolved. Passing through, as we are,
invites us into this tension, which is inescapably connected to life in this
world.
Monday, July 16, 2018
Reflection for the Week - July 16
The judgmental critique by ‘those in the know’ of anyone who does not hold to their ‘conservative’ ‘traditional’ ‘orthodox’ Christian position can be hurtful, even devastating for some. If you’ve experienced it, remember this. Such criticism is usually not well founded and can often be merely a desperate attempt to bring you back into the ‘fold.’ Don’t buy it. Spending all your time and energy watching your back for the next attack is nonsense. Rather, you want to grow stronger and more informed about your own trajectory; learning, refining, sharpening, and formulating credible positions. Though this will scare the hell out of the ‘religious elite’ and maybe even yourself, it’s worth pursuing.
Thursday, July 12, 2018
Thursday Thoughts - July 12
Many Christians unthinkingly assume that the biblical
text is all they need for their point of view. But theology, like philosophy, science
or art can’t go it alone. There is an obligation nowadays, for the sake of
integrity, to have a dialogue between a multiplicity of informers before
drawing conclusions.
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
Living Spiritual Rhythms - July 11
Let there be light. Viewing graphic portrayals of
light is overwhelming. The inability to take in all of what is there enables us
to remember that we’re finite. This truth, all too easy to forget, though for
the life of me I don’t know why, shines into our very existence; yet fading
memory continues to entice us to reach for autonomy. Paying attention to our
limitedness, rather, should be understood to somehow give us our deep
significance. In contrast to the darkness of self-reliance and
self-determination – the aim to be capital “I”, so propagated in Western
culture, we need to recognize, perhaps again and again, that it is the Infinite
One who “enlightens’ the world.
Monday, July 9, 2018
Reflection for the Week - July 9
In the late twentieth and early twenty-first century
many Christians have moved in one of two directions: embracing absolute
arrogance or absolute humility. To be sure, both these points of view, in this
form, are problematic, and it is somewhat bewildering that some Christians hold
onto the ridiculous notion that they’re right about everything, or that no
one’s right about anything.
A better configuration would be something like this:
Confidence without humility is arrogance and humility without confidence is
relativism. These two are to be in tensional dialogue, disallowing any absolute
form of one, or the other. This expression of what I call Living Spirituality
is tethered to dialogue, and dialogue shatters the monologue of absolutes.
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