Quotes & Sayings


We, and creation itself, actualize the possibilities of the God who sustains the world, towards becoming in the world in a fuller, more deeper way. - R.E. Slater

There is urgency in coming to see the world as a web of interrelated processes of which we are integral parts, so that all of our choices and actions have [consequential effects upon] the world around us. - Process Metaphysician Alfred North Whitehead

Kurt Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem says (i) all closed systems are unprovable within themselves and, that (ii) all open systems are rightly understood as incomplete. - R.E. Slater

The most true thing about you is what God has said to you in Christ, "You are My Beloved." - Tripp Fuller

The God among us is the God who refuses to be God without us, so great is God's Love. - Tripp Fuller

According to some Christian outlooks we were made for another world. Perhaps, rather, we were made for this world to recreate, reclaim, redeem, and renew unto God's future aspiration by the power of His Spirit. - R.E. Slater

Our eschatological ethos is to love. To stand with those who are oppressed. To stand against those who are oppressing. It is that simple. Love is our only calling and Christian Hope. - R.E. Slater

Secularization theory has been massively falsified. We don't live in an age of secularity. We live in an age of explosive, pervasive religiosity... an age of religious pluralism. - Peter L. Berger

Exploring the edge of life and faith in a post-everything world. - Todd Littleton

I don't need another reason to believe, your love is all around for me to see. – Anon

Thou art our need; and in giving us more of thyself thou givest us all. - Khalil Gibran, Prayer XXIII

Be careful what you pretend to be. You become what you pretend to be. - Kurt Vonnegut

Religious beliefs, far from being primary, are often shaped and adjusted by our social goals. - Jim Forest

We become who we are by what we believe and can justify. - R.E. Slater

People, even more than things, need to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone. – Anon

Certainly, God's love has made fools of us all. - R.E. Slater

An apocalyptic Christian faith doesn't wait for Jesus to come, but for Jesus to become in our midst. - R.E. Slater

Christian belief in God begins with the cross and resurrection of Jesus, not with rational apologetics. - Eberhard Jüngel, Jürgen Moltmann

Our knowledge of God is through the 'I-Thou' encounter, not in finding God at the end of a syllogism or argument. There is a grave danger in any Christian treatment of God as an object. The God of Jesus Christ and Scripture is irreducibly subject and never made as an object, a force, a power, or a principle that can be manipulated. - Emil Brunner

“Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” means "I will be that who I have yet to become." - God (Ex 3.14) or, conversely, “I AM who I AM Becoming.”

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. - Thomas Merton

The church is God's world-changing social experiment of bringing unlikes and differents to the Eucharist/Communion table to share life with one another as a new kind of family. When this happens, we show to the world what love, justice, peace, reconciliation, and life together is designed by God to be. The church is God's show-and-tell for the world to see how God wants us to live as a blended, global, polypluralistic family united with one will, by one Lord, and baptized by one Spirit. – Anon

The cross that is planted at the heart of the history of the world cannot be uprooted. - Jacques Ellul

The Unity in whose loving presence the universe unfolds is inside each person as a call to welcome the stranger, protect animals and the earth, respect the dignity of each person, think new thoughts, and help bring about ecological civilizations. - John Cobb & Farhan A. Shah

If you board the wrong train it is of no use running along the corridors of the train in the other direction. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

God's justice is restorative rather than punitive; His discipline is merciful rather than punishing; His power is made perfect in weakness; and His grace is sufficient for all. – Anon

Our little [biblical] systems have their day; they have their day and cease to be. They are but broken lights of Thee, and Thou, O God art more than they. - Alfred Lord Tennyson

We can’t control God; God is uncontrollable. God can’t control us; God’s love is uncontrolling! - Thomas Jay Oord

Life in perspective but always in process... as we are relational beings in process to one another, so life events are in process in relation to each event... as God is to Self, is to world, is to us... like Father, like sons and daughters, like events... life in process yet always in perspective. - R.E. Slater

To promote societal transition to sustainable ways of living and a global society founded on a shared ethical framework which includes respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity, universal human rights, respect for diversity, economic justice, democracy, and a culture of peace. - The Earth Charter Mission Statement

Christian humanism is the belief that human freedom, individual conscience, and unencumbered rational inquiry are compatible with the practice of Christianity or even intrinsic in its doctrine. It represents a philosophical union of Christian faith and classical humanist principles. - Scott Postma

It is never wise to have a self-appointed religious institution determine a nation's moral code. The opportunities for moral compromise and failure are high; the moral codes and creeds assuredly racist, discriminatory, or subjectively and religiously defined; and the pronouncement of inhumanitarian political objectives quite predictable. - R.E. Slater

God's love must both center and define the Christian faith and all religious or human faiths seeking human and ecological balance in worlds of subtraction, harm, tragedy, and evil. - R.E. Slater

In Whitehead’s process ontology, we can think of the experiential ground of reality as an eternal pulse whereby what is objectively public in one moment becomes subjectively prehended in the next, and whereby the subject that emerges from its feelings then perishes into public expression as an object (or “superject”) aiming for novelty. There is a rhythm of Being between object and subject, not an ontological division. This rhythm powers the creative growth of the universe from one occasion of experience to the next. This is the Whiteheadian mantra: “The many become one and are increased by one.” - Matthew Segall

Without Love there is no Truth. And True Truth is always Loving. There is no dichotomy between these terms but only seamless integration. This is the premier centering focus of a Processual Theology of Love. - R.E. Slater

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Note: Generally I do not respond to commentary. I may read the comments but wish to reserve my time to write (or write off the comments I read). Instead, I'd like to see our community help one another and in the helping encourage and exhort each of us towards Christian love in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. - re slater

Thursday, May 8, 2014

This quiz might help you find the right denomination



My Personal Observations
by R.E. Slater

I took the quiz below in quick-and-shorthand fashion and then afterwards thought it should be passed along for two reasons. One, it may help the interviewee see where they lean in preferences and dogmas. Two, it may also help in understanding our particular preferences for reading the Bible in the way that we do. When taking the quiz remember that it is not exact, scientific, or rigorous.

For myself, I took it without a lot of thought about it (taking it on-the-fly, as it were) and found several areas of my own personal indifference. With one question I found I had no preference at all. With a half-dozen or so questions I answered "maybe". And in the "agree/disagree" column I would've liked more leeway in the way the question was asked. (Note: It's important to show the scale of your "agreement" or "disagreement" to the stated question).

Overall, my background is (Regular) Baptist and Reformed Calvinism. But that revered heritage had always felt forced and contrived to my overall personality and temperament. However, more recently - as in the past dozen years or more - I have steadily been moving away from my inherited faith. Though with a deep appreciation for my education and religious background. But also with a newer mindset and introspective heart that has become broader, and more patient with, my past conservative training. I now find myself more in sympathy with Wesleyans (re God's love and human freewill), the Charismatics (re all things Spirit), and the Anglicans (re their liturgy, symbolism, creedal, and historical church orthodoxies). Though in hindsight, elements of those faiths had always been present even in my earliest youth and faith expressions because they were more in line with who I was and am today. Even so, according to the quiz, I resonate most predominantly with Southern Baptists! Horrors! LOL  :)

By way of a short explanation for my predilections, iWesleyanism I find a more proper balance between the "love of God' and "man's free will" (arminianism v. calvinism). One that admits to God's love in all relational aspects to His creation - even to that of man's being and spirit, his circumstances and events in his life, and the openness of our future towards purposeful redemption.

In Charismatic preference I would not classify myself as a strict practitioner, or definitionists, re tongues, prophecies, and healing, but one who definitely attests to the Holy Spirit's ready activity in the affairs of this world. Especially as the Spirit invokes God's Word and redemptive power. Hence, I view (i) tongues not as "heavenly" but as a means for practical and effectual communication with those different from ourselves.  (ii) Prophecy as a forth-telling rather than fore-telling activity (even as it was in both the Old and New Testaments). My reason for saying this is based upon my view of the openness of the future. One that even God cannot know, much less ourselves. But also one that God does inform through His plan of redemption and salvation. And it is in this way that prophecy is more a forth-telling than fore-telling activity. And, (iii) healing more in terms of the spiritual person - and humanity at large in its societies. Especially as it connects Jesus to personal, social, or community behavior and redemptive outcome.

And lastly, I resonate more with the Anglican faith because of its broader implications for doctrine and theology based upon its connectedness to the past orthodoxies of the Christian faith before its split from Rome during the time of the Reformation. More so, the more I study Christianity and the Bible, the more I find myself leaning towards a progressive evangelical faith (or even a post-evangelic Christian faith). And perhaps one that is more conservatively neo-orthodox than it is classically orthodox as I come to understand what these present elements may mean for Christian living, ministry, and witness. As such, I yearn for a more lively, more open-ended faith of God. One that is God-filled rather than man-filled by a religious faith bounded by stricter dogmas and folklore-based teachings. Whose edges are more rounded (if present at all). That is less logical and analytic - and more questioning and at peace with its unknowing. That is more mystical than knowing. And one allowing of doubt and uncertain to reside in the same breath with absolute faith and belief. This is the type of faith that would best define both myself and my God. It is not for everyone because within it must reside a tension and doubt alongside a more surer faith and belief. But it works for me.

And so, in addition to perhaps allowing the reader to determine their own personal religious predilections I thought I should be forthright in my own journaling here at Relevancy22 so that we each know where the other stands. But I should forewarn the reader that my background is eclectic, and that I will consider other beliefs than my own baptistic ones to inform me. To better help me find a line of direction for a common (or "catholic") spiritual communion with the Redeemer God of the universe. A God whom I know as Jesus Christ of  the Bible who was the exact expression and very Spirit, Person, and Being, of the Hebraic "unnamed" God YHWH. It is a journey I am willing to share with others who also wish to explore "another side" of their Christian faith than a Vulcanized form of Reformed theology with its expressionless logic and the analytical barrenness. It has its place for some to be sure, but I would rather discard its classical structures while searching within its frame for its more foundational elements expressed in terms of relational, process, and open theology. Peace.

R.E. Slater
May 8, 2014

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This quiz can might help you find the right denomination
http://churchmousec.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/this-quiz-can-help-you-find-the-right-denomination/

The Church Mouse
January 7, 2011

Many of us wonder why we’re dissatisfied with the church we attend. For some, this might be because the clergy displace biblical teachings in favour of more worldly, including political, ones. However, others might be attending church in a denomination which might not suit their theological beliefs.

So, how do we know what denomination might be correct for us? Here’s a 24-question multiple-choice quiz that can help clarify which church might be best for you, the Christian Denomination Selector. It’s free and you don’t need to register or leave an email address in order to discover the results.

Be warned — you might well be surprised at what your answers to these questions tell you! I certainly was.


R.E. Slater's top match for Christian Denomination Selector is: 
Southern Baptist

Your Complete Results:
Default order is alphabetical, Mike Hopkins determined the order. 
URL: http://selectsmart.com/FREE/select.php?client= christiandenom
Link: Christian Denomination Selector
Southern Baptist (100%)   
Assemblies of God (94%)   
Episcopal/Anglican Church (94%)   
Methodist/Wesleyan Church (87%)   
Free Will Baptist (85%)   
Mennonite Brethren (85%)   
Reformed Baptist (85%)   
Seventh-Day Adventist (85%)   
Presbyterian Church USA (79%)   
Church of Christ (77%)   
Orthodox Quakerism (77%)   
Presbyterian Church in America/Orthodox Presbyterian Church (70%)   
Reformed Churches (70%)   
Evangelical Lutheran Church (64%)   
International Church of Christ (62%)   
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (55%)   
United Pentecostal Church (55%)   
Liberal Quakerism (24%)   
Eastern Orthodox Church (16%)   
Mormonism (16%)   
Roman Catholic Church (16%)   
Jehovah's Witness (9%)   
Unity Church (7%)   
Unitarian Universalism (0%)