4 thoughts on “Religion? It’s okay that you don’t care”
Pastor Doug, I wholeheartedly agree with you, I think these stories of years ago, were just that , they were told to try to help people live a better life . I think our faith is something that we feel within ourselves, we can’t describe it but I believe in a higher being and hope that being kind to others and trying to live a peaceful and just life, will give me peace. I have enjoyed this and all of your Easter comments.
I hope you will enjoy your retirement and New Mexico.
Thank you Sharon. I have received several comments much like yours via email, Facebook, etc. Obviously not everyone in the church feels this way but many more than most realize. I appreciate your sharing your thoughts.
I was only recently made aware of cyberspiritcafe.org by a friend so I’m a little late in responding to your last video which I just watched. Was the Bible meant to be a finished document or was it conceived as an ongoing story of faith and witness? It seems to me I once heard that it was meant to be ongoing but I’m not certain.
Glad you found your way here, Jim. Excellent question. How the Bible came to be put together is a long and complicated story. But to be brief, initially it was understood as a collection, a “library”, which is what the word “bible/biblios” (as in bibliography) means. In other words, it wasn’t seen as a cohesive whole telling a story, but that view did develop later. Those of a more fundamentalist persuasion think of the Bible as “complete.” But the view you suggest, that it be understood as an ongoing story, is more honest and useful, I think. Religious and theological people certainly didn’t stopped writing after the Bible was judged to be finished. Our seminary library had over a million volumes! The human experience of God and spirit is ongoing and always worth our telling about and reflecting on it.
4 thoughts on “Religion? It’s okay that you don’t care”
Pastor Doug, I wholeheartedly agree with you, I think these stories of years ago, were just that , they were told to try to help people live a better life . I think our faith is something that we feel within ourselves, we can’t describe it but I believe in a higher being and hope that being kind to others and trying to live a peaceful and just life, will give me peace. I have enjoyed this and all of your Easter comments.
I hope you will enjoy your retirement and New Mexico.
Thank you Sharon. I have received several comments much like yours via email, Facebook, etc. Obviously not everyone in the church feels this way but many more than most realize. I appreciate your sharing your thoughts.
Pastor Doug,
I was only recently made aware of cyberspiritcafe.org by a friend so I’m a little late in responding to your last video which I just watched. Was the Bible meant to be a finished document or was it conceived as an ongoing story of faith and witness? It seems to me I once heard that it was meant to be ongoing but I’m not certain.
Glad you found your way here, Jim. Excellent question. How the Bible came to be put together is a long and complicated story. But to be brief, initially it was understood as a collection, a “library”, which is what the word “bible/biblios” (as in bibliography) means. In other words, it wasn’t seen as a cohesive whole telling a story, but that view did develop later. Those of a more fundamentalist persuasion think of the Bible as “complete.” But the view you suggest, that it be understood as an ongoing story, is more honest and useful, I think. Religious and theological people certainly didn’t stopped writing after the Bible was judged to be finished. Our seminary library had over a million volumes! The human experience of God and spirit is ongoing and always worth our telling about and reflecting on it.