the passage of new anti-abortion laws in alabama and missouri caused me to think some more about the idea of a god whose nature would foreordain a child or woman to be raped in order for her to give birth to a baby for whom that god had some predetermined purpose. i've listened to some commentators who have defended such laws, one suggesting that it is necessary for victims of rape or incest to be prevented by law from having abortions so that the resulting child would provide evidence against the perpetrators, another saying that allowing abortion to be a medical rather than a legal question is imposing the jewish religion on our "christian" nation, while a third defended these newest laws on the basis of carrying out "god's will" since a child resulting from rape or incest would not be possible unless god wished the child to be born. all of these defenses are nonsense. what sort of god would be so cruel as to impose such a burden on a woman? is such a god worthy of worship?
if everything that happens is foreordained by god, a part of "god's plan," that would mean that this god wills that terrible diseases, birth defects, wars, natural disasters, hunger, poverty, and oppression of all sorts happen as necessary parts of that plan. we often hear christians make statements like "we can't understand why this tragedy happened, but we have to trust god since it's all part of god's plan," or "god needed this dear one who died more than we did and that's why this one has been taken from us." how can we believe in a loving god who would visit so many horrible things on those we say god loves and cares for? how can we claim that "a mighty fortress is our god, a bulwark never failing" if god is the cause of every bad thing that happens?
we are the cause of most of the evil in the world, not "god's plan." terrible events that are beyond our control are not caused by God but rather the result of the unfolding of life. suffering comes to us all, not because God wills it, but because suffering simply is. so where is God in the midst of this suffering? i believe that God is here suffering with us, that God suffers just as we do. God doesn't intervene to stop our suffering because it is our responsibility to figure out how to stop or prevent the suffering. we have the resources to end most of the human-created suffering and the intelligence to find solutions for the prevention or alleviation of suffering that results from natural causes.
may we reject the god of plans that include great pain for so many. may we let go of ideas that tell us we must worship such a god in order to avoid eternal damnation. may we search for the mystery that is the God of creation and the source of love. shalom.
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
Tuesday, May 14, 2019
Fill My Poor Heart
the christian religion teaches some strange ideas about God. i often think that we invent a god that conforms to our own design rather than honoring a God who is beyond human understanding. i suppose that is natural. after all, if we can't fully understand God, we give God characteristics that make the mystery more comprehensible to our limited imaginations.
one of the things that bothers me about what we christians are taught about God is that God "has a plan" for our lives, that we are born with a purpose that is predestined so that our obligation is to discover "God's purpose for our lives" and then seek to fulfill that purpose. if we subscribe to that belief, then abortion for any reason becomes immoral, since no one is conceived without God having developed a plan for that prospective being. there is always a purpose for the fetus that has been conceived. according to this line of thinking, even rape is purposeful, otherwise a child that is the result of a rape would not have been conceived. i can't accept worshiping a god that foists such a situation on a humanity that God loves. our only purpose, i believe, is to live the best lives we can, doing the most good and the least harm that we can, filling our hearts with as much compassion as we are capable of. i can worship a God who smiles on me when i do the best i can and understands my struggle to avoid doing harm.
another belief that most christians subscribe to is the idea that God chose the jewish people as the "chosen people." why would God do such a thing? the standard answer is that God spoke to abraham in ancient times, and abraham listened as God promised that abraham's descendants would be singled out so long as he and his descendants obeyed God's commandments. most of the old testament is the history of the jewish people's on-and-off-again relationship with God. a great deal of evil has flowed from this idea. being God's chosen made it the duty of the ancient israelites to conquer what is now israel/palestine and massacre its non-jewish inhabitants, according to the bible. it made the religions that arose from this chosen-ness the exclusive means of saving humankind resulting in wars that continue to this day, so that christians had the responsibility of persecuting those jews who refused to convert to christianity, muslims, jews, and christians had the responsibility to fight each other for supremacy, and the followers of the abrahamic religions were responsible for converting every person on earth to each religion's particular interpretation of God's revelation to that religion. surely, one shouldn't worship a god who would do such a thing, unleashing so much suffering on those God created in the name of religions that are supposed to reveal God to us.
in the next few posts, i hope to write about some of the other beliefs about God that are accepted by many (perhaps most) christians without much thought about their consequences. my intention is not to offend anyone who is sincere about their faith, but i continue to be disturbed about what seem to me to be absurd ideas about God that i can't endorse in good conscience, no matter how widespread those ideas are.
may we stop accepting concepts that make little sense, simply because they are commonplace. may we use the reasonable minds that we are given to examine our beliefs and the practices that flow from them. may we be guided by what makes sense, not by blind faith. shalom.
one of the things that bothers me about what we christians are taught about God is that God "has a plan" for our lives, that we are born with a purpose that is predestined so that our obligation is to discover "God's purpose for our lives" and then seek to fulfill that purpose. if we subscribe to that belief, then abortion for any reason becomes immoral, since no one is conceived without God having developed a plan for that prospective being. there is always a purpose for the fetus that has been conceived. according to this line of thinking, even rape is purposeful, otherwise a child that is the result of a rape would not have been conceived. i can't accept worshiping a god that foists such a situation on a humanity that God loves. our only purpose, i believe, is to live the best lives we can, doing the most good and the least harm that we can, filling our hearts with as much compassion as we are capable of. i can worship a God who smiles on me when i do the best i can and understands my struggle to avoid doing harm.
another belief that most christians subscribe to is the idea that God chose the jewish people as the "chosen people." why would God do such a thing? the standard answer is that God spoke to abraham in ancient times, and abraham listened as God promised that abraham's descendants would be singled out so long as he and his descendants obeyed God's commandments. most of the old testament is the history of the jewish people's on-and-off-again relationship with God. a great deal of evil has flowed from this idea. being God's chosen made it the duty of the ancient israelites to conquer what is now israel/palestine and massacre its non-jewish inhabitants, according to the bible. it made the religions that arose from this chosen-ness the exclusive means of saving humankind resulting in wars that continue to this day, so that christians had the responsibility of persecuting those jews who refused to convert to christianity, muslims, jews, and christians had the responsibility to fight each other for supremacy, and the followers of the abrahamic religions were responsible for converting every person on earth to each religion's particular interpretation of God's revelation to that religion. surely, one shouldn't worship a god who would do such a thing, unleashing so much suffering on those God created in the name of religions that are supposed to reveal God to us.
in the next few posts, i hope to write about some of the other beliefs about God that are accepted by many (perhaps most) christians without much thought about their consequences. my intention is not to offend anyone who is sincere about their faith, but i continue to be disturbed about what seem to me to be absurd ideas about God that i can't endorse in good conscience, no matter how widespread those ideas are.
may we stop accepting concepts that make little sense, simply because they are commonplace. may we use the reasonable minds that we are given to examine our beliefs and the practices that flow from them. may we be guided by what makes sense, not by blind faith. shalom.
Tuesday, May 7, 2019
Save Each One's Pride
recently my wife and i attended a play put on my a local theater group. the play was a well known broadway musical, and it was somewhat risqué. because of the era from which the play dates, women were depicted in an offensive way. i found myself somewhat uncomfortable with the play, and the production did little to minimize my discomfort. the costumes of the female characters were suggestive, and all of the female characters were prostitutes, save one who was married to a philanderer. there were some amusing lines in the play but on the whole the overall impression was one of males belittling females. we were the guests of another couple and had come with them in their car, so it would have been rude of us to leave. my wife found the play far more disturbing than i did, and i thought she was over-reacting until we spoke about it in private later in the day.
as we began talking about the play, i discovered that my wife had been reminded of her father's treatment of her mother and his attitude toward women in general. the offensive words, actions, and costuming had brought back a flood of painful memories for her, so she had been deeply wounded by what seemed to me to be a mildly offensive piece of dated theater. as i reflect back now on how hurt she was in contrast to my philosophical objections to the play--objections that didn't affect me deeply--i am reminded about how we fail to see the pain that is caused all too often by our insensitivity to the past experiences of others.
we now live in a locale where there are few people of color, an area that has a reputation for long-standing racism. one frequently sees depictions of the confederate battle flag, and we often drive past homes that are flying that flag. if the issue of its offensiveness is raised, the standard reply is that honoring the confederacy is not about race but rather about "southern pride" or showing respect for one's heritage. few of those who have lived here all their lives know one person of color or stop to think what the so-called stars and bars flag means to the descendants of american slaves. some of those who fly the flag are racist in the meanest sense of the word; others are people who are insensitive to the real meaning of the emblem they honor and would perhaps have a different mindset if they had an honest conversation about the hurtful symbolism of the flag with a black person.
it is hard to walk in the shoes of another, but we are obligated to try. something that is innocuous to us may be deeply hurtful to another, and we have a responsibility to try and see things from others' points-of-view. may we make the effort to back away from that which causes hurt to another. may we not downplay their feelings of injury as over-reaction or political correctness. may we learn to respect the past experiences of others even when we have not shared those experiences. may our love for others outweigh our own privilege. shalom.
as we began talking about the play, i discovered that my wife had been reminded of her father's treatment of her mother and his attitude toward women in general. the offensive words, actions, and costuming had brought back a flood of painful memories for her, so she had been deeply wounded by what seemed to me to be a mildly offensive piece of dated theater. as i reflect back now on how hurt she was in contrast to my philosophical objections to the play--objections that didn't affect me deeply--i am reminded about how we fail to see the pain that is caused all too often by our insensitivity to the past experiences of others.
we now live in a locale where there are few people of color, an area that has a reputation for long-standing racism. one frequently sees depictions of the confederate battle flag, and we often drive past homes that are flying that flag. if the issue of its offensiveness is raised, the standard reply is that honoring the confederacy is not about race but rather about "southern pride" or showing respect for one's heritage. few of those who have lived here all their lives know one person of color or stop to think what the so-called stars and bars flag means to the descendants of american slaves. some of those who fly the flag are racist in the meanest sense of the word; others are people who are insensitive to the real meaning of the emblem they honor and would perhaps have a different mindset if they had an honest conversation about the hurtful symbolism of the flag with a black person.
it is hard to walk in the shoes of another, but we are obligated to try. something that is innocuous to us may be deeply hurtful to another, and we have a responsibility to try and see things from others' points-of-view. may we make the effort to back away from that which causes hurt to another. may we not downplay their feelings of injury as over-reaction or political correctness. may we learn to respect the past experiences of others even when we have not shared those experiences. may our love for others outweigh our own privilege. shalom.
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Where I First Saw the Light
another palm sunday-holy week-easter has come and gone, and i must say i am relieved to have it past me. i find the celebration of easter especially troubling. because i reject the "jesus-died-for-me" sentiment of jesus' execution and the martial nature of the easter observance, this part of the christian calendar and of christian orthodoxy makes me want to renounce the religion altogether. yet i continue calling myself a christian because i try to follow the teachings of jesus as they are expressed in the sermon on the mount and at other points in the gospel records.
our minister, a man i admire greatly, has been preaching on the sermon on the mount for the past nine months, with interruptions for christmas and the easter cycle. i know that this so-called sermon probably wasn't preached on a mountain as it appears in matthew's gospel, but is rather a distillation of many of jesus' teachings over the course of his wandering ministry. yesterday he picked up the series again, talking about matthew 7:13-14 where jesus briefly describes the "narrow gate" and the "easy road that leads to destruction." he tied this to the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son from luke 15, emphasizing that the recovery of the sheep, the coin, and the son were causes for celebration. his discussion noted that the word translated as "destruction" in the passage from matthew was the same word used to describe the missing sheep, coin, and son, meaning lacking life or separated from what is most desirable.
later in the day i read a post in one of my favorite blogs (https://www.patheos.com/blogs/rationaldoubt). the post (https://www.patheos.com/blogs/rationaldoubt/2019/04/a-freethinker-climbs-the-cross) was written by chris highland and captured my feelings about the good friday-through-easter observance perfectly. while his rejection of the whole easter narrative led highland to reject his christian faith, i'm not ready to go that far. i still am a believer in the jesus that is partially revealed in the gospels, colored as they are by the overlay of emerging orthodoxy. highland's post also made me think about some of the unexplained events surrounding jesus' death, though he didn't raise these questions in his essay. why would the romans allow an executed rebel to be removed from the cross after his death rather than leaving his body there as a warning to others? was their collusion between the jewish authorities and the romans that caused jesus to be buried or did a powerful secret follower of jesus call in a favor so that jesus could receive a proper burial? was there a plot that enabled jesus' body to be spirited away so that there was a mystery about what happened to it that later evolved into the story of the resurrection?
i'm glad we can now move past the trappings of easter and return to trying to understand what jesus taught. i look forward to more sermons based on matthew's summary of jesus' most important teachings. i'll continue to challenge the orthodoxy that i belive obscures the real meaning of jesus' life.
may we seek truth and follow wherever it leads us. may we never believe that we have all the answers. may we be open to new insights and ideas. may we weigh what we are told against what is reasonable and provable. may we let our lives be guided by lovingkindness and compassion. shalom.
our minister, a man i admire greatly, has been preaching on the sermon on the mount for the past nine months, with interruptions for christmas and the easter cycle. i know that this so-called sermon probably wasn't preached on a mountain as it appears in matthew's gospel, but is rather a distillation of many of jesus' teachings over the course of his wandering ministry. yesterday he picked up the series again, talking about matthew 7:13-14 where jesus briefly describes the "narrow gate" and the "easy road that leads to destruction." he tied this to the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son from luke 15, emphasizing that the recovery of the sheep, the coin, and the son were causes for celebration. his discussion noted that the word translated as "destruction" in the passage from matthew was the same word used to describe the missing sheep, coin, and son, meaning lacking life or separated from what is most desirable.
later in the day i read a post in one of my favorite blogs (https://www.patheos.com/blogs/rationaldoubt). the post (https://www.patheos.com/blogs/rationaldoubt/2019/04/a-freethinker-climbs-the-cross) was written by chris highland and captured my feelings about the good friday-through-easter observance perfectly. while his rejection of the whole easter narrative led highland to reject his christian faith, i'm not ready to go that far. i still am a believer in the jesus that is partially revealed in the gospels, colored as they are by the overlay of emerging orthodoxy. highland's post also made me think about some of the unexplained events surrounding jesus' death, though he didn't raise these questions in his essay. why would the romans allow an executed rebel to be removed from the cross after his death rather than leaving his body there as a warning to others? was their collusion between the jewish authorities and the romans that caused jesus to be buried or did a powerful secret follower of jesus call in a favor so that jesus could receive a proper burial? was there a plot that enabled jesus' body to be spirited away so that there was a mystery about what happened to it that later evolved into the story of the resurrection?
i'm glad we can now move past the trappings of easter and return to trying to understand what jesus taught. i look forward to more sermons based on matthew's summary of jesus' most important teachings. i'll continue to challenge the orthodoxy that i belive obscures the real meaning of jesus' life.
may we seek truth and follow wherever it leads us. may we never believe that we have all the answers. may we be open to new insights and ideas. may we weigh what we are told against what is reasonable and provable. may we let our lives be guided by lovingkindness and compassion. shalom.
Thursday, April 25, 2019
For Those I've Loved Along the Way
my week is not nearly as hectic now as it was earlier. thanks to two days of rain, i'm forced to take a day off from some chores that have been weighing on me. i can leave them undone without feeling badly. so today, i will spend most of the day doing things i love to do, leaving the crab grass to flourish in the spring rain and the lawn unmowed.
as i began moving around after getting out of bed, my thoughts went to a dear friend who lives several hours away. i haven't heard from him in some time, and my voicemails, texts, emails, and messages on messenger have gone unanswered. i believe that he is well from his posts on facebook, though i can tell he is extremely busy with work-related responsibilities. it seems as if he has cut me out of his busy life, and i am hurt by it. i know i've done the same to others in the past and feel deep remorse for having done so. i supppose the old saying, "out of sight, out of mind," has a great deal of truth in it. i know from experience that putting off keeping in contact with a distant friend can ultimately lead to being so embarrassed for our failure that we finally ignore that person. i hope that isn't what has happened with my friend.
our hearts are tender things. we are hurt to discover that we are not as important to another as that person is to us and to find that busy lives sometimes lead those dear to us to neglect us as pressing matters that are closer to home crowd us out. being ignored in such a way causes deep suffering and often we want to cry out in anger at the person who is neglecting us. as i reflected on this in the early morning, i realized that anger is not a good response, though it is a natural one. a better response is to continue to love that one who has been an important part of my life even when he ignores me, to wish him well in his busy life, and to hope that, when things slow down, i'll hear from him. even if he forgets me, i can hold him in my heart, recalling the many good times we had together in the past, good times we can't enjoy now because of the distance between us.
may we allow lovingkindness to overcome suffering. may we keep anger at bay as we look for more positive alternatives. may our hurts never cause us to stop striving to be compassionate. shalom.
as i began moving around after getting out of bed, my thoughts went to a dear friend who lives several hours away. i haven't heard from him in some time, and my voicemails, texts, emails, and messages on messenger have gone unanswered. i believe that he is well from his posts on facebook, though i can tell he is extremely busy with work-related responsibilities. it seems as if he has cut me out of his busy life, and i am hurt by it. i know i've done the same to others in the past and feel deep remorse for having done so. i supppose the old saying, "out of sight, out of mind," has a great deal of truth in it. i know from experience that putting off keeping in contact with a distant friend can ultimately lead to being so embarrassed for our failure that we finally ignore that person. i hope that isn't what has happened with my friend.
our hearts are tender things. we are hurt to discover that we are not as important to another as that person is to us and to find that busy lives sometimes lead those dear to us to neglect us as pressing matters that are closer to home crowd us out. being ignored in such a way causes deep suffering and often we want to cry out in anger at the person who is neglecting us. as i reflected on this in the early morning, i realized that anger is not a good response, though it is a natural one. a better response is to continue to love that one who has been an important part of my life even when he ignores me, to wish him well in his busy life, and to hope that, when things slow down, i'll hear from him. even if he forgets me, i can hold him in my heart, recalling the many good times we had together in the past, good times we can't enjoy now because of the distance between us.
may we allow lovingkindness to overcome suffering. may we keep anger at bay as we look for more positive alternatives. may our hurts never cause us to stop striving to be compassionate. shalom.
Monday, April 22, 2019
Too Little Time
at the beginning of this week my schedule is very full, so i won't have time to write a post for tuesday, as i usually do. i hope to find time later in the week to post something.
Tuesday, April 16, 2019
The Simplest and the Best
this is holy week in the christian calendar. the week began with palm sunday, or, in some churches, palm/passion sunday, when the entry of jesus into jerusalem at the beginning of the last week of his life is remembered. i am always torn between the celebratory nature that the re-enactment of this procession takes on, with children marching through the church waving palm branches, their faces full of smiles as they giggle down the aisles, and the knowledge that this is the beginning of the end for jesus' life as an itinerant teacher. there is a mystery about jesus' participation in this event, with his sending of some of his followers to secure the donkey he rides on which has obviously been planned in advance. such a procession could hardly have escaped the watchful eyes of the roman occupiers, and it is amazing that jesus wasn't arrested in the midst of it for participating in an insurrection against roman rule. yet it continued uninterrupted according to the gospel accounts, which makes one wonder if it really took place exactly as the writers told it.
perhaps the group welcoming jesus into the city wasn't as large as we imagine. maybe it was only a small group of his followers. matthew's gospel describes jesus as being greeted by a "very large crowd," while luke mentions "the whole multitude of disciples." we have an image of something like a parade with people standing on either side of the road throwing their cloaks and palm branches on the ground ahead of the approaching donkey on which jesus rides inside the city, but the gospels say that this took place before jesus enters jerusalem, as he makes his way to the city. we don't know how those who honored him knew that jesus was coming or had time to prepare to greet him unless word had been sent in advance, again suggesting that this event had some prior planning.
at any rate, we probably make too much of this "triumphal procession," since it heralds the coming crucifixion of jesus a few days later, when another crowd gathers to call for his death and to mock him as he is taken to the place of execution. the celebratory nature of our observance of palm sunday is irksome, overshadowing the important teachings of jesus that come between it and the last passover that jesus and his disciples share, teachings which we largely ignore in our holy week devotions. i would prefer that we do away with all the fuss associated with palms and concentrate on what jesus had to say once he entered in the city, as he condemned the desecration of the temple, denounced the hypocrisy of the religious leaders, and taught through a series of parables.
may we not be so caught up in the beginning of holy week that we forget where it leads. may we listen to what jesus taught, rather than focusing on this one event in his life that we recall on palm sunday. may his message of a love which transcends the trappings of power be remembered every day of our lives. shalom.
perhaps the group welcoming jesus into the city wasn't as large as we imagine. maybe it was only a small group of his followers. matthew's gospel describes jesus as being greeted by a "very large crowd," while luke mentions "the whole multitude of disciples." we have an image of something like a parade with people standing on either side of the road throwing their cloaks and palm branches on the ground ahead of the approaching donkey on which jesus rides inside the city, but the gospels say that this took place before jesus enters jerusalem, as he makes his way to the city. we don't know how those who honored him knew that jesus was coming or had time to prepare to greet him unless word had been sent in advance, again suggesting that this event had some prior planning.
at any rate, we probably make too much of this "triumphal procession," since it heralds the coming crucifixion of jesus a few days later, when another crowd gathers to call for his death and to mock him as he is taken to the place of execution. the celebratory nature of our observance of palm sunday is irksome, overshadowing the important teachings of jesus that come between it and the last passover that jesus and his disciples share, teachings which we largely ignore in our holy week devotions. i would prefer that we do away with all the fuss associated with palms and concentrate on what jesus had to say once he entered in the city, as he condemned the desecration of the temple, denounced the hypocrisy of the religious leaders, and taught through a series of parables.
may we not be so caught up in the beginning of holy week that we forget where it leads. may we listen to what jesus taught, rather than focusing on this one event in his life that we recall on palm sunday. may his message of a love which transcends the trappings of power be remembered every day of our lives. shalom.
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