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, August 9, 2021

Pete Enns - How Are the Scriptures Inspired?




A Pastor and a Philosopher Walk into a Bar

The Only God Ordained Podcast Episode on the Internet: An Interview with Pete Enns

JULY 28, 2021 RANDY KNIE, KYLE WHITAKER SEASON 2 EPISODE 1
04:07 | 57:21


Podcast begins @ 04:07


We got to talk about the Bible with Pete Enns. This podcast thing can be a pretty good gig.

Pete is a biblical scholar, Old Testament teacher and expert, a host of The Bible for Normal People podcast, and (unfortunately) a Yankees fan.

We talk about what it means that the Bible is inspired, what it means that the Scriptures are authoritative, contradictions within the Bible, the universal work of the Spirit, and other light and easy topics.


* * * * * * * *


How the Bible Actually Works
feat. Pete Enns - OTT #43
Apr 27, 2021


Have you ever had a new experience or idea that has led you to have even more questions about something in the Bible? Or wondered about what the Bible even is? Or what to do with it? We sure have and our guest Dr. Pete Enns has too!

Pete has been a spiritual luminary for us as we have navigated our shifting ideas regarding faith, theology, and the Bible.

We talk all about the impact and consequences of exploring new ideas regarding the Bible, how to raise your kids and lead others in the midst of deconstruction, the messiness of the Bible, and what we are supposed to be doing with it.

Pete's latest book How the Bible Actually Works is a fantastic, accessible piece for thinking about the challenges and joys of biblical interpretation.

Stay Curious!

0:00 intro, who's Pete?
2:40 questions as expression of faith, not a problem
6:52 Pete's journey of questioning and deconstruction
20:10 parenting and introducing the Bible to kids
32:21 exploring the messiness of the Bible
39:38 progressive revelation and the uniqueness of Jesus
44:23 why not be agnostic?
55:13 how can scripture be authoritative?
58:06 the Bible as a wisdom tool
1:02:04 next steps for learning more



* * * * * * * *

Hi, I'm Pete.

I tell stories about this messy Bible and what it means to read it with both eyes open to its problems and challenges, and to its promises and possibilities.

Pete's Home Page - https://peteenns.com/








These are my most popular books, written for everyday normal people, and you
absolutely need to buy them. Frankly, between us, I’m surprised you haven’t yet.

[ And if you're looking for slightly more advanced and scholarly
options, check out my Books for Abnormal People. ]

















Sunday, August 8, 2021

Index - American Politics and the Church




INDEX TO AMERICAN POLITICS AND THE CHURCH


Powerful! Willie STUNS With “Stand Up” Performance!
 American Idol 2021, Apr 19, 2021



"Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)

 


CHRISTIAN HUMANISM = SOCIAL JUSTICE

Imposter Christianity vs (DEI) Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, (CRT) Critical Race Theory, & Intersectionality?





























CHRONOLOGICAL


Authoritarianism has entered the Church; but not in a good way...


America Divided: What the Surveys Say...



White Christian Nationalism in the United States – Session 1


Organization - Christians Against Christian Nationalism




Online Conference - Christians Against "White Christian Nationalism"


Responding to the Capitol Insurrection

The Power of God's Love - A New Christian Center


Evangelical Leaders Open Letter Condemning Christian Nationalism


Jesus and the Christian Faith v Christian Nationalism




The Politics of Love in an Age of Qanon


The Rise of Dominionism and the Christian Right


CosmoEcological Civlizations - PostCapitalistic Economies & Politics, Part 3a - unfinished


CosmoEcological Civlizations - PostCapitalistic Economies & Politics, Part 2b - unfinished


CosmoEcological Civlizations - PostCapitalistic Economies & Politics, Part 2a














The Bad (UnChristian) Idea that was "The Crusades" both Then and Now


David Congdon - No, The American Church is Not in Exile


Living in the Days of Our Ancestors: Doing the Unpopular Thing


Reflecting on "A City Upon a Hill." American Exceptionalism, Civil Religion, and True Christianity


The Choice Before Nations to Love and Forgive


Meet the ‘Nones,’ the Democratic Party’s biggest faith constituency


Is There a Crisis in Conservative Protestantism? (How To Engage the Moral Politics of the Day)


"A City on a Hill," by Governor John Winthrop


Cornel West Speaks Out re Martin Luther King's Meaning of "I Have a Dream" for America

T
The Religious Beliefs of America's Founding Fathers & the Need for Christian Theism in Ruling Government


A "Call to Faith by Breaking Faith," by Ross Douthat, NYT


The Failure of Christianity is a Modern Myth

S
Society-at-Large & Government Actually are Better at Fixing Poverty


Humanity Is Not Defined By "Militarism" and "Consummerism"


"The Day America Died" and the Birth of Postmodernism


The Deism (or, Natural Religion) of Some of America's Founding Fathers


Pluralism, Tolerance and Accommodation: In You, the Kingdom of God Has Come