midgecat

We've got through to about session 5, and I'm enjoying it. It's got some interesting people and views and it's sparked some good discussion. There seems to be an awful lot in each session so we've either just watched a part of it, or watched the whole of it and then spent several weeks talking about it. I think you probably need to know quite a bit before you start, or be able to take in a lot of new ideas quickly. It's probably not something for newcomers to christianity or theology. The downside, and for me it's a very irritating and intrusive downside, is that it is just so badly produced. The camera work is appaling, initially amusing, deteriorating into embarassingly bad. The interviewers appear to me like over enthusiatic counsellor trainees - rigid, nodding and smiling. I've taken to sitting where I can't see the screen or closing my eyes - which improves it no end. Unfortunately, there's a random piano player who cuts in every now and then which i can't shut out. So maybe if it was re-shot ........ and er, the piano player was shot ........

As someone who tends to read a book or see a film, and forget the contents almost instantly, despite often wanting to keep them in mind, I find that I've hung on to rather a lot of Shadowlands since I saw it ........ gosh, it must be 10 years ago or more. It may be rather limited in detail about Lewis' life and theology ...... but for a mainstream film I think it makes some profound observations about loss and the human condition. One thing that repeats itself over and over to me is his comment to a student "we read to know that we're not alone" ....... how true.

Hi Beach I came across Phelps' website a few weeks ago and couldn't quite believe what I was reading. I can to some extend understand (though not at all agree with) where a lot of homophobia comes from. But I can't seem to even start to understand such intense hatred, and not in the name in christianity. It even has stuff on that site relishing the number of days some people have been in hell. Do you have any idea where they're coming from?

Xcuse me butting in ....... but, I've just about finished reading "The Spiral Staircase" by Karen Armstrong, and its really brilliant - well worth a read, as are all the other things of hers that I've read.

My short term goal is to get everything sorted so I can go away on holiday on Wednesday And, another easy question - if you could have a couple of weeks anywhere in the world, where would you go?

I've not read this one, but I've read (some) of his book about Paul when I was looking at the issue of Paul and women in the church. I really enjoyed the bits I read and will come back to read the whole of it at some point. He seems to have a huge breadth of knowledge. He'd visited a lot of the places he was writing about, and his descriptions of them were fascinating and made the whole thing come to life. Well worth reading.

I saw it a while ago at the cinema. It was a pretty harrowing watch ... fairly relentless misery from what I remember. What shocked me most was not simply that it was supposedly true, but that it also said at the end that the last of the Magdalene Sisters institutions closed down quite recently ..... I don't remember the date, but I think it was 1960s. Presumably they thought they were doing it "for the girl's own good" which makes it even more frightening.

hmmmm ... yes, maybe ... but is it something about where you start? to me there seems a difference between being presented with a fixed set of doctrines that you have to get your head around before you can relate to god, and finding your own set of beliefs through that relaitonship.

Hi Trek I can really empathise with your struggle to break free of fundamentalist stuff. Maybe the desire for 12 steps is a bit of a desire to re-create the stability and security that you found there? My thoughts for what they're worth: 1. don't be in too much of a hurry to replace one set of beliefs with another. 2. learn to see the wasteland as a good place to be. 3. its all a journey and wherever you are you're in the right place to be right now. 4. learn to use your head and heart as a guide, rather than relying on others. 5. read Borg 6. read some more Borg (he's been the most useful thing in the whole of my journey, though that's not necessarily the case for everyone) 7. like Des says - check out buddhism (and mysticism). that might help in not trying to pin anything down too tightly. 8. check out http://leavingfundamentalism.org/index.htm there's some useful stuff there ........ and some not so useful stuff, but hey thats life 9. think about studying theology - I found it really useful to have a more balanced, critical approach to the bible etc 10. make up steps 10-12 (and onwards) for yourself, based on what you found so far. safe and happy journey

yeah, that's how I heard Borg Cynthia. i've only seen the first session of Living the Questions, but I think Borg came across very well. very aware of him saying that if fundamentalism works for someone and they're not using it to beat up on other people, then its OK. don't feel so easy with Spong though I've not read enough of him to decide. feel very grateful to Borg for helping me find a way through not being able to 'believe in' very much.

Is it a trend John? My sense of it is that its always been this way. I spent the biggest part of my adult life believing I had to make a choice between progressive politics/thinking and faith in god. Only recently realised it might be possible to have both. Perhaps some of the problem is that the only christians that are usually that visible are the kind that he describes.

IMO, web pages that play music are an abomination. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Absolutely! ........ though I'd make an exception for Indigo Girls any day

Thanks for this link John. I got the book a while ago, excited by the idea of it and the reviews. And then felt a bit off by some other things, thinking it was more conservative than i felt comfortable with it. I'll give it another go. Hope the discussion group goes well.