Are human beings simply the sum of their neurons and genes? How should we read Genesis 1-3 and its story of beginnings? Our new book
From Evolution to Eden provides responses to these crucial questions. You can get your copy here.
http://www.amazon.com/Evolution-Eden-Making-Sense-Genesis/…/
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/from-evolution-…/1121224279…
Adam & Eve? Magic trees in the Garden? What’s it all about? 
Pick up From Evolution to Eden. Making Sense of Early Genesis, and find out. Available here:
http://www.amazon.com/Evolution-Eden-Making-Sense-Genesis/dp/1938367197/
Catharsis, while a necessary part of the broken journey towards our destiny, is not an end in and of itself. Rather, deep soothing is to lead to renewed conviction in spite of the tragic circumstances that have blown the world apart in the first place. 
Such a poetic and imaginative impulse will gradually lure us in the direction of a confident and humble understanding that somehow God is going to make everything new and right.
Spinoza, I believe, says something like (sorry I don’t recall where), to harm is to diminish the power of someone else’s action. This sounds good, as it touches our sensitivities for and leans in the direction of a victim who is being deprived, yet I’d wager things are more complex than this. Nuance is required. That is, much depends on “who” the someone else is and what action is going to be perpetrated. If the answer is that this person is potentially a victimizer and the action is out to victimize, then “supposed” harm in diminished power may translate into “actual” wisdom. Whether this turns out to be the case or not, it shows us that neither harm nor wisdom can be grounded in themselves, but each orientation has to plunge deeper down into a trust and suspicion dialogue, where responsible assessment of the other can take place and provide a viable linkage to the embrace of a healthy perspective of self.
Tired of traditional readings of Genesis 1-3 that don’t connect with reality and leave you wanting more? We challenge you to read this book: From Evolution to Eden: Making Sense of Early Genesis.
Our new book is creating a lot of interest. On last Sunday’s fb post on Greg Laughery https://www.facebook.com/greg.laughery &
Living Spirituality https://www.facebook.com/pages/Living-Spirituality/173155332700969 about the book, there were over 300 people that were reached, thanks to your shares. From our humble beginnings that’s remarkable. Please continue to share. Thanks! And also accept our sincere apologies that Amazon is still low on stock. We’ve written them several times and they say that because of high demand for this title they have re-issued a purchase order to replenish stock and are waiting for it to arrive. Hope that happens soon !! You can still order here and at some secondary Amazon sellers:
http://www.amazon.com/Evolution-Eden-Making-Sense-Genesis/dp/1938367197/
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/from-evolution-to-eden-gregory-j-laughery/1121224279?ean=9781938367199
For the narrator of the gospel of John, Jesus’ acts, in contrast to the other gospels which represent them as power manifestations, are frequently referred to as “signs.” That is, they are indicators or “sign-posts” that direct the reader towards an authentification of Jesus’ mission of revealing God on God’s behalf. Jesus, as it were, “signs in” as the Jewish Messiah, who in turn through “signing” becomes the Messiah of the world. Yet, in this story “signs” are never presented as ends in and of themselves. Physical sight or empirical investigation can too easily become “just one more time.” While the testimony to Jesus’ acts includes a dimension of sight verification; a witness to the “signed,” it still does not result in true vision. This appears to be case because the goal of the testimony is not to merely witness to the “signs” per se, but to “sign” people towards God and his Messiah, so that those who believe in him will actually “see.”
A lot of people have been asking me about our new book, From Evolution to Eden: Making Sense of Early Genesis. If you’re like them and fed up with the trite and superficial perspectives of many Christians on human origins and Genesis 1-3, our new book offers a real alternative to that mentality. Check it out.
Beware though, there’s enough fuel for several fires in this one !
After our talk on Living Spiritual Rhythms Book 3 this morning at Swiss L’Abri, especially the chapter on “Imagination,” I thought: Deconstructing false imaginative beliefs about creation and evolution may take a while and in some sense will be a life long task. But deconstruction is never an end in and of itself. It should lead us in the direction of an imaginative (re)construction of true and sustainable beliefs that have a high integrity factor and that can be lived out in reality. Gradually, this lived constructing morphs into a interfaced web of reliable connections that strengthens new and fragile relationships between God, ourselves, others and the world.
Thanks!!
From Evolution to Eden. Making Sense of Early Genesis is a hot book. It must show that this is an important and controversial topic. We’re glad to be in the thick of it ! George and I are very grateful to you all for your support and encouragement. Many of you have already purchased and others have said they will be purchasing our new book, From Evolution to Eden. The response has been outstanding and stock is hard to come by. Thanks so much !! We’re working hard to get more books to our suppliers and also want to thank you for your patience in waiting a little longer for your book to be delivered. Hope you’ll be getting your copy soon.
Here's a Review on Barnes & Noble: "This material on early Genesis is unlike any scholarship I've encountered
so far, taking the literature of genesis seriously and imaginatively, while at the same time engaging the voice of current scientific understandings of the world and its origins. What results is nothing short of dynamic, challenging and liberating for a person that seeks to be a good reader of texts and the world."
I’d wager that in embracing the biblical text, the God it refers to, and the planet that came about through this God’s creative impulse, my understanding of myself, other, 
the world, and God will increase, though without ever reaching completion. The translation of this wager is not abstract, but highly practical, since it results in being and becoming committed to a personal community and a foreverly emerging destiny.
She often ends up using herself, instead of loving herself. Flawed, patchy, and complex, like us all, she caves in to the falsehood of authenticating herself as the standard setter – the one who fixes the measurement of who she is. But, ironically, this is all a capital “I” covering over – a veil – a hiding from the pre-measured – pre-standard self. That is, there’s someone there prior to such measuring and any standard that she puts in place. Actions towards herself in this regard are epic, yet remain an internal matter with herself, rather than a God issue. Coming out from a deception is a tremendous challenge, as so much seems weighted on holding onto the masquerade, but she herself as the already transparent, once hidden, and then exposed, is the called and longed for, which actually resonates with a continuum of “hereness,” spelled out as “here I am now,” accepted and loved by the Magnificent One, who always is.
In the light of the rising power of science, rethinking our interpretations of Genesis 1-3 is a crucial enterprise today. Our new book, From Evolution to Eden, aims to promote a conversation at the highly controversial intersection of creation and evolution, not to stifle it.
Susanna Young wrote this as the Foreword for my Living Spiritual Rhythms books 3 & 4. Thanks Susanna!
The chasm dividing the realm of ideas and that of practical application can seem laborious and daunting. What bearing do my abstract beliefs have on my day-to-day decision-making, or on my emotional experience for that matter?
The complexity of our world and our own selves can create a kind of stage fright about trying to practice any sort of active spirituality. With so much uncertainty in the world, how can anyone claim to have any genuine cause for comfort without being sadly naïve? In the third and fourth volumes within the Living Spiritual Rhythms series, Gregory J. Laughery poetically expresses many such questions, presenting them to the reader with gripping wisdom and a robust kind of hope. Specifically, these texts speak to concepts such as the narrative drama of Scripture and the need to rethink our notions of the sacred, as well as the honesty of weathering real disillusionment with the church, and with loved ones. Each small rhythm of text is both artfully accessible and richly profound in also depicting the human experiences of desperate loneliness, the wounds of betrayal and manipulation and the longing for more authentic relationships in the future. In this spiritual study, Dr. Laughery’s voice is both contemplative and creative, making this work a uniquely expressive one. Stay in step with the Rhythms series, your time will be well spent!
God’s forgiveness is unconditional, yet at the same time paradoxically conditional. That is, Christ’s work on the behalf of humanity is universal. It takes care of the totality of sin once and for all. There is not one single sin that stands outside his powerful blood to cleanse. While this wonderful truth is a done deal, it is crucial for each person, as the opportunity presents itself, to recognize, accept, and embrace this gracious invitation to be forgiven, and then to live out its implications for the past, present, and the future.
Given the inescapable dimension of hermeneutics (interpretation) in life, I have no idea why a correspondence theory of truth would necessarily do away with contingency.
When an apologetic orientation uses the biblical text as a hammer to pound others into line, it actually becomes a suppression of the truth that it supposedly wants to defend.
THE BOOK RELEASE: Coming soon on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc.
From Evolution to Eden: Making Sense of Early Genesis
Science has presented us with a powerful evolutionary picture of beginnings that challenges theology to rethink its interpretations. But many attempts to interpret early Genesis view this as a threat, rather than an opportunity. This compelled theologian Greg Laughery and biologist George Diepstra, not so much to react, but to explore Genesis 1-3 and to propose new insights for engaging with it. Laughery and Diepstra take into account the importance of both the biblical and scientific informers and are interested in where a dialogue between them and the worlds they represent might lead us.
Lying at the very heart of her selfhood was the need for a new relationship with herself, concerning memory, mourning and celebration, and forgiveness. It was imperative that she be “released” into the lightness and significance of her present and future actions. So, first a move towards forgiving herself, then a response to others, and finally, an embrace of the mystery of God’s offer of love and grace. This trajectory has the capacity to bring together the vertical and horizontal realities, which then allow her to step into the tension filled being and becoming renewed.
We don’t have to have everything as it should be before coming to God. Tidy up, get our house in order, insure that all is put in the right place. That’s just never going to happen to the extent we need it to. God is actually the One who, in Christ, removes the obstacles, roadblocks, and barriers that stand in the way, and then invites us onto the path of life. When we receive and accept this offer to come as we are; to step into community with God, we’re embarking on a long and transformative journey that knows no end.
Dependent independence; to some degree, we are dependent on God, ourselves, each other, and nature. This allows us, to some degree, the privilege of being independently dependent. Varied dialogues between these two leaves us with a livable tension that will teach us more about who God is, who we are, and what the world is like.
Systems of compensation for failed standard keeping never work. They are corrosive and rust our insides. Our hope of achieving an “OK” self if we “overdid that” and therefore “do this” will fail. True, there may be a place for standards in life, but they can’t be the grounding of who we perceive ourselves to be. The problem is that the “overdid that” and “do this” won’t give us what we long for – an ability to accept ourselves because of who we are and in spite of who we’re not. If we are to avoid a collapse into a vicious circle of self-condemnation, we need to embrace the living tension between freedom and responsibility founded on several informers, including: nature, humanity, and the biblical text, which all promote that our value, dignity, and worth are “already there” and thus not something that we earn by measuring up to self-made standards.
In John’s narrative recounting, Jesus “signs” into the world. By putting his “signature” on acts of revelation he “signs” onlookers to God on whose behalf he has “signed in.” On the narrative register, we have a richly textured testimony “signing” us to the light, good wine, and the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus, therefore, notarizes that his mission is a “signing” for God and John’s story functions as a validating notary, which verifies this “signing” and thereby authenticates that this is actually the “signature” of the Messiah – the savior of humanity.
The present day Exodus from churches continues at an unabated pace. The bail out rate from many of these is increasing as I write. European cathedrals and churches are already empty and this phenomena is spreading like wild fire in North America. When people experience a lack of love, hypocrisy, ignorance, and idolatry, then they will leave, since it appears that it makes no real difference whether they stand inside or outside a church. True, there are some good churches left, but there’s an even more than desperate need today for renewal from the bottom up, if the majority of churches are to survive.
