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Karumi

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About Karumi

  • Birthday 12/07/1961

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    http://www.stillinthestream.com/files/index.htm
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    Vancouver Island
  • Interests
    Writing, Reading, Walking, Philosophy, Beauty, kayaking, Fly Fishing, Tea, Bonsai, and small meadow flowers.

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  1. Hi Aletheia Rivers, Great questions. And worth asking. Here is an interesting quote that I thought of when I read your post. It is about Sting Theory: "Strings are just curved space. The central riddle of Genesis – how can the universe have come into being, if, as Shakespeare put it, ‘Nothing can be made out of nothing’? – is answered thus: Everything is nothing, in a sense, for all is made of space, which in this context means pure geometry.” – Timothy Ferris in The Whole Shebang, Simon & Shuster, New York, 1997 pg. 224 I wrote an article about string theory (http://www.ionparadox.homestead.com/files/string.htm) in which I tried to put in layman's terms the basics of this idea, that everything is made up of vibrating strings of curved space. After considerable thought I have concluded that if this is the case, if everything we see and touch and smell and taste is esentially the vibrations of curved space, then the world is more mysterious than ever. In a funny way this supports the idea of something coming from nothing. God could be said to have created everything from nothing because of God's excellent grasp of geometry. I personally do not think spirit exists as anything other than an emergent quality of our existence. Like God, spirit is not open to investigation by my senses. If something can not be measured, is it still real....? I keep hoping to develop a way of knowing God that is beyond sensory data, but so far my efforts have been fruitless. I hear people talk about their own spirit, about the Holy Spirit, and they seem to know all about these matters in great detail. What are your thoughts on this matter? Or anyone elses...
  2. Hi BD, I agree with what other folks have said about the danger of labels, but like you, I also see the value of them. All nouns are labels, after all, and are helpful as long as they are applied correctly. When I was still very involved in the Evangelical community (I managed a Christian bookstore for 15 years) I described myself as a Liberal Evangelical. I had heard someone describe C.S. Lewis this way and whoever it was, maybe Peter Kreeft, said that a Liberal Evangelical moves reflexively away from fundamentalism, but stays within the bounds of orthodoxy. The position you describe regarding gays and the roles of women can be defended strongly within orthodoxy. Tony Campolo is a well known Liberal Evangelical. I have a CD from a speaking engagement where he does some good exegesis on what the bible says about homosexuality showing that what the bible has to say on the matter falls within the kosher laws and should be treated accordingly. I recommend Tony to my Conservative and Evangelical friends who find gay-bashing offensive and want a scriptural response for how they feel. From my reading of Borg, Spong, and other PC luminaries and from my reading and participation in various PC forums I would say that most of those within the PC camp do not hold to the Nicene Creed, at least not as a summary of their belief. They might recognize it as a historical document that marks a stage of development in Christianity, but would not find it adequate to describe what is now known about Jesus and the documents that claim to tell who he is. I might be wrong on this one, and others will correct me, I’m sure. I am curious to know how you are finding the TCPC website and message board so far. What are the areas that resonate with you the most? Others have extended the welcome mat and suggested that you have found home. How does that sit with you? I agree with others that once you reach a certain level in your journey no place, except the journey, is truly home, but there are some pretty nice pubs along the way. Perhaps TCPC is one of those pubs.
  3. Hi AletheiaRivers. Yes, that is a good point. There are many remarkable sayings in the gospels which continue to intrigue and fascinate me, even in the Gospel of John which seems to be the leading proponent of the “Jesus is identical to God” doctrine. The difficulty I have, and maybe this should be addressed on another thread, is how to sort out the truth from the propaganda in scripture. I guess there is still a part of me that wants to believe “Jesus loves me…because the bible tells me so.” I want to be given an anchor in the storm or relative values; I want to know that God is bigger than my conception, that just because I don’t understand suffering and death, there is a plan. Perhaps this is why fundamentalism and literalism are growing in so many religions. They make something scary and incomprehensible seem acceptable. With this sober realization I think I see why PC will always lack mass appeal.
  4. Hi Forest, Hi everyone else. This is my first time to this message board. I am enjoying it so far. I am a former Evangelical who started asking questions about ...well, everything. I read Borg, Spong, etc. and made connections and progression out of the mire of literalism. But the draw of the Evangelical world is strong. Someone in this thread, I think it was Mystictrek, mentioned that what evangelicals have going for them are simple messages and rocking music. I think the part about the rocking music is dead bang on. I personally miss the theological rigor and contemporary style of evangelical circles. I still have a deep need to worship in the forms that I am familiar with and long for discussions about who Jesus is and how to make sense of all that has gone on in his name. Am I an average Joe on the street? Probably not, I work for a Christian non-profit organization which runs emergency shelters and crisis homes and I attend the progressive ministerial in my city called the Fellowship of Christian Leaders. This group is made up of clergy from Anglican, United, Unity, and Lutheran churches. I live in Canada, so the majority of PC churches are United Church of Canada. PC folk I have met seem to like to talk about how bad conservative Christians are and how awful the doctrines of the past have been. They don’t tend to talk about Jesus (after all how can we really know anything about the man, seeing as how he is so shrouded in layers of human invention) and they don’t tend to talk about their personal relationship to God. In my limited experience these are what matter to the person on the street. The people I know want to have a relationship with God, to really feel some connection to the Devine, and they are intrigued by the person of Jesus. I personally ad to that list intellectual connection. I look forward to exploring this message board and would be interested in people’s comments on what I have experienced. Am I the only former evangelical who has trouble fitting in with Progressives?
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