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 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

Monday, October 11, 2021

2021 ORT shORTs Nos. 1 - 46


What Is Open and Relational Theology?
by the Center for Open & Relational Theology

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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We Worship a God of Love, Not a God of Wrath - Part 2


 

The Good Samaritan

Luke 10 (NASB) - 30 Jesus replied and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he encountered robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. 31 And by coincidence a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan who was on a journey came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, 34 and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own animal, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return, I will repay you.’ 36 Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” 37 And he said, “The one who showed compassion to him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”

We Worship a God of Love,
Not a God of Wrath - Part 1
Part 2

by R.E. Slater


After years of looking at how to interpret the bible for living out Christian beliefs LOVE is the best hermeneutic I could find...

It is the easiest to teach and share...

The most sublime reason for engaging God at all...

Of a God who is fully, freely, and willingly, a God who LOVES...

Though classic theologies would teach a half-and-half God the bible, through Jesus in the NT, corrects those OT mis-theologies by removing religious man's fear, imperfect view of God, and need for violence...

Jesus taught us that God is loving, good, tender, beauty, and joy...

God is a God without wrath...

God is a without judgment...

God is a God without hell...

Our sin brings these darknesses upon us...

Not a God of atoning redemption who brings loving salvation to mankind...

A God who does not send sinners to hell but saves sinners from the hell of being themselves filled with wrath, hate, and the hot winds of religiousity...

A God who can change unfeeling, unloving, indifferent societies from being the worse possible versions of themselves...

A God who writes beauty and wellbeing everywhere...

A God who redeems our darkness to make all light...

A God who is not a God of darkness, wrath, or judgment...

But a God who is only, and always, a God of LOVE...

Through and through and through and through....

This is the God of the bible, not the wrathful God of religious men of the bible...


R.E. Slater
October 11, 2021

* * * * * * * * * *


Stories of Love & Compassion
by Hill Carmichael

A few years ago, a seminary professor of mine decided to use the parable of The Good Samaritan to make a point about how fear influences the decisions we make. He turned to Luke chapter 10 and began to read. I zoned out for a few minutes. I know – best seminary student ever and something you never want to hear a pastor say. But it’s a familiar story. One we’ve all heard a million times. In fact, it’s become somewhat of a cultural norm to point to the Good Samaritan in everyday life. I use it regularly with my boys. I imagine you’ve used it as well in an attempt to convey what it means to be kind in a hurting world. So, I took a little mental break in class. No harm, no foul, right?
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After my professor finished reading, he looked up and said, “This is not a story about being nice. This is a story about the transformation of the world.” All of the sudden I was paying attention again. And then he went on to explain that Jesus is responding to a question by sharing that there are three types of people along the road between Jerusalem and Jericho.
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The first type are the robbers, whose ethic suggests that “what is yours is mine at whatever cost”. And the robbers will take whatever they need through violence, coercion and whatever means necessary. These are the people who will leave us physically, mentally and emotionally beaten and bruised along life’s road with nothing left but our shallow breath.

The second type of person to walk along the dangerous road between Jerusalem and Jericho is represented by the priest and the Levite, whose ethic suggests that “what is mine is mine and I must protect it even if it means you get hurt in the process”. They aren’t bad people. Both the priest and the Levite are deeply respected in their communities. They very likely follow all the societal rules and norms. They sit on local boards. They pay their taxes on time and likely coach their son’s or daughter’s teams. They also show a great deal of love to those within their immediate communities, but because of what crossing the road to help might cost them, they put their head down and go about their business. So, without even recognizing it, they do more harm than good. Their focus is inward toward their needs and the needs of those who are most like them. It’s an ethic that leads the good and decent priest and Levite toward a life of valuing their reputations instead of relationships. And it often results with them choosing their own individual rights over the health and well-being of their neighbors. Unfortunately, this is the category where I fall most often throughout my life. And if we’re all being honest, I’d say it’s the category that most of us fall into more than we care to admit.

Then there is the Samaritan, whose ethic is love. And along one of the most dangerous roads in all of history seems to live by a code that says “what is mine is yours…if you have need of it”..
  • My safety is yours…if you have need of it.
  • My security is yours…if you have need of it.
  • My resources are yours…if you have need of them.
  • My health is tied to your health.
  • My well-being is tied to your well-being.
Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. preached on this text often and once said that the real difference between the priest and the Levite from the Samaritan is the question that each must have asked. The priest and the Levite likely asked, “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?”. The Samaritan likely asked a very different question - “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”

Fear has a way of making us all behave badly. It was true for the priest and the Levite, and it is still true for us today. When fear is the ethic of our lives, we tend to cling to our own safety and our own individual rights. When fear is the ethic of our lives, we retreat, mind our own business and rarely cross to the other side of the road to help. And when fear is the ethic of our lives, we end up placing our hope in mottos like “We Dare Defend Our Rights” or “Don’t Tread On Me” as opposed to Jesus’ greatest commandment to “Love God and Love Your Neighbor”.

It doesn’t take looking out the window for very long to know that we are all on a road somewhere between Jerusalem and Jericho right now. It’s dangerous out there. The heart-break and exhaustion are real. It’s not just the virus. It’s everything. It’s layers and layers of being beaten and bruised along a dry, hard road these past 18 months.

So, we have some choices to make. We can choose to make our decisions with an ethic of fear. And for a time, choices based on fear have a way of making us feel safe, but that is fleeting at best.

The other choice is to cross the road to help our neighbor. When we cross to the other side, we’ll get a glimpse of something Jesus talked an awful lot about. We’ll see what transformation looks like. We’ll finally understand who we are called to be. And best of all, we’ll finally encounter the Kingdom we’ve been longing for.


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Sunday, October 10, 2021

We Worship a God of Love, Not a God of Wrath - Part 1




We Worship a God of Love,
Not a God of Wrath - Part 1

by R.E. Slater

GOD

We worship a God of love, not a God of love and wrath.

God is one in His being and essence, not two.

His love instructs His responses.

His attributes.

His actions.

God is not a dipolarity. Not two psychic polar ends of the the same God.

God is love through and through and through and through.

Western Christianity requires a binary system good and bad, love and wrath, hope and despair.

But Christianity is a singularity through and through and through and through.

God is not dipolar. God is One.


THE BIBLE

If one reads a literal bible with a God of love and wrath this is classic theism.

If one reads the bible as a collection of narratives of people asserting who God is based upon their experiences than you're reading a bible full of conjectures where some are more right than others.

A non-literal bible is neither spiritualized, symbolized, or iconized in its reading. It's the common sense reading of ancient beliefs about God and God's action in the world. 

In this sense, we read the bible as redactors attempting to find the common thread of a complicated idea through the moral and mortal eyes of collected beliefs of ancient societies.

It is too easy to discount the bible as ancient Hebrew myths and legends. The bible is a collection of literary beliefs about God no more nor less than the religious collections of beliefs about God today.

Beliefs require redacting.

Beliefs are only true if we make them so. But many beliefs are untrue, harming, and inaccurate.

Theology is the art of deciphering beliefs - whether true or not; whether pointing to the right way or not.

Theology is not a literal reading of the bible but a redactive reading of the bible.


DIVINE INSPIRATION

Inspiration is God speaking to all kinds of people in all kinds of ways.

God didn't speak only to the premetal and metal ages (bronze, iron, steel) of the BC/BCE eras.

God has been speaking to all of creation... including mankind, throughout the entirety of it's existence.

Discerning the bible is no different from discerning the inspiration of preachers, podcasters, commentators, or public figures today.

They all claim to speak for God just as prophets, priests, kings, and biblical narratives did in the days of the bible.

But we are non-literal readers of people. We hear what they say but test their words and actions to know if what they say and do is honest and integral to who they are, what their intentions are, and how they wish to form the tomorrows of our societies.

The question must then be asked, "Who speaks for God?"

"How are they speaking for God?"

"What is the outcome of their words in actions and policies because of the God they speak of?"

God's speech today is no less than God's speech eons ago.

We call it revelatory, but I call it normal.

God is communicating everyday in everyway possible because humanity comes in a polyplural package of varieties with a variety of needs, wants, personal and social environments, experiences, and histories.

The Art of the Commonplace aptly describes the Inspiration of God to mankind today.

It is no less, nor no more, in the bible even as it is today.

They are the same.

But even more so! Today's Godly inspiration is magnified because of our lived experiences of religious beliefs.

God's inspiration today may therefore be the more clearer with better theology today.


THEOLOGY

God is One.

God is Love.

God is speaking today as God did in yesteryear.

Where the bible people saw God as a God of wrath based upon their cultural upbring, religions, and beliefs, Jesus comes along and shows us a God of Love, Hope, regeneration, and beauty.

When Jesus speaks, He may speak to the people's beliefs. But when He speaks and acts, Jesus always shows us a God of love, love, love, love.

Process Theology rejects Western Christianity's classic theistic portrayals of a dipolar God.

Process Theology tells of a God of love alone without wrath.

A God who speaks into a world of agency where wrath and evil result from the misuse, abuse, and inaction of freewill.

The wrath and evil this world's experiences are not of God but of sin.

Process Theology therefore speaks of a panentheistic world where God is Savior, Redeemer, Reclaimer, Restorer, Lover, Hope, Beauty, and Joy.

A Process Christian rests in these truths:

That God is a God of Love.

God is not sin, evil, corruptible, contemptible, or horrible.

God is not wrath, hell, or judgment.

God is LOVE.

I worship therefore a God of LOVE.


R.E. Slater
October 10, 2021















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