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

Friday, March 29, 2013

Colton Dixon, "This Is Who I Am" - Selections, Tours, Interviews














Behind the Scenes - On Tour with Colton Dixon
Summer 2013




Colton Dixon - Scars - Miracle Tour NY 2013




Colton Dixon Sings - You Are - The 700 Club 3/20/13




Colton Dixon - "Never Gone" (Official Lyric Video)




Colton Dixon - Jesus Paid it All - Passion 2013




Colton Dixon sa The 700 Club Asia
Tour Interview





Colton Dixon American Idol Interview w/Idology ENTV
Season 2012





Colton Dixon Performs "Love Has Come For Me"







 



 

Colton Dixon Finds His Calling In Christian Rock

by Nicole Pajer
April 4, 2013

Bubbling Under: 'American Idol's' Colton Dixon 'Never Gone' Debuts
Bubbling Under: 'American Idol's' Colton Dixon 'Never Gone' Debuts

Finishing seventh on last year’s season of “American Idol” hasn’t stopped Colton Dixon from living out his dream. The 22-year-old Tennessee native has carved a niche for himself and is quickly becoming a staple in the Christian rock market.

Dixon recently returned to the “Idol” stage where he debuted his latest single “Love Has Come for Me.” The track is lifted from his debut album, “A Messenger,” released Jan. 29. The set continues to perform well on the sales charts. After nine weeks, it has a peak of No. 15 on The Billboard 200 and is currently in the top 50. Dixon’s previous single “You Are” is at No. 11 on the Christian Songs chart in its 24th week.

Following the latest “Idol” performance, www.Billboard.com caught up with Dixon who explained that pursuing the Christian rock path was a natural choice for him.

“I've been listening to Christian music since I was little. I grew up with it,” he said. Dixon added that he loves music with a message and is therefore drawn to Christian rock tunes. “I'm very happy that I was accepted well into that market. You never know…being an “Idol” and going into Christian music – I've seen it work and I've seen it not work. I'm happy that it did.”

Though Dixon is in the midst of promoting his initial release, it hasn’t stopped him from thinking about future songs. “There are endless creative juices going on inside my brain so I’m excited to get that down on paper.” He tells Billboard.com that his new material will be a continuation of the theme of his latest single. “Love and what that means… I think a lot of people look for love in the wrong places at times. So it is about finding the right venue for your love. We’ll see where that idea goes.”

Dixon also touched on the changes he’s experienced in his life since exiting the 'Idol' stage. “A lot has happened in the last year. It's hard for me to wrap my head around a lot of it but I think the coolest thing about all of this is just having people appreciate what you do musically. It’s so cool to put out a record and see people buying it and see people on Twitter and Facebook say ‘Oh, man, I really like this song’ or ‘This song is my favorite.’ Or the best to me is, ‘Man, this song really encourages me in this area."

Before rushing-off again to hit the road with Third Day, the “Idol” alum gave Billboard a behind-the-scenes look at the realities of trekking across the country with his band. “Being on a tour bus is not as glamorous as I thought it would be,” he jokes. “There is no shower, there is no ‘number two,’ but it’s still a lot of fun.”



Wednesday, March 27, 2013

How It All Works - Quantum Particles, Supersymmetries, and M-Theory

 
Standard Model of elementary particles

M-Theory and the Higgs boson
 
The discovery of a potential Higgs boson particle plays a crucial role in super-symmetry - just one more of the ingredients needed to provide evidence of the M-Theory of strings - Energetic pieces of threads may finally explain all four fundamental forces of nature (photons, bosons, gluons, gravitons) and our perceived reality with space, time, matter and motion.
 
The basic elements of this so far are purely mathematical concepts known as 'strings' and 'membranes' — subatomic one-dimensional energy threads and built areas.
 
The mere vibrations of tiny strings and membranes, only about a hundredth of a billionth of a billionth of the size of an atomic nucleus generate everything - all elements of the periodic system, the vacuum of space and progressive time.
 
Acceptance of this 'theory of everything' relies on the super-symmetry of forces and matter.
 
Particle physicists need proof for super-symmetry as well as to explain their contemporary model of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPS) that are currently supposed to form extensive, galaxies stabilizing dark matter halos, apparently providing the majority of matter in the universe.
 
The announcement by CERN in 2012 that there is a high probability that the new particle they've found is the Higgs boson is an important step toward doing this.
 
 
Enter the 11th dimension
 
String theories, which emerged in the 1980s, postulate that 10 dimensions exist in nature. Only Einstein's three-dimensional space and one-dimensional time are 'rolled out', the other six spatial dimensions are 'curled up' and invisible.
 
Varying approaches led to different mathematical solutions and descriptions. Five variant approaches seemed to be promising, but did not produce suitable solutions for all existing elementary particles, space, time, and quantum gravity.
 
Then in 1994, the so-called M-Theory caused a second superstring revolution. It attempts to unify all five previously developed theories, introducing an 11th dimension and a staggering amount of mathematical solutions. The M-Theory considers those five set-ups to describe the same, but from different perspectives.
 
M-Theory formulates relationships between each of the five previous theories, calling those relationships 'dualities'. Each duality provides a mathematical solution to convert one string theory into another. The 11th dimension is supposed to acquire sufficient energy to infinitely expand.
 
One distinctive feature of the M-theory is the assumed existence of multidimensional spaces within any single point of space and time. Endless tring solutions are the result, creating far too many variations to find the suitable ones randomly; but powerful computes may help scienticsts find feasible results.
 
 
Multiverse Floating Membranes
 
String specialists ponder on a 'floating membrane' and consider the existence of our universe along such a membrane.
 
Infinite parallel universes accompany our universe with their own floating membranes. Leakages between those universes lead to a mathematically feasible concept of gravity.
 
 
 
 
WIMPS (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles)
 
All elementary particles that have been observed are either fermions (matter) or forces. Fermions are supposed to build all known types of matter. And elementary forces are either photons, W- and Z- bosons, gluons, or gravitons: 
  • Photons carry the forces of the electromagnetic fields
  • W- and Z-bosons mediate a weak force of radioactive decay and neutrino interactions
  • Gluons the strong force in the atomic nuclei
  • Gravitons (quantum gravity)
A feasible solution for quantum gravity would be necessary to cover all four fundamental forces of nature (photons, bosons, gluons, gravitons).
 
The bosons challenge string physicists most. Currently they need 26 dimensions for a boson string theory - meaning 15 dimensions have been hypothesized on top of the 11-dimensional M-Theory.
 
The Higgs quantum field and the Higgs boson play a crucial role in providing proof of super-symmetry because they give elementary particles a mass by spontaneous breaking of electroweak symmetry. The Higgs boson is an excitation of the Higgs quantum background field above its ground state.
 
The basic theories for all elementary particles require getting accustomed to because each material particle is described as a distinguishable excitation state of basic energy strings and areas with quantum mechanical aspects.
 
The classical observations of nature completely fade in the imaginations of theoretical string physicists. The quantised approach to all forces and energies of nature already challenges these scientists from the very beginning. For example, look at a simple electron: like any photon, any electron either behaves as concentrated particle or spreading wave, only depending on the set-up of the experiment. This peculiarity has been called the dualism of wave and particle.
 
Quantum physicists handle this remaining inexplicable contradiction by the superposition of several possible states and conditions. There is only a probability that one of these states and conditions takes place. The whole of possible states is mathematically expressed by so-called 'wave' functions. Any single result of an observation appears accidentally. This way, quantum physics can predict atomic processes with extraordinary high precision.
 
 
 
Rotational symmetry
 
A 'Theory of Everything' also requires rotational symmetry concepts of space-time. Rotational symmetry describes a successive exchange of physical quantities and states by energy impacts, for example of a length into time, time into energy density, energy density into time compression and, closing the circle, back into a space length.
 
Einstein described these rotational features in his theory of relativity by energy tensors and rotary functions. This circular exchange chain of physical quantities and states has been proven experimentally, but now needs completion with additional dimensions.
 
Quantum physics enters this picture by innovative time compression, representing the opposite function of time dilation.
 
Cosmology will strongly influence further development of string theory and the theory of everything.
 
We postulate that the accelerating expansion of the universe, explained by dark energy, is being driven by scalar fields. Fields of this kind serve as a description of changing super-symmetries that have their origin in one single type of initial force. These fields determine the development of the hierarchy of today's fundamental forces of nature. Rotational space-time symmetry accommodates the types of scalar fields that are needed to explain the peculiar negative pressure and adiabatic nature of dark energy. It explains the location and nature of the Higgs quantum field as well.
 
The M-Theory may soon culminate in the successful programming of powerful, quantum computers, but only the experimental proofs of super-symmetry and the identification of the circular exchange chain of parameters will open a new chapter in the contemporary standard model of physics.
 
 
For More Information begin here with Wikipedia
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Monday, March 25, 2013

Best Coin Ever Spent...





 Best Coin Ever Spent [hd]




Three Coins in a Fountain
by R.E. Slater

I put three coins in a templed fountain,
wishing each farthing fare thee well,
content before its glittering, flowing waters,
against a clearing sky’s dappled azured blue.

With the first I wished for wonder’s contentment,
the second a lifetime filled with joy,
and third for love’s sublime abundance,
upon all my days this jealous earth.

Thence followed to my greatest pleasure,
a golden parade singing finest tunes,
whilst playing fine instruments in regaling colours,
filling with boys and girls each gaily dressed,
heralding fair golden lockets and blazing vests.

Bright with happy, joyous faces beaming,
clasping flashing golden harps their breasts,
marching to brassy drums’ superfluous beats,
beneath lurid flowing melodies soaring high.

So fine a parade that I forgot my wishes,
feeling blessed with warmth and happiness,
lasting all my days until evening’s hours,
when darkness finally came to rest.

And there before the golden fountain,
I sought again each coin I tossed,
to give each one a little lad beside me,
filling all his days and waking hours,
like as mine upon a fountain blest.


R.E. Slater
March 25, 2013

@copyright R.E. Slater Publications
all rights reserved










Saturday, March 23, 2013

And now, a word about SEX! From a mom with 3 teen boys.

by Jamie Wright
Friday, March 22, 2013
My youngest son is about to turn 13, so for the next 9 months, until my oldest turns 20 (holy ape balls!), I will be Mom to three teenage boys.
That means our dinner table feels like a locker room... if locker rooms were full of nerds. The conversation tumbles easily from Xbox to music to girls to MineCraft to push ups to girls to movies to farts to money to girls to YouTube, and then back again, in an endless loop, so that over the course of one meal we come around to the subject of “girls” at least 9 times.
At least.
Girl talk inevitably leads to sex talk. And, let me tell you, if there is one thing these guys like to talk about more than girls? It's sex. So we talk about sex. Kind of alot. And since (as far as I know) none of my children have gone and gotten married, we're mostly talking about sex of the pre-marital sort; y'know, Virginity and stuff. The Big “V”. The Sacred Gift. The Golden Ticket.... These chats are exactly as awkward as you imagine.
Obviously, my children know that I had sex before marriage because I had a kid before marriage, so there's really no getting around it. That same kid towers over me now; a full two years older than I was when his own fluttering heartbeat wound itself into mine. These days, I look at him and I think, “He can't even keep his own room clean - how the hell did I manage an infant and a full time job at that age?!”
So, yeah, I was an unwed teenage mother. Classy, I know.
But oh, it gets worse, because before I invented MTV's Teen Mom, I was a little bit of a ho-bag. Yup. I willingly did regretful things with my body, and I allowed myself to be used in regretful ways by some regretfully sleazy douchebags, perverts, and (in retrospect) probably pedophiles. Gross, I know.
I believed that sex was the best thing I had to offer the world. It was the only thing about me worth loving. And I learned, too young, that I could leverage sex to get what I wanted. My female parts had become my greatest asset.
Then I found my way into the Church, 19 with a baby on my hip, and while I lingered on the outskirts of the Christian bubble, guess what I learned... I learned I was right! Apparently, even God was super concerned with my vagina, and where it had been, and what it had touched. Apparently, my genitals were like a portal that led straight to my soul. I had been muddied - and everybody knows that once you muck up clean water, you can't unmuck it.
It took me a lot of years and a lot of conversations with God (and with people who know more about God than me) to understand that everything I believed about my own sexuality was built on two huge lies.
The first comes from our culture, and it tells us that sex outside of marriage isn't a big deal.
The second is from the Church, and it tells us that sex outside of marriage is the biggest deal of all the deals ever.
One allowed me to give it away freely, convinced I would carry no burden. The other forced me to carry a spirit crushing load.
Both are complete crap.
Sex matters. It's the most vulnerable thing you'll ever do with another human being. Commitment breeds intimacy, and intimacy is what makes sex freaking amazing. I'm not gonna lie, you can have hot sex outside of a committed relationship – but mostly it's gonna be like... clumsy... and goopy... and ew. The better you know your partner, the better your sex will be. So basically what I'm saying is that wedding night sex is kinda “Meh.”, and five years sex is all “Yes!”, but 18 years sex is like “WOAH!!!” So go ahead and wait. Wait and enjoy the waiting, and then bask in all those learning experiences with your most trusted friend.
But.
If you've already gone down that path, you knocked boots, you got 'er done, you did the nasty.... and now you're not sure, or maybe you feel dirty and you're rocking the walk-of-shame-face day in and day out, you need to hear this -- I mean it, you really need to hear this...
You've had sex outside of marriage? *gasp* So what! You are so much more than your sexuality. And the God of the Universe, the one who turns whores into heroes, and drunks into prophets, and liars and murderers into leaders and kings - that God? He made peace with you and me and our promiscuous, pathetic attempts at love a long, long time ago. He gave you a Redeemer. Shame is no longer your burden.
...
Do I want my boys to wait? Absolutely. And they know it! But I refuse to tie their value as a human being to their junk like a shiny red balloon.
I want them to know that sex is sacred. And I want them to believe that it matters. I hope they will esteem the bodies of the girls in their lives, as they hold their own bodies to the same high standard.
But I also want them to understand that the kind of sexual purity the Bible calls us to doesn't begin or end with Virginity - It's way bigger than that. It's way more significant. And it's way harder to hold on to.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Roger Olson - A History of Evangelicalism, Part 2 of 2


Evangelicalism Is Dead!
Long Live Evangelicalism!

Roger Olson - A History of Evangelicalism, Part 1 of 2





Evangelicalism Is Dead!
Long Live Evangelicalism!