I read a great quote today

"What I noticed at grace-Calvary is the same thing I notice whenever people aim to solve their conflicts with one another by turning to the Bible: defending dried ink marks on the page becomes more vital than defending the neighbor. As a general rule, I would say that human beings never behave more badly toward one another than when they believe they are protecting God. In the words of Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mohandas, 'People of the Book risk putting the book above the people.'" --Barbara Brown Taylor, "Leaving church: A Memoir of Faith"

I've watched people from all walks of life get pretty nasty when they defend their core beliefs or at at least the foundation of the box they've built for themselves to live in and view the world from. Atheists, Christians, XBOX fans, Playstation fans, Mac fans, Windows fans, it goes on and on. Most people, myself included, have a great deal of certainty that what they see, feel, and believe are all true things. For years I was certain that conservative Evangelical Christianity was the truth, that my theology, which was shared by many, was correct. After all, the Holy Spirit guided us into our belief, just as he guided those who penned the Holy Word of God and ensured that those 66 books would be collected together as we know them today, and that the false texts would be cast out.

After I lost my faith: yes, I know, I was never a true Christian, I was a false convert, I was pretending to be a Christian, but really living a life of sin, I was pretending to be a Christian to subvert the true message of Christ, I was a Sunday only Christian, etc., etc. all things I've been accused of since losing my faith; the one thing that came out of it all is that certainty can vanish in an instant, well usually not an instant, but it can seem so when it comes. My deconversion was a long drawn out process which involved major prayer and study of the Bible, but when the final moment came it was almost like a switch had been flipped.

Anyway, now I try to respect everyone's viewpoints and sometimes things can sound pretty crazy, but I know what I used to believe, and I know I could be completely wrong about what I believe now too. Is conservative Evangelical Christianity correct? I don't know. Liberal Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam? I really have no idea, they certainly couldn't all be 100% literally correct simultaneously, but parts of all of them could be true. What I do know is that we are all human beings struggling through each day on this planet and we have more in common than not. As Sting said some 20 years ago "We share the same biology, regardless of ideology.", but we sure can forget that rather easily.

I've actually stopped reading a few of the atheist blogs I used to read because they are so anti-religion. Sure, we all know about poison aspects of religion, but for the most part the positive wins out. I see people living wonderful, productive, vibrant lives, that include a full faith life as well, and I see no reason that they should not. Just as I see non-believers also living wonderful, productive, vibrant lives as well.

If my certainty in any belief becomes more important than my fellow humans then I'm guessing I'm doing something wrong...but I'm not certain. ;-)

The post and the quote can be found here: Which Comes First: The Book or the People?

Of Heresy, Blasphemy, and the Price of Tea in China

I've been promising a post for a while now. I get ideas for posts and then, after thinking through them, usually end up not posting them. So much of what I want to say is said in other places, in better ways. Today's post fought through the usual process and became a real post.

While I enjoy discussions of various forms of theology and other forms of spirituality, I keep running into the black and white specter of dogma.

Main Entry: dog·ma
Pronunciation: \ˈdȯg-mə, ˈdäg-\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural dogmas also dog·ma·ta \-mə-tə\
Etymology: Latin dogmat-, dogma, from Greek, from dokein to seem — more at decent
Date: 1638

1 a : something held as an established opinion; especially : a definite authoritative tenet b : a code of such tenets c : a point of view or tenet put forth as authoritative without adequate grounds
2 : a doctrine or body of doctrines concerning faith or morals formally stated and authoritatively proclaimed by a church

Just when things start to get interesting someone says "That's not scriptural", "God isn't like that", or "That's un-(Insert favorite religion here)". Dogma, in the case of religion, spirituality and many world views in general, is built upon this idea that there is a right way and a wrong way to believe and practice said belief. Of course this can really apply to any world view, I'm sure some hold the belief that there is even a right and wrong way to be an atheist.

One of the blogs I read is penned by the head pastor at the church I used to attend. He is someone who I have great respect for, because he truly does live his faith rather than shove it in everyone's face. One of his recent posts was a review of Dan Brown's latest book, The Lost Symbol. The final paragraph of the review is what sparked the idea for the post you are reading.

I know that many people will read The Lost Symbol. I would strongly remind you that it is a work of FICTION. And, that it is a proponent of a heresy and false belief system that has been around for nearly two millenia.

My comment was as follows:

If Gnosticism had won, and become the popular belief, everyone would be calling what we think of today as Christianity the heretical and false belief system.

Heresy and a false belief system, not unlike what Judaism would consider Christianity, or Christianity considers Mormonism, Scientology, Jehovah's Witnesses and on and on. Can anyone prove that Christianity or any other religion is true? Of course not, if they were provable there would be no need for faith. Just because something is written in a holy book or came to you in a dream or while you were praying or worshiping or sitting in the woods doesn't make it true. Of course non-believers existing doesn't make these things untrue either.

I want to have these discussions, I really do. I find them fascinating and I do think it's possible there is something behind this whole God thing, but understand that when I say God I don't necessarily mean your idea of God, or your idea of God, or your idea of God. I start to lose enthusiasm as soon as a sentence begins with the phrase "God is...". I understand that for some people it's implied that they are saying "To me, God is..." or "Maybe God is...", but the fact of the matter is none of us knows with certainty anything about God or gods. We only know what we have experienced and interpreted and can listen to the experiences of others as they have interpreted them. On the day you die and go to meet your maker or go...nowhere, or meet Allah, or Vishnu, or Zeus, then you will know if heresy or blasphemy are real things, or you won't care. Until that day, remember that you could be just as wrong as you may think I am, regardless of all your experiences as you perceive them, and all your time spent studying holy scripture and spiritual phenomena. I promise to try to be open to what you believe, and I would be much encouraged if you would do the same for me and for others. Remember, the one you call heretical could just as easily think the same of you, and either could be right.

Peace.

P.s. This post is not directed at anyone person, not even Pastor Greg, his post was just the catalyst that inspired me to write this post that had been brewing for a while