NowTHINK!AboutIt

Review: The Universal Christ by Richard Rohr

September 21, 2023 by EnnisP Leave a Comment

A Clanging Cymbal Expresses Adamance
Not Meaning

Before the Scopes trial, which ultimately was a debate between creation and evolution, William Jennings Bryan famously said, “if evolution wins, Christianity goes.”

He, like many other absolutists before and after him, was wrong. In the end, neither side could claim victory and Christianity hasn’t gone anywhere.

But it makes you wonder. How many other tightly held biblical ideas could be moderated without destroying faith and the Christian community?

The truth is Faith isn’t easily obliterated and science is not static. I believe in a young earth and a seven day creation but I know I can’t prove those ideas any more than evolutionists can conclusively prove the 13.7 billion year history they claim for the earth.

When conflicts like this occur, the only reasonable response is to respect the rights of others to think differently, share in the discussion and keep digging for facts. Both sides keep digging but the sharing part resembles a barrage of artillery shells flying both ways. Everyone is firing and ducking.

Instead of clarifying, the discussion separates and divides. Neither side seems to understand that ideas aren’t weapons and would be better used to stimulate thought than cause injury.

I understand how uncomfortable some ideas can be but I still find it difficult to refuse the discussion.

Before you walk away, remember that religionists are often the unreasonable party. They don’t argue, they dismiss. Religious conservatives, like the Catholics who put Galileo under house arrest for teaching the earth revolved around the sun, accept only compliance and obedience. Arguments, any arguments, are viewed as an offense against God and there is a long history of burning differing ideas at the stake.

I’m saying that as one who was raised in religious conservatism. I learned the doctrines well and zealously complied but compelling ideas should never be ignored even if those ideas seem to rub faith the wrong way.

We should never be satisfied to ignore those ideas and always be open new arguments and perspectives.

The question is where do you find those arguments. [Read more…] about Review: The Universal Christ by Richard Rohr

Has The Great Commission Been Supplanted By Politics

September 16, 2023 by EnnisP Leave a Comment

Religion encourages us to believe
Politics encourages us to respect the beliefs of others.
Religious beliefs divide us into groups.
Politics unite us around shared interests.

For most of history, churches and church groups were very diverse and, therefore, divided from one another. That division had a positive effect. It kept churches from uniting and dominating society.

With consensus around a few ideas, however, that has changed. Churches have become politically rather than spiritually driven. Instead of trying to save souls – the thing they were commissioned to do – they’re trying to police souls and clean the world up.

What I’ve just described feels good to the faithful. It has the ring of rationality to it. What can be wrong with standing for the right? Anything other than opposing wrong seems too much like cowardice but regardless how courageous it may seem, that approach is not a replacement plan for the Great Commission and it won’t work. The world is not going to change for the better because we treat it with a dose of Lysol. Things won’t get better and God won’t be pleased.

Politics vs Religion

Politics and religion are both important but for two very different reasons. Neither can replace the other but there is friction between the two. They didn’t get along in the past and they don’t get along now for very obvious and acceptable reasons.

The capstone of politics, the one thing that makes it work, compromise, is the one thing churches have a long history of not tolerating. The one thing churches have done repeatedly, divide and go their separate ways (remember the Pilgrims), is the one thing governments can’t do.

But it’s not a stalemate. The idea isn’t for the two institutions to blend or mirror one another or vie. Each has an important job to do. Each needs to respect and allow the free function of the other.

Churches, however, are not comfortable with that idea. The Great Commission is the answer to their angst but it’s apparently not enough to keep them from interfering. [Read more…] about Has The Great Commission Been Supplanted By Politics

9 Reasons You Won’t Find God At The Center Of Government

July 21, 2023 by EnnisP Leave a Comment

Any Kind of Totalitarianism Is Abusive
And Democracy Is The Correction

There’s really no difference between Atheistic and Theistic totalitarianism but before we discuss the two, a clarification.

The question here is not does God have a place in government but exactly how does He fit in.

Is He completely uninvolved as if He didn’t exist?
Is He in complete control imposing His rule and will on every aspect of human life?
Or does He provide the necessary information to enable us to figure things out as we go.

Those are the only three options, two of which are totalitarian. [Read more…] about 9 Reasons You Won’t Find God At The Center Of Government

What Does It Mean To Be Godly

July 21, 2023 by EnnisP Leave a Comment

Godly Is Defined By Neither
Tradition Nor Preference

It had been fifty years, give or take, since our Bible college days. Following college, our lives went in separate directions and only reconnected recently. The reunion had become somewhat strained.

At this meeting, we were sitting in a Starbucks sharing memories over coffee (and chocolate-coated coffee beans) and it was apparent that things were different. He was the same entertaining jovial guy and I was still me but the ground had definitely shifted.

We met in Bible college as young, gung-ho, charge-hell-with-a-water-pistol warriors intent on glorifying God which in real terms means rectifying all the wrongs in the world. We were fully committed to doing only right things and were focused on making sure everyone else did the same.

But after 50 years, the inevitable happened. We both shifted. The visions we’d entertained for a successful ministry hadn’t materialized exactly according to plan (they rarely ever do) and our life paths had taken turns we hadn’t anticipated; his for more practical endeavors: jobs, contracts, and paychecks. His devotion to church life had cooled but his conservative views had only hardened.

I had moved from a place of arrogant superiority. I no longer believed that my closest colleagues and I were absolutely right and everyone else was therefore wrong, and realized that maybe we are all a little wrong. I had also shed some of my early “thou shalt nots” so common to fundamentalist thinking, especially 50 years ago.

Jesus died for people who are wrong, not for people who are right and that includes everyone. No one holds the high ground absolutely.

Our thinking had diverged in several areas.

For my friend, Trump was the savior of US politics. I was the bad guy who didn’t vote for Trump and my disagreement was the talk of the brotherhood and a good reason to have less than enjoyable fellowship. Far less!

But there’s more. [Read more…] about What Does It Mean To Be Godly

Who Will Save Us From Religion

July 16, 2023 by EnnisP Leave a Comment

Jesus Is All Important
Religion Is Peripheral

First of all, an explanation.

This article is about religion but you can’t talk about religion without naming specific denominations. I do that a lot here and people are bound to be offended. But the ones who won’t like this (those most closely aligned with religions) are the ones who need it most.

I wish it could be different but talking about problems with religion without naming specific ones would be like discussing a treatment for a “Disease” without naming the specific disease.

The religion I mention most is Catholicism. It’s one of the biggest and most widespread. It’s also the one with the most egregious scandals, as you will see.

Everyone is aware of the Catholic Church and, like it or not, whether you realize it or not, everyone is affected by the teachings and influence of this church. Seven of the nine Supreme Court Judges were raised Catholic and six of those are still practicing Catholics. You’ll be hard pressed to prove religion hasn’t influenced their rulings but more to the point, Catholicism has unwittingly cultivated some of the greatest scandals in modern history and there’s evidence to indicate the scandals aren’t a recent development.

Before I get into the meat of the discussion, it’s also important to note that nothing said here is aimed at Catholic individuals. I’ve known many Catholics who are wonderful people and tremendous Christians.

Catholicism is one thing, Catholic individuals are a different kettle altogether. This article is about religion, not the adherents.

Now that that’s established, the discussion. [Read more…] about Who Will Save Us From Religion