Mike Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 (edited) I've spent most of my adult life (I say this because that hasn't been very long ) "studying abroad" you might say, that is, reading about other religious traditions aside from my 'native' Christianity. But recently I've been motivated to concentrate close to home, to return with more focus on Christianity. It occurred to me that at this point I'm more familiar with Buddhist philosophers and schools of thought than I am with non-Protestant Christian theology and history, so I've being doing some catching up. Hopefully I'll manage to get through David Bentley Hart's "The Beauty of the Infinite: The Aesthetics of Christian Truth", because I think it will give me a good case study of what modern Christian theology looks like. Edited September 24, 2011 by Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenellYB Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 It was quite a startling revelation to me when, into my 4th decade of life, I discovered there even WAS Christianity different from the Evangelical traditions I had been exposed to. Well,of course, there were those Catholics, but a lot of evangelicals don't even consider them 'real Christians' to begin with, and then of course, those crazy "Holy-Rollers" whose "tongues" the few times I'd heard them scared me out of my wits,lol! Little of what I had been taught about either turned out to be true. As I began to step out of that box, it was like Wow! I had truly almost completely rejected Christianity and anything about it entirely before I began to explore outside the narrow confines of the traditions I was raised in. I think you'll find it an interesting part of your journey. Jenell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted September 26, 2011 Share Posted September 26, 2011 Thanks Jenell. I think I'm having similar experiences. There is indeed more to Christianity than popular Protestantism and post-'Enlightenment' modernism. More to it than the bible, too. I've been spending some time looking into medieval and post-modern theology and I've been seeing that I've overlooked a lot. I wonder how many people wind up, as you said, "completely rejecting Christianity and anything about it entirely", without first considering how big the tradition actually is. Peace, Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenellYB Posted September 26, 2011 Share Posted September 26, 2011 Perhaps an irony in this....had I not come to a point of rejecting what of it, as I knew it, I probably would never have stepped away from that which was familiar, to even explore other directions. I think we tend to forget that such words as "disillusioned" and "disenchanted" and "disappointed" actually represent something very positive and good. Jenell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yvonne Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Sure has been quiet on here lately - unless I missed some hot conversation. I've been feeling kind of lonely lately, what with being practically being home-bound and all. Our conversations help to fill my day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosephM Posted October 5, 2011 Author Share Posted October 5, 2011 Hi Yvonne, By chance are you near Newton or Grinnel Iowa? My wife has relatives on her side living there. Most were farmers but most of the farmers have since passed away. The rest are in Missouri. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yvonne Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Hi Yvonne, By chance are you near Newton or Grinnel Iowa? My wife has relatives on her side living there. Most were farmers but most of the farmers have since passed away. The rest are in Missouri. Grinnell is about a 2 hour drive from here - that's how we measure distance in Iowa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenellYB Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 I can definitely relate. Jenell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdF65 Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 NW Montana and autumn is upon us. Today cold, rain and cloud cover. Amazing that our garden, which was planted late, is still producing: bell peppers, cucumbers and some squash. Ahh, the wonders and joy of a bountiful harvest - all naturally grown. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenellYB Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 Hmmmm..maybe I've really androgenous.....I have to keep a short check rein on the onfrontational part........ Jenell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenellYB Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Interesting juxtaposition... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yvonne Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 I attended yet another funeral today - the 5th member of my extended family, including my own mother, to die within 15 months. This is getting old - and depressing. But something happened to me today. As I sat at mass, I really paid attention to the words - not that I didn't before, but I was really listening this time. Two things struck me: 1) I certainly can no longer claim to be Catholic if that means subscribing to Catholic doctrine. 2) There were an awful lot of PC moments in that mass. Huh. I was surprised and comforted. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosephM Posted November 6, 2011 Author Share Posted November 6, 2011 Just a bit of humor for the day. Saw this signature on a post somewhere and chuckled.... " I dream of a day where chickens can cross the road and not have their motives questioned. " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenellYB Posted November 6, 2011 Share Posted November 6, 2011 Wow, Joseph, synchronicity in this! A nice visit with a old friend yesterday evening in which much conversation was turned toward how, no matter how much we think we can see and of know what is going on in someone else's life situations, we can never really know what goes on behind closed doors, that in contexts both of in their private lives, in their home, and what is going on in their mind, their thoughts and feelings. That we don't know, cannot know, and its none of our business,anyway. That when we think to try to do that, all we are doing is trying to judge them, their motives, and actions, in ways we have no right to. I kept thinking about this last night, and woke up with it on my mind this morning...why is it that we seem to think we should, have to, or even want to do this? Jenell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeorgeW Posted November 6, 2011 Share Posted November 6, 2011 I kept thinking about this last night, and woke up with it on my mind this morning...why is it that we seem to think we should, have to, or even want to do this? Jenell Maybe because we are social animals and, as such, interested in other people. George Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yvonne Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 I had to chuckle when I saw this surfing the Web this morning. The forum is called "Freedom in Christ". I think its a step towards PC, but here is one of its rules. "Please do not promote atheism, New Age, mysticism, or any hedonistic or false religion" (The emphasis is mine) Not passing a value judgement, just passing it on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenellYB Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 Yvonne,lol! Yeah, you are free and encouraged to believe any way you want, as long as it is consistent with mine and what I find acceptable. Somehow, I think they are missing the point. Jenell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillM Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 Like Yvonne, I'm just making an observation. The owner of the forum is a hyperdispensationalist who believes that nothing Jesus said applies to us today. Jesus, in her opinion, was only for the Jews. She follows the apostle Paul only. She recently told me how "unsaved" I am (ha ha!) and while I wanted to remind her that Jesus said not to judge, I then remembered that she doesn't listen to Jesus. Her "Christ" is not the Jesus of the gospels, but the ascended Lord who sits at God's right hand and who speaks only through the apostle Paul. Paul is the mediator between mankind and Christ. It is an interesting point-of-view. Being unsaved, I don't hold to it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenellYB Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 1:30 am...indulged in iced tea this evening...paying for it now, caffiene high..gave in and uncorked a bottle of wine given to me for my birthday, had planned to save it for a nice meal...oh well, 1st glass nearly gone, another oughtta do it....walked out a bit ago, moonlight so bright, first freezes of the year, the air still and clear and cold...sounds carry in the crisp stillness...a pack of coyotes just cut loose with several mintues of their shrill, curiously discordant and cacophanic song not far away, mating season has begun...their presence means the wolves have drifted into neighboring territory for now, probably the river bottom where deer are more plentiful...they'll be back by late February, when the neighbors cows start dropping calves....its still and quiet again, and the wine lulls, the dogs are bedded down around me in the living room, the sounds of their breathing hypnotic....tonight, walking in the crisp chill, stepping silently through the remnants of my drought ravaged garden, bursting now with a tumble of soft winter greens from recent rains, lit only by the bright moonlight, the words and refrain come unbidden to my mind...silent night, all is calm, all is bright....a pregnant stillness, as if all creation lies in wait for...something...something new.... why does this feel like Christmass Eve night? From year to year, I never know, it seems nothing I do ever makes it come sooner than it will of its own, and some years, it doesn't come until near the midnight hour of December 24th...in this moment my thoughts turn....maybe tommorrow, I will go up into the attic, bring down some strings of light for the front fence, the wreath for the front gate, perhaps the single star for above the front porch... ...to all, a good night.... Jenell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minsocal Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Looking ahead to a second reading of Ethics Demonstrated In Geometrical Order by Spinoza. This is the first detaied prescriptive analysis of human emotion in Western thought and the foundation of contemporary positive psychology. It is also the root of my own experience of the progressive worldview in which Progressive Chrisitianity first found a home. Our mind acts at times and at times it suffers: in so far as it has adequate ideas, it necessarily acts; and in so far as it has inadequate ideas, it necessarily suffers. Spinoza, Ethics, Part III Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillM Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 Just got back to Texas from a trip to New York to see my parents. My father has bone cancer and is declining fast physically. I don't know whether I'll get to see him again before he departs this world or not. It was hard to tell him good-bye, knowing that it might have a double meaning. My mother probably has the first stages of Alzheimer's, so I have to be on eggshells around her, careful of what I say and do. I love them both and it hurts to see them suffer. I feel so helpless in that I can't fix things for either one of them. Sometimes saying "I love you" just doesn't sound like enough. But sometimes it's all we have. I'm grateful for my parents. Like me, they were far from perfect. But they loved me and did what they could. It's hard to see them slipping away, but I know to Whom they go and have to trust him. The older I get, the more I learn from both my parents and my children that life is about letting go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosephM Posted December 15, 2011 Author Share Posted December 15, 2011 Said goodbye to my parents a few years ago also and now thinking about it after reading your post. To let go for me , in a sense, is to embrace all. I am reminded of a saying that a motorcycle friend of mine use to say joyfully all the time , no matter what was happening. "It doesn't get any better than this" I have come to understand what is hidden beneath those words and it leads me to also say, i am grateful to my parents. I think they were perfect in their own way even though our eyes and head might say different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markn902 Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 I am trying not to go CRAZY because I had to spray for bedbugs and basically turned my house upside down lol. Had to throw a bunch of stuff out and all that. I am trying to look at this positively and say well this event has forced us to get rid of stuff that we don't need or was cluttering up the house but geez louise I am ready to have a normal house again. Have to do it all again in 2 weeks so i'll be working late friday night spraying on christmas eve morning then driving an hour to spend the night with my in laws..merry christmas! I think bah humbug is more appropriate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenellYB Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 I'm sorry, WS. That is a really tough place to be, for you as well as them and others in your family. I can relate, my Dad, too, was very ill and incapacitated for several years beofre his passing, while at the same time my mother was already clearly exhibiting signs of dementia that we soon recognized as Alzheimers. It was a difficult time, but also a time of signficant learning and growth for myself and some others affected. I pray the best for you and yours in this. Jenell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glintofpewter Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Christmas has come to my house, I have feasted. Experienced "Too Hot to Handel" a Gospel Jazz arrangement of the Messiah. Here is one version of the jazz piece that comes right before the Hallelujah chorus. Not the one I experienced but this has the same energy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6eTuffwM4Q&feature=relmfu and here the last two tracks off the cd. dutch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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