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lindalou

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Everything posted by lindalou

  1. could someone help me out with the abbreviations...Lisa you mentioned UU and I have seen ELCA?? help for the newbie!
  2. Gerard, ..."what the mind cannot believe, the heart can finally never adore". B Spong try replacing finally with "in the end".... "what the mind cannot believe, the heart can in the end never adore" i.e. we can go on and on listening to certain perspectives and say yes yes I worship God but when we really look at it in the end I realize that I cannot adore this representation of God....I guess where this fits my outlook is when I think of the church representing God as a condemning God....I remember when I was teaching CCD to 4th graders and the lesson was that I had to teach that God sent the locusts and the plagues, etc...I asked my husband how in the world can I teach this when there is no way I see God in this way. I don't even remember what I taught that Sunday but certainly never voiced my opinions "does anyone else thing this is absurb and eh-eh ... why are we worshiping a mean God?" . The old days before I spoke my mind it felt like the story of the emperor's clothes...."hello....doesn't anyone else see what I see?" To me, the church (which to me is synonymous with the doctrines and practices that it employs) that we attend is giving the congregation an interpretation of the way they see God and is manifested in their practices, ie elders being all male, etc.....so to attend that church is saying that I am worshiping their interpretation....if I can't agree with their representation of God it is very hard to be filled with inspiration and fully embrace this representation. There are many things I don't understand like the ins and outs of evolution and how God created this amazing world through this process but I can accept it (and my limitations of understanding) and admire and respect and be in awe of it. Oh I hope that I am making this less murky and not more so..I think I have for myself. I think many times because we are questing for the truth it is important to have this forum in which to fine tune our beliefs and practice communicating them as explicity as we can...it seems the fundamentalists have such quick and pat answers and I am thankful that I have this forum in which we can mull over these things without stock answers and the attitude that we "know it all". I just know that I am trying to get closer to God
  3. Gerard, You have reminded me that the more careful I am with my words, the less confusion..... many times I make the assumptions that what I mean is what I have said...I am grateful to you for reminding me to communicate more explicitly...let me give it another go.... I probably quoted Spong incorrectly...."my heart cannot worship what my mind does not understand". This probably should have been, "my heart cannot worship what my mind cannot accept" though I could not find the passage to check it.... Yet, I found a similar and more eloquent one from Bishop Spong from which the former probably came..."what the mind cannot believe, the heart can finally never adore". With that clarification, are you wondering whether our hearts can go along with something that we don't understand or something that we don't agree with? If it is the former, I think we (or better yet I) can; the latter I don't. What do you think? Thank you for the challenge to my thinking and my communication. You guys are sharp and are keeping me on my toes!
  4. Gerard asks , "But is Spong right?" While I may not be in total alignment with Bishop Spong on every issue (what human can be totally in synch with another on every point and principle), I do know that condemnation of a certain group of people is not "right".... to not allow women to have a place of authority in the church just because their body parts are different is not "right", to worship in a church that wants me to disregard what science has theorized is not "right" and to be in agreement with those who are so arrogantly certain of themselves that it allows for no other interpretation is not "right".... these issues do not make sense to my mind nor my heart and I don't check my brain at the door of a church....afterall going to a church isn't a brainwashing or a cult is it?
  5. I just recently read Bishop Spong's book Saving the Bible from Fundamentalism and while much of it's technicality of the Bible overwhelmed me, the main message was not lost on me and was moved to tears at the last chapter ---finally feeling validated in my thoughts and beliefs. My favorite quote from Spong was "my heart cannot worship what my mind does not understand". I have never had a problem having a relationship with God/Christ but to try to be inspired was continually frustrating when the weekly fundamentalist/literal message/Bible study just didn't make sense! My frustration now is that there is not a church that I have found yet that feels comfortable....and why is that all these conservative evangelical churches have wonderfully inspiring and joyful music but the advertised liberal churches (episcopal / methodist) have music that sounds like a dirge! At least I have found this forum and others that are sustaining me. Thank you for being there for me!
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