America's Ruptured Christianity - Bass, McLaren, Fuller

https://www.ncronline.org/news/earthbeat/mutual-responsibility-between-humans-and-nature

 

1 John 4:7-21 (ESV) - God Is Love

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

This past summer Tripp Fuller with Diana Butler Bass and Brian McLaren presented a six week session on the rupturing of American Christianity over the past 20 years beginning with the 9/11/2001 attack on America by Al-Qaeda through to the 1/6/2021 attack on the Capital by President Trump and the Radical Right Republican Party.

For myself, this rupturing of Christianity had already begun back in the 1990s as Emergent Christianity (later known as Progressive Christianity) asked the deep and relevant questions of the church and its faith, of its people and its beliefs, which should have been asked a long time ago. (Quite honestly I didn't think Wikipedia could give such a clear explanation of Emergence until I looked it up and found it!):

Wikipedia - The emerging church is a Christian Protestant movement of the late 20th and early 21st centuries that crosses a number of theological boundaries: participants are variously described as Protestant, post-Protestant, evangelical, post-evangelical, liberal, post-liberal, progressive, socially liberal, anabaptist, reformed, charismatic, neocharismatic, and post-charismatic. Emerging churches can be found throughout the globe, predominantly in North America, Brazil, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Africa.

Proponents believe the movement transcends the "modernist" labels of "conservative" and "liberal," calling the movement a "conversation" to emphasize its developing and decentralized nature, its vast range of standpoints, and its commitment to dialogue. Participants seek to live their faith in what they believe to be a "postmodern" society. What those involved in the conversation mostly agree on is their disillusionment with the organized and institutional church and their support for the deconstruction of modern Christian worship, modern evangelism, and the nature of modern Christian community. The movement has evolved into progressive Christianity.

With that progression I began writing of my disillusionment with my faith which had become something it hadn't been when I had become a Christian in my youth and later - through my time of service, seminary, and ministry - over the past 40 years. Accordingly, with Christianity's departure from Jesus, I found I must respond when looking around and not seeing anyone else troubled by the Church's present developments away from its root stock in Christ.

https://relevancy22.blogspot.com/2014/08/kintsukuroi-be-ye-jars-of-clay-repaired.html

Now, at this moment, in the aftermath of the Trumpian disaster which has polarized so many Christian brethren towards White Christian Nationalism, now is the Christian church's time to ask "What Would Jesus Do?" in this present day as radicalized Christians look to replace the "everyman society for democracy" for some devolved form of authoritarian anarchy?

For myself, I began a very bleak and hopeless journey ten years ago in the fall of 2011 when looking to deconstruct-and-reconstruct my old line faith back into the image of Jesus - and no longer in the image of the church. It has been a journey of healing and discovery and one which I think all Christians should be asking of themselves decade-by-decade as unChristlike behaviors and beliefs creep into the church like unbounded waters seeping into the cracks and crevices of Christian beliefs, institutions, organizations, socio-economic conditions, pandemics, ecological challenges, and on and on and on.

But by this I don't mean staying with the same old classic doctrines which had brought us to this point of torn secularity. But to the determination of how a spiritually informed faith can evolve like the sciences of our era to look at itself dispassionately. To poke, prod, and imagine, what the beauty of God's great love can mean to a world of religious faiths and beliefs - including that of Christianity. Especially when taking God's love seriously by not diluting it via ontological dipolarity (sic, a God of wrath), misinformation, or political extremism. Or of the denial of the rights and liberties of other human beings wishing to live peacefully and in fellowship with each other and with this good earth regardless of their demeanor.

Thus and thus Relevancy22 was born to wend it's way through the divisive doctrines of the church which have led to so many harms, deaths, cruelties, and whatnot, through the past 2000 years of church history. Borne by Jesus' ministry on this earth and by His atoning death and resurrection. It's time to take God's love more concretely then we have in the church's doctrines and missional outreach.

Which means any portion of Christian polity, doctrines, socio-political alliances, and resulting actions of inhumanity must be retracted and not taught  by the church. Especially it's belief in a God of wrath, judgment, and vengeance, upon a freewill creation God had birthed. Sin and evil are judgments enough. These fallen harms brought about by creation's agency do not require God jumping on with more invectives, damnations and promises of hell. A God of wrath and judgment as found in the bible are the imaginations of religious men and women proclaiming "inspiration" when simply they are proclaiming then, as now, of a God who is not anything but LOVE. I, for one, would like to take a different tack in my faith but fully realizing and living by a God who is love through and through and through. I believe the outcome is better for all who believe and wish to follow Jesus, and most certainly a far better outcome for the world torn by unlove and hate.

Peace,

R.E. Slater

October 20, 2021

https://reslater.blogspot.com/2011/10/re-slater-words.html

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Tripp Fuller Live Streaming W/ Diana Butler Bass

Jun 16, 2021

Invite to "Oh God, What Now?"

with Brian McLaren & Diana Butler Bass

Aug 25, 2021

Session 1

20 Years of Religious Decline

Aug 31, 2021

Session 2

The Rise of Authoritarianism

Sep 7, 2021

Q&A - Session 2

with Brian McLaren & Tripp Fuller

Sep 8, 2021

Session 3

Repentance and Resistance

Sep 14, 2021

Q&A - Session 3

with Diana Butler Bass & Tripp Fuller

Sep 16, 2021

Diana Butler Bass' Session 4 discussion | artwork by Steve Thomason

Session 4

Theology and Spirituality in a Time of Rupture

Sep 21, 2021

Q&A - Session 4

with Diana Butler Bass & Tripp Fuller

Sep 23, 2021

Session 5

Inter-Religious Learning w/ Brian McLaren

Sep 28, 2021

Q&A - Session 5

with Brian McLaren & Tripp Fuller

Sep 30, 2021

TheoCon Presentation by Brian McLaren

the Parable of the Kayakers

Jul 12, 2020

More TheoCon here - Https://Theologycon.Com

Session 6

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

with Diana Bass, Brian McLaren, and Tripp Fuller

Oct 5, 2021

Moral Injury & the War on Terror

with Army Chaplain Dr. Josh Morris

Sep 9, 2021

Unanswered Questions of the Big Bang

 

With the exception of the first four videos - two for fun and two re Time and General Relativity the remaining videos are not arranged in any order except how you, the viewer, chose to view them.

As always, my interest in the process-underpinnings of our cosmology necessitates first knowing about the universe we live in so that it may better inform the processes which live everywhere around us. For newbies, I'm referring to Alfred North Whitehead's process philosophy and theology.

R.E. Slater

October 19, 2021

REFERENCES

Index - Process Philosophy & Theology

Index - Process-Based Integral Philosophy

Index - Process Christianity

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https://scitechdaily.com/pillar-of-cosmology-elegant-solution-reveals-how-the-universe-got-its-structure/

BBC - How Big is Our Universe

November 11, 2021

How big is the universe ... compared with a grain of sand? 'You'll never get your head around how big the universe is,' warns astronomer Pete Edwards of the University of Durham in this film about measuring astronomical distances. 'There are as many stars in the universe as there are grains of sand on the Earth.' So how far is a light year? And supposing our galaxy were the size of a grain of sand, how big would the universe be?

What Triggered the Big Bang? | How the Universe Works

Mar 7, 2020

Science Channel

The Big Bang is one of science's most famous theories, but we now know it wasn't big and it wasn't a bang.

Stream Full Episodes of How the Universe Works:

https://www.sciencechannel.com/show/how-the-universe-works-science

Brian Greene Hosts: Reality Since Einstein

Jul 23, 2015

World Science Festival

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Einstein's general theory of relativity, leaders from multiple fields of physics discuss its essential insights, its lingering questions, the latest work it has sparked, and the allied fields of research that have resulted.

Time Since Einstein

496,737 viewsSep 11, 2014

World Science Festival

Albert Einstein shattered previous ideas about time, but left many pivotal questions unanswered: Does time have a beginning? An end? Why does it move in only one direction? Is it real, or something our minds impose on reality? Journalist John Hockenberry leads a distinguished panel, including renowned physicist Sir Roger Penrose and prominent philosopher David Albert, as they explore the nature of time.

click to enlarge

Quantum Fields:

The Real Building Blocks of the Universe - with David Tong

Feb 15, 2017

The Royal Institution

According to our best theories of physics, the fundamental building blocks of matter are not particles, but continuous fluid-like substances known as 'quantum fields'. David Tong explains what we know about these fields, and how they fit into our understanding of the Universe.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2018/01/27/ask-ethan-whats-so-anti-about-antimatter/?sh=6587a22b17f0

https://www.lhc-closer.es/taking_a_closer_look_at_lhc/0.antimatter

The Matter Of Antimatter:

Answering The Cosmic Riddle Of Existence

Jun 6, 2018

World Science Festival

You exist. You shouldn’t. Stars and galaxies and planets exist. They shouldn’t. The nascent universe contained equal parts matter and antimatter that should have instantly obliterated each other, turning the Big Bang into the Big Fizzle. And yet, here we are: flesh, blood, stars, moons, sky. Why? Come join us as we dive deep down the rabbit hole of solving the mystery of the missing antimatter.

https://steemit.com/science/@etherealcreation/do-we-live-in-matrix-holographic-universe-theory

A Thin Sheet of Reality: The Universe as a Hologram

Dec 29, 2014

World Science Festival

What we touch. What we smell. What we feel. They’re all part of our reality. But what if life as we know it reflects only one side of the full story? Some of the world’s leading physicists think that this may be the case. They believe that our reality is a projection—sort of like a hologram—of laws and processes that exist on a thin surface surrounding us at the edge of the universe. Although the notion seems outlandish, it’s a long-standing theory that initially emerged years ago from scientists studying black holes; recently, a breakthrough in string theory propelled the idea into the mainstream of physics. What took place was an intriguing discussion on the cutting-edge results that may just change the way we view reality.

The Limits of Understanding

Dec 14, 2014

World Science Festival

This statement is false. Think about it, and it makes your head hurt. If it’s true, it’s false. If it’s false, it’s true. In 1931, Austrian logician Kurt Gödel shocked the worlds of mathematics and philosophy by establishing that such statements are far more than a quirky turn of language: he showed that there are mathematical truths which simply can’t be proven. In the decades since, thinkers have taken the brilliant Gödel’s result in a variety of directions–linking it to limits of human comprehension and the quest to recreate human thinking on a computer. This program explores Gödel’s discovery and examines the wider implications of his revolutionary finding. Participants include mathematician Gregory Chaitin, author Rebecca Goldstein, astrophysicist Mario Livio and artificial intelligence expert Marvin Minsky.

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PHILOSOPHY / PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE / THOUGHT OF THE DAY

Whitehead’s Anti-Substantivilism, or

Process & Reality as a Cosmology to-be.

Thought-of-the-Day 39.0

JUNE 13, 2017 ALT-EXPLOIT

whiteheads-process-philosophy

Treating “stuff” as some kind of metaphysical primitive is mere substantivilism – and fundamentally question-begging. One has replaced an extra-theoretic referent of the wave-function (unless one defers to some quasi-literalist reading of the nature of the stochastic amplitude function ζ[X(t)] as somehow characterizing something akin to being a “density of stuff”, and moreover the logic and probability (Born Rules) must ultimately be obtained from experimentally obtained scattering amplitudes) with something at least as equally mystifying, as the argument against decoherence goes on to show:

In other words, you have a state vector which gives rise to an outcome of a measurement and you cannot understand why this is so according to your theory.

As a response to Platonism, one can likewise read Process and Reality as essentially anti-substantivilist.

Consider, for instance:

Those elements of our experience which stand out clearly and distinctly [giving rise to our substantial intuitions] in our consciousness are not its basic facts, [but] they are . . . late derivatives in the concrescence of an experiencing subject. . . .Neglect of this law [implies that] . . . [e]xperience has been explained in a thoroughly topsy-turvy fashion, the wrong end first (161).

To function as an object is to be a determinant of the definiteness of an actual occurrence [occasion] (243).

The phenomenological ontology offered in Process and Reality is richly nuanced (including metaphysical primitives such as prehensions, occasions, and their respectively derivative notions such as causal efficacy, presentational immediacy, nexus, etc.). None of these suggest metaphysical notions of substance (i.e., independently existing subjects) as a primitive. The case can perhaps be made concerning the discussion of eternal objects, but such notions as discussed vis-à-vis the process of concrescence are obviously not metaphysically primitive notions. Certainly these metaphysical primitives conform in a more nuanced and articulated manner to aspects of process ontology. “Embedding” – as the notion of emergence is a crucial constituent in the information-theoretic, quantum-topological, and geometric accounts. Moreover, concerning the issue of relativistic covariance, it is to be regarded that Process and Reality is really a sketch of a cosmology-to-be . . . [in the spirit of ] Kant [who] built on the obsolete ideas of space, time, and matter of Euclid and Newton. Whitehead set out to suggest what a philosophical cosmology might be that builds beyond Newton [ala quantum physics].

Amazon Link

One of the major philosophical texts of the 20th century, Process and Reality is based on Alfred North Whitehead’s influential lectures that he delivered at the University of Edinburgh in the 1920s on process philosophy.

Whitehead’s master work in philsophy, Process and Reality propounds a system of speculative philosophy, known as process philosophy, in which the various elements of reality [are interwoven] into a consistent relation to each other. It is also an exploration of some of the preeminent thinkers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, such as Descartes, Newton, Locke, and Kant.

The ultimate edition of Whitehead’s magnum opus, Process and Reality is a standard reference for scholars of all backgrounds.

Timeline of the Universe AFTER the Big Bang

Hi,

I have put these videos in an order where each will build on the next. However, the most vital video is this first one which speaks to the quantum beginnings of the universe. I consider its content the most important so that when viewing the remaining videos the viewer may understand why something is occurring and/or what is missing in the other presentations. It's short, but filled with important information. Once grasped, it will give the viewer a "grand quantum perspective" of the universe's origins.

Secondly, I'm interested in looking at the cosmos through the lens of Process Philosophy and Theology, ala Alfred North Whitehead. This approach to the postmodern sciences undergirds everything we currently know - and will know - in the foreseeable future. Yes, a bold claim, but the more I get to know about our Process-based cosmos the more I am amazed at its practicality and helpfulness.

Process forms and theory can be found everywhere - from process-evolution, process-based quantum physics, quantum computing, quantum biology, socio-economic constructions, history, literature, religion, even language, psychology, sociology, and ecodynamics. This is why process philosophy is considered a meta- or mega- Integral Theory by which I mean, all else may easily reside as incomplete parts and pieces to the metaphysical and cosmological whole. As such, it has effectively replaced the long lived Platonism of the ages. To know more about process philosophy search the topic index for the several process-related indices on the right side of this website, Relevancy22.

In sum, it cannot do to speak process without understanding how creation operates in a process fashion. The mathematician cum philosopher, Whitehead, a contemporary and fellow academy member with theoretical physicist Albert Einstein, would not have it any other way.

R.E. Slater
October 18, 2021

Origins of the Universe 101 | National Geographic

Mar 1, 2018

National Geographic

How old is the universe, and how did it begin? Throughout history, countless myths and scientific theories have tried to explain the universe's origins. The most widely accepted explanation is the big bang theory. Learn about the explosion that started it all and how the universe grew from the size of an atom to encompass everything in existence today.

TIMELAPSE OF THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE

Mar 9, 2018

melodysheep

Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/melodysheep On a cosmic time scale, human history is as brief as the blink of an eye. By compressing all 13.8 billion years of time into a 10 minute scale, this video shows just how young we truly are, and just how ancient and vast our universe is. Starting with the big bang and culminating in the appearance of homo sapiens, this experience follows the unfolding of time at 22 million years per second, adhering closely to current scientific understanding.

Narration by Brian Cox, Carl Sagan, and David Attenborough.

The Beginning of Everything -- The Big Bang

Mar 3, 2014

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

How did everything get started?

Has the universe a beginning or was it here since forever? Well, evidence suggests that there was indeed a starting point to this universe we are part of right now. But how can this be? How can something come from nothing? And what about time? We don't have all the answers yet so let's talk about what we know.

Explaining The Big Bang One TRILLIONTH Of A Second At A Time

Episode 4 of 5

Apr 21, 2016

The universe is everything we can see and as far as we can see. For years we've been trying to figure out how it all began, but have we finally figured out how everything came to be?

Timeline of Universe (Big Bang to Today)

[a recap of the above... get your notebooks out to take down the dates times]

Oct 2, 2017

Astrogeekz

The Big Bang Theory is one of the most accepted theories that can explain the formation of the Universe. 

You, me, our planet and this entire Universe have evolved from a singularity.

Watch this video to get a brief idea about the past and the beginning of our expanding Universe.

The Early Universe Explained by Neil deGrasse Tyson

Jun 26, 2021

Science Time

Neil deGrasse Tyson explains the early state of our Universe. At the beginning of the universe, ordinary space and time developed out of a primeval state, where all matter and energy of the entire visible universe was contained in a hot, dense point called a gravitational singularity. A billionth the size of a nuclear particle. 

While we can not imagine the entirety of the visible universe being a billion times smaller than a nuclear particle, that shouldn't deter us from wondering about the early state of our universe. However, dealing with such extreme scales is immensely counter-intuitive and our evolved brains and senses have no capacity to grasp the depths of reality in the beginning of cosmic time. Therefore, scientists develop mathematical frameworks to describe the early universe.

Neil deGrasse Tyson also mentions that our senses are not necessarily the best tools to use in science when uncovering the mysteries of the Universe.

It is interesting to note that in the early Universe, high densities and heterogeneous conditions could have led sufficiently dense regions to undergo gravitational collapse, forming black holes. These types of Primordial black holes are hypothesized to have formed soon after the Big Bang. Going from one mystery to the next, some evidence suggests a possible Link Between Primordial Black Holes and Dark Matter.

In modern physics, antimatter is made up of elementary particles, each of which has the same mass as their corresponding matter counterparts -- protons, neutrons and electrons -- but the opposite charges and magnetic properties.

A collision between any particle and its anti-particle partner leads to their mutual annihilation, giving rise to various proportions of intense photons, gamma rays and neutrinos. The majority of the total energy of annihilation emerges in the form of ionizing radiation. If surrounding matter is present, the energy content of this radiation will be absorbed and converted into other forms of energy, such as heat or light. The amount of energy released is usually proportional to the total mass of the collided matter and antimatter, in accordance with Einstein's mass–energy equivalence equation.

Antimatter particles bind with each other to form antimatter, just as ordinary particles bind to form normal matter. For example, a positron (the antiparticle of the electron) and an antiproton (the antiparticle of the proton) can form an anti-hydrogen atom.

While these cosmic quandaries keep astrophysicists up at night, we are more than grateful to be alive in a time where we can even begin to contemplate the mysteries of the universe and our place in it.

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The Entire History of the Universe in 8 Minutes

[How stars, galaxies, and the solar system began]

Oct 26, 2020

How did the Universe begin? When the Big Bang occurred, for some time, there was nothing but very hot matter flying in all directions at the speed of light. Very shortly, though, the first star appeared. Its name was Methuselah, and for a long time, it confused astronomers who believed it might be older than the Universe itself.

Soon after, on a cosmic scale, of course, the first black holes started forming. Scientists believe they’re what’s left of exploded stars, but that’s not for sure even today. At the same time, cosmic dust and matter began ionizing, helping to form new stars. In the end, it led to thousands and then millions of stars appearing in space. The Universe, left cold after the initial enormous explosion, started heating up again. But how did galaxies form? How were stars born? And why is the Universe still expanding?

click here to enlarge

TIMELAPSE OF THE FUTURE: A Journey to the End of Time (4K)

Mar 20, 2019

Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/melodysheep  |  Get the soundtrack: https://bit.ly/2HKl9fi  |   How's it all gonna end?  This experience takes us on a journey to the end of time, trillions of years into the future, to discover what the fate of our planet and our universe may ultimately be. 

We start in 2019 and travel exponentially through time, witnessing the future of Earth, the death of the sun, the end of all stars, proton decay, zombie galaxies, possible future civilizations, exploding black holes, the effects of dark energy, alternate universes, the final fate of the cosmos - to name a few.

This is a picture of the future as painted by modern science - a picture that will surely evolve over time as we dig for more clues to how our story will unfold. Much of the science is very recent - and new puzzle pieces are still waiting to be found.

To me, this overhead view of time gives a profound perspective - that we are living inside the hot flash of the Big Bang, the perfect moment to soak in the sights and sounds of a universe in its glory days, before it all fades away.  Although the end will eventually come, we have a practical infinity of time to play with if we play our cards right. The future may look bleak, but we have enormous potential as a species. 

Featuring the voices of David Attenborough, Craig Childs, Brian Cox, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Michelle Thaller, Lawrence Krauss, Michio Kaku, Mike Rowe, Phil Plait, Janna Levin, Stephen Hawking, Sean Carroll, Alex Filippenko, and Martin Rees.

What Was The Universe Like IMMEDIATELY After The Big Bang?

[The Science behind the Big Bang]

Apr 30, 2021

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