The New York Times published the following quote from Brian McLaren a couple of days ago: Read the rest of this news item »
This paragraph comes from a book I’ve been reading lately:
“…In liberal Christianity, Bible teachings…on slavery and…relating to social issues, including, for example, the place of women, marriage, the obligation of the church to meet the physial needs of unbelievers, and the relation of the believer to secular, civil authority, that are neither progresive nor democratic, are taken simply as reflecting the prejudices of the times and localities in which the Bible authors found themselves, and, by Holy-Spirit-given discernment, [are] to be severed from the inspired part. It is easy to see that, in practice, this gives the pastor, if not everyone in the church, the right to discard whatever he wants of the Bible’s teaching and to keep whatever he wants of what is left. By picking and choosing, one can make the rules into whatever one wishes. If followed to the ultimate extreme, the Bible can be emptied of its content altogether in this manner.”
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In comment #12 on Jesus-centered vs Bible-centered faith, Andrew wrote the following:
I think though, there is a disturbing trend emerging in some quarters of the “emerging” church, doing away with Biblical authority, yet claiming to be totally Christ centred. I see this as a reaction to blind faith Christianity, but am troubled by it and unsure of how to counter it.
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isaone (a ‘bright’ – you can find out what a bright is on isaone’s blog) posted the following questions on the CatE discussion board
I do not understand the believers who state that it is not a person’s works which get them into heaven. They seem to say that instead it is the person accepting christ that makes the difference.
Monty Python has done some excellent Christian satire (imo).
Have a great weekend and stay cool! (That was a reference to the weather, if it’s hot where you are – I know you’re all cool people and will stay that way! ;))
Posted in Videos | 9 Comments »In comment #2 of Hey Matt, tell us how the book project is going!, Rachel wrote:
Posted in General Conversation | 13 Comments »[My friend who is a seminary student] draws a contrast between Jesus-centered faith and Bible-centered faith.
Hello Atheists and Christians:
I grant both the Title Case.
Speaking of title cases, the book currently titled Jim and Casper Go to
Church is now in the “crap! We gotta get all this writing done immediately!!
We’ll never make our initial manuscript date! Oh My God! (Jim) Oh My
Non-God! (Casper*) We’re doomed!” phase.
* A tough part of being an atheist: you have to find other exclamations.
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My time, money and energy (physical and emotional) are limited resources which I want to invest wisely.
Here’s the conference information. Have you thought about coming? We’d love to meet you in person there!
Marty is going to be our “blogging community co-ordinator” at the conference. Between now and then he and Eliza will be planning ways we can help bloggers meet each other and spend time together there.
Marty has already started a discussion thread about this.
Please share your thoughts here or on Marty’s thread. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to connect with each other in person at the conference.
Posted in General Conversation | Comments OffI’ve gone to my local Unitarian-Universalist (UU) Church three times now. I haven’t yet met their minister of 16 years – he’ll be back next week after finishing up the summer session of a graduate degree program – but I’ve read about him on the church’s website, and have picked up some copies of his sermons to read. His sermons and biography describe him as a UU Christian, “very liberal”, and gay. Apparently he felt quite unwelcome in at least one branch of Christianity because of that latter trait, years ago. He comments on acceptance in his biography, and on love in one of his sermons.
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