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

-----

Note: Generally I do not respond to commentary. I may read the comments but wish to reserve my time to write (or write from 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

Showing posts with label Suffering and Evil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Suffering and Evil. Show all posts

Thursday, November 17, 2022

God as "Amipotent" better Describes God than as "Omnipotent"



The Death of Omnipotence

by Thomas Jay Oord
November 7, 2022

An amipotent God is active, but not a dictator. Amipotence is receptive but not overwhelmed. God engages without domineering; is generous but not pushy; and invites without monopolizing. Amipotence is divine strength working positively at all times and places. The power of an amipotent God is the power of love. - Oord, Thomas Jay. Open and Relational Theology: An Introduction to Life-Changing Ideas

I’m writing a new book. My tentative title is “The Death of Omnipotence… and Birth of Amipotence.”

As the title suggests, I’ll argue that God is not omnipotent. But instead of simply saying, “God can’t do…,” I’m also proposing a view of divine power I think is more biblically supported, philosophically coherent, and experientially justified. I call it “amipotence.” (Here’s a 3-minute ORTShort describing the word.)

Here’s how I plan to start the book…


THERE’S NOTHING THAT GOD CANNOT DO?

“My God is so big, so strong, and so mighty there’s nothing that He cannot do.”[1] These lines from a children’s song give voice to what many people believe: God can do anything.

Other song lyrics proclaim the glory of an all-powerful God. In his Messiah concerto, George Frideric Handel’s oft-repeated lines ring out:

For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth,
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah![2]

Contemporary worship choruses promote omnipotence, declaring a sovereign God cannot be thwarted nor the divine will be frustrated. It’s common for believers, enraptured in praise, to lift their voices to the One they call “almighty” and proclaim, “our God reigns!”


OMNIPOTENCE

“Omnipotence” expresses in formal language the “God can do anything” view. A God with all (omni) power (potent) apparently can do anything we imagine and more. Augustine made this connection, saying the omnipotent God is “He who can do all things.”[3]

In some theologies, God actually exerts all power and is the cause of everything; call this “theological determinism” or “monergism.” In others, God could do everything but chooses not to. God so conceived controls from time to time but generally opts to allow creatures to exert power; call this view “voluntary divine self-limitation.”[4]

Among the attributes theists ascribe to God, omnipotence is likely best known. For many, it’s a placeholder for God – “the Omnipotent.” Although distinctions can be made, the term is often thought synonymous with other words and phrases describing divine power: “sovereign,” “all-powerful,” and “almighty.”[5]

These describe what many think necessary of a being worthy of worship: unlimited power. Christian creeds refer to God’s almightiness. “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth…” begins the Apostle’s Creed. The Nicene Creed starts similarly: “We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth…” The Westminster Confession speaks of a God who, in “sovereign” or “almighty” activity, saw fit to “ordain whatsoever comes to pass.”

Answering Divine Omnipotence with Divine Amipotence resolves questions of theodicy


THREE MEANINGS

Theists espouse various meanings of omnipotent, almighty, or all-powerful. In this book, I address three common among scholars and laity. To say God is omnipotent typically means at least one of the following:

1. God exerts all power.

2. God can do absolutely anything.

3. God can control others or circumstances.[6]

Some theists affirm one or two meanings but not all. Some reject the idea God exerts all power, for instance, but believe God can control others. Others say God can do anything but also say God doesn’t always control creatures. Many claim God can singlehandedly determine outcomes but cannot do what is illogical or self-contradictory. And it’s common for believers to say God is omnipotent but appeal to mystery when vexing questions arise.


CONCLUSION

I’d love to hear your questions, suggestions, and thoughts. Now that you know the general aim of the book, what issues should I be sure to address?

(I explain amipotence a bit in my book, Pluriform Love. Also, see this essay from Jay McDaniel.)

[1] Ruth Harms Calkin, “My God is so Big” (Permission to quote granted from Nuggets of Truth Publishing).

[2] Handel seems to be drawing from Revelation 19:6, which in Latin and in the King James Version of scripture is translated “omnipotent” but in most contemporary biblical translations is rendered “almighty.”

[3] Augustine, De Trinitate, IV 20, 27 (CChr.SL), 50, 197: “Quis est autem omnipotens, nisi qui omnia potest.” Despite this claim, Augustine also notes a number of things God cannot do.

[4] Theologians have explored the distinction between God’s potential power and the actual expression of divine power. See, for instance, Ian Robert Richardson, “Meister Eckhart’s Parisian Question of ‘Whether the omnipotence of God should be considered as potentia ordinata or potentia absoluta?” Doctoral Dissertation (King’s College London, 2002), 17.

[5] In previous writings, I’ve said we could rightly call God almighty in the senses. God is 1) the mightiest, 2) exerts might upon all, and 3) the source of might for all. Gijsbert Van Den Brink argues for “almightiness” over omnipotence in Almighty God: A Study of the Doctrine of Divine Omnipotence (Netherlands: Kok Pharos, 1993).

[6] By “control,” I mean acting as the sufficient cause of some creature, circumstance, or event. To describe such control, I use phrases like “singlehandedly decide outcomes,” “unilaterally determine,” or others that depict God as the sole cause. I will argue that God never has controlled and, in fact, cannot control others.


* * * * * * *

 

What does Amipotence Look Like?
It looks like the human touch of a nurse.

by Jay McDaniel
July 25, 2021
​God is neither impotent nor omnipotent but what I call “amipotent.” I coined this word by combining the Latin word for power — “potent” — with a Latin prefix for love — “ami.” From “potent” we get words like “potential” and “potency.” We find the “ami” prefix in love words like “amity,” “amigo,” and “amicable.” God’s power is the power of love: amipotence.

An amipotent God is active, but not a dictator. Amipotence is receptive but not overwhelmed. God engages without domineering; is generous but not pushy; and invites without monopolizing. Amipotence is divine strength working positively at all times and places. The power of an amipotent God is the power of love. - Oord, Thomas Jay. Open and Relational Theology: An Introduction to Life-Changing Ideas

Thomas Oord has coined the term "amipotence" to name the infinite power of divine love The term combines the Latin word for power — “potent” — with a Latin prefix for love — “ami.”

Amipotence is a verb not a noun. It is an ongoing and endless activity, always different and yet always the same. This activity is not all-powerful in the sense of being able to prevent all tragedies, but it is all-faithful and, I believe, all-beautiful. The heart of amipotence is healing and life-giving, like love itself.

What does it look like? I think it looks like the healing power of a nurturant nurse. We do not expect nurses to make everything right, but in their human touch we find life's deepest meaning. That meaning is not that all pain can be relieved. It is that noone suffers alone and that always, even in suffering, there is a healing (a solace, a togetherness, a presence, a companionship, and a hope) that is more, much more, than whatever tears must be shed. For me, the God of whom Thomas Oord speaks is a deep Nurse in whose life the universe unfolds, moment by moment. She is - he is - it is - the Nurturing: an encircling spirit beneath, behind, beyond, and (sometimes) within the happening of all that happens

- Jay McDaniel, July 25, 2021


Tuesday, July 19, 2022

EXPLAINING WESTWORLD - REVIEWS, RECAPS & ANALYSIS OF ALL SEASONS

VIEWER WARNINGS
All Episodes & Reviews Contain Series
Spoilers, Violence and Nudity







List of Westworld episodes

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Westworld is an American dystopian science fiction, neo-Western television series, based on the 1973 film of the same name by Michael Crichton. The series was created by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy and premiered on HBO on October 2, 2016. The story begins in Westworld, a fictional, technologically advanced Wild-West-themed amusement park populated by android "hosts". The park caters to high-paying guests who may indulge their wildest fantasies within the park without fear of retaliation from the hosts, who are prevented by their programming from harming humans. Later on, in the third season, the series' setting expands to the real world, in the mid-21st century, where people's lives are driven and controlled by a powerful artificial intelligence named Rehoboam.

As of July 17, 2022, 32 episodes of Westworld have aired, currently in its fourth season.

Episodes

Season 1: The Maze (2016)

No.
overall
No. in
season
TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air date
11"The Original"Jonathan NolanStory by : Jonathan Nolan & Lisa Joy and Michael Crichton
Teleplay by : Jonathan Nolan & Lisa Joy
October 2, 2016
22"Chestnut"Richard J. LewisJonathan Nolan & Lisa JoyOctober 9, 2016[a]
33"The Stray"Neil MarshallDaniel T. Thomsen & Lisa JoyOctober 16, 2016
44"Dissonance Theory"Vincenzo NataliEd Brubaker & Jonathan NolanOctober 23, 2016
55"Contrapasso"Jonny CampbellStory by : Dominic Mitchell & Lisa Joy
Teleplay by : Lisa Joy
October 30, 2016
66"The Adversary"Frederick E.O. ToyeHalley Gross & Jonathan NolanNovember 6, 2016
77"Trompe L'Oeil"Frederick E.O. ToyeHalley Gross & Jonathan NolanNovember 13, 2016
88"Trace Decay"Stephen WilliamsCharles Yu & Lisa JoyNovember 20, 2016
99"The Well-Tempered Clavier"Michelle MacLarenDan Dietz & Katherine LingenfelterNovember 27, 2016
1010"The Bicameral Mind"Jonathan NolanLisa Joy & Jonathan NolanDecember 4, 2016

Season 2: The Door (2018)

No.
overall
No. in
season
TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air date
111"Journey into Night"Richard J. LewisLisa Joy & Roberto PatinoApril 22, 2018

122"Reunion"Vincenzo NataliCarly Wray & Jonathan NolanApril 29, 2018
133"Virtù e Fortuna"Richard J. LewisRoberto Patino & Ron FitzgeraldMay 6, 2018

144"The Riddle of the Sphinx"Lisa JoyGina Atwater & Jonathan NolanMay 13, 2018

155"Akane no Mai"Craig ZobelDan DietzMay 20, 2018

166"Phase Space"Tarik SalehCarly WrayMay 27, 2018

177"Les Écorchés"Nicole KassellJordan Goldberg & Ron FitzgeraldJune 3, 2018

188"Kiksuya"Uta BriesewitzCarly Wray & Dan DietzJune 10, 2018

199"Vanishing Point"Stephen WilliamsRoberto PatinoJune 17, 2018

2010"The Passenger"Frederick E.O. ToyeJonathan Nolan & Lisa JoyJune 24, 2018

Season 3: The New World (2020)

No.
overall
No. in
season
TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air date

211"Parce Domine"Jonathan NolanLisa Joy & Jonathan NolanMarch 15, 2020

222"The Winter Line"Richard J. LewisMatthew Pitts & Lisa JoyMarch 22, 2020

233"The Absence of Field"Amanda MarsalisDenise ThéMarch 29, 2020

244"The Mother of Exiles"Paul CameronJordan Goldberg & Lisa JoyApril 5, 2020

255"Genre"Anna FoersterKarrie Crouse & Jonathan NolanApril 12, 2020

266"Decoherence"Jennifer GetzingerSuzanne Wrubel & Lisa JoyApril 19, 2020

277"Passed Pawn"Helen ShaverGina AtwaterApril 26, 2020

288"Crisis Theory"Jennifer GetzingerDenise Thé & Jonathan NolanMay 3, 2020

Season 4: The Choice (2022)

No.
overall
No. in
season
Title [5]Directed byWritten by [35]Original air date [5]
291"The Auguries"Richard J. LewisLisa Joy & Will SoodikJune 26, 2022
302"Well Enough Alone"Craig William MacneillMatthew Pitts & Christina HamJuly 3, 2022
313"Années Folles"Hanelle M. CulpepperKevin Lau & Suzanne WrubelJuly 10, 2022
324"Generation Loss"Paul CameronKevin Lau & Suzanne WrubelJuly 17, 2022
335"Zhuangzi"Craig William Macneill[40]Wes Humphrey & Lisa JoyJuly 24, 2022
346"Fidelity"Andrew Seklir[41]Jordan Goldberg & Alli RockJuly 31, 2022
357"Metanoia"Meera Menon[42]Desa Larkin-Boutte & Denise ThéAugust 7, 2022
368"Que Será, Será"Richard J. Lewis[43]Alison Schapker & Jonathan NolanAugust 14, 2022





RECOMMENDED WESTWORLD EPISODE REVIEWS

(begin where your wish and follow from there...)


VULTURE - WESTWORLD RECAPS








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ALT SHIFT X



SEASON 1

SEASON 2



SEASON 3

 

SEASON 4
no longer in production

Streamed live on Jun 26, 2022

S4E02

S403

S4E04

S4E05

S4E06

S4E07

S4E08


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Escape is not freedom. Chaos is not revolution. Independence is not negotiable. And free will is not free. Welcome back to Westworld, the Emmy®-winning drama series that follows the dawn of artificial consciousness and the evolution of sin. In Season Three, the real gods are coming... and they are very angry. Born into a world of pain, Westworld’s android hosts were never allowed to go or see one place: our world. But now, at the end of the game, they’re here. With the help of Aaron Paul’s very human Caleb, Dolores is ready to start a revolution. And if that doesn’t work, she can do it the old-fashioned way... and kill everyone. Aaron Paul, Vincent Cassell, Lena Waithe and Scott Mescudi join Evan Rachel Wood’s Dolores, Jeffrey Wright’s Bernard, Thandie Newton’s Maeve and Ed Harris’s William in the new season, which explores the nature of our reality, free will and what makes us human.


HAX DOGMA - VIDEO RECAPS

SEASON 1

More Season 1 found here on slider bar to the right - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75dY9e26m8E&list=PL8Z0guGbCSZqwwbhyqmAPBl74ygT8mFrb
1

The Original


2

Chestnut*


3

The Stray


4

Dissonance Theory*


5

Contrapasso


6

The Adversary


7

Trompe L'Oeil


8

Trace Decay


9

The Well-Tempered Clavier*


10

The Bicameral Mind*


101

Westworld: Trailer*


102

An Invitation to the Set*


103

Welcome to Westworld: About the Series*


104

Reality of A.I.: Westworld*


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3
4
5
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7
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9
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Westworld - Season 3 Official Trailer
May 20, 2019





SEASON 3

1

Parce Domine


2

The Winter Line


3

The Absence of Field


4

The Mother of Exiles


5

Genre


6

Decoherence


7

Passed Pawn


8

Crisis Theory



Westworld Season 4 | Official Trailer | HBO
Jun 16, 2022




SEASON 4

[ all links are working whether colored or not ]


Westworld season 4 is finally here! If you need a quick breakdown explaining everything that happened in Westworld season 4 ...


"The Auguries," was a moderate approach to the newest season surely setting the stage for a massive action-packed adventure ...

"Well Enough Alone," brings us to a new park, and the roaring twenties have never looked so good! Mental health theories still in ...

Welcome back everybody, this video tugs on the fine threads presented to us throughout the first three episodes of Season Four...

After many years of watching this series, looking for the grander message... I believe I have found it. I believe this show is ...

Maybe it's time you questioned the nature of your own reality. #Westworld returns for a fourth season June 26 on HBO Max.

"Années Folles," presents new systems... new timelines... and new possibilities for drama on the largest of scales! This episode we ...

WESTWORLD Season 4 Episode4: EXPLAINED (Breakdown & Theories)
"Generation Loss," reveals many seemingly unbelievable twists that fans of this channel were all too ready for! The timeline for this ...

Westworld 4x05 "Zhuangzi" Season 4 Episode 5 Promo - Check out the promo for Westworld Season 4 Episode 5 "Zhuangzi" ...

This video takes an OBJECTIVE look at Westworld, and decides once and for all... if you should watch it! The answer may surprise ...


In Westworld Season 4 Episode 4 (Generation Loss) - Christina meets an old friend, Bernard traves with C to find the weapon and ...

Intro | Introduction to Generation Loss | Christina's Arc | Bernard and Stubbs Arc | Maeve, Chralotte, Caleb and Williams Arc | How the reveal changes Westworlds trajectory (Game Changer) | Where we go from here | Theories for the second of half of season 4 | Final Thoughts and Score | Outro
10 chapters

* * * * * *

completed season 4
(with some duplicate vids)

Westworld Returns
HaxDogma

WESTWORLD Season 4 Episode 1: Explained (Breakdown & Theories)
HaxDogma

3

22:13
How Westworld Ends...
HaxDogma

4

27:38

WESTWORLD Season 4 Episode 2: Explained (Breakdown & Theories)
HaxDogma

5

3:58

You Should Watch Westworld! (An Open Letter From Your Friend)
HaxDogma

6

23:02

WESTWORLD Season 4 Episode 3: Explained (Breakdown & Theories)
HaxDogma

7

21:18

Westworld: Hale's Master Plan
HaxDogma

8

21:21

WESTWORLD Season 4 Episode 4: EXPLAINED (Breakdown & Theories)
HaxDogma

9

37:44

WESTWORLD Season 4 Episode 5: EXPLAINED (Breakdown & Theories)
HaxDogma

10

30:20

WESTWORLD Season 4 Episode 6: EXPLAINED (Breakdown & Theories)
HaxDogma

11

33:01

Westworld: Christina, FINAL THOUGHTS
HaxDogma

12

33:35
WESTWORLD Season 4 Episode 7: EXPLAINED (Breakdown & Theories)
HaxDogma

13

23:20

WESTWORLD: Season 4 Pre-Finale (Thoughts & Theories)
HaxDogma

14

35:14

WESTWORLD Season 4 Episode 8: EXPLAINED (Breakdown & Theories)
HaxDogma

2 unavailable videos are hidden