DEIFICATION NATION

In the beginning, the elohim created skies and earth.

Welcome back.  Let's think about lost gospels.  

Apparently, there's a new one out.  I took a cursory glance at the information about it.  Jesus and Mary of Magdala got married and birthed two children.  

Well, shades of the Davinci Code and the Last Temptation of Christ.  

I want to know how old this gospel is.  If it is first century then it is more significant than if it is from the second to fourth century CE.  Even with a late date, it would be interesting as a witness to how early Christians thought about Jesus.

I want to know what language it is written in.  If it is Aramaic, not Greek, and has an early date that would be truly notable since Jesus spoke Aramaic.

Will it change anything?  Absolutely not!  Nothing can change our perceptions of Jesus more than modern science already has.  He is still the light from a star that died centuries ago.  

Besides, living for God and having a family makes him more holy than dying for God and being the butt of a bad theological joke of an interpretation that requires him to be a blood sacrifice to appease some sky god’s sense of kosher purity.

Nothing can change my delight and devotion to Jesus’s God of love, our God of love, and ground of all that is.  

Jesus of Nazareth was never anyone except a first century Jew living on the outskirts of a Roman occupied city.  That he became a god over the centuries makes him more noticeable.  I would not be one who seeks to be like him had history presented him as another sage, a Jewish Lao Tsu.  He pointed the way to God for me.  I will forever be connected to him for that.

Had it been otherwise, I may not have heard of his God who is the God I adore.  

So bring on the lost gospels.  I'm always looking for something new to read that is surprising and profound.

Blessings...

A Reconsideration

In the beginning the elohim created skies and earth.

I took a few weeks off from blogging mainly because of the time demands of my new job.

During this time I have had many weeks to reconsider what my goals and purposes are for this blog.

I do not believe they have changed.

  

I still seek to lay a foundation for faith that is both reasonable and Christian.  I am most sincere when I say that I am working out our faith for the next millennium.  

I also want to avoid certain directions, namely, falling into the commentary trap.  I am not interested in interpreting scripture although I believe that theological and scriptural reeducation is a necessary project for the future of the church.  

Thank God that there are many outstanding scholars who are writing treatises, articles, and books toward that end.  Commentaries that are academic first and dogmatic second are being written currently.  

However, I seek here to write about God, now, as God is happening with me and with our culture insofar as I perceive it.  

I want to reflect on the past, on tradition, on the present, on kerygma, and I hope to muse about the future.  

How happy would I be to create poetry, fiction, philosophy, and theology, i.e., literature that uplifts and inspires mindful believers?

How blessed would I be to persuade others to follow Christ with words that are as lovely as they are wise?

“Everlastingly” is the answer to both questions.

Let me write here that I love my fundamentalist/conservative, evangelical brothers and sisters, but I am not interested in coddling anyone’s misguided superstitions.  

Indeed, I have wrestled with that better angel of my nature that feels a deep disdain towards offending others and hurting feelings.  I have grappled with who I am as a person who works earnestly to be kind and loving during every waking moment of my life.

However, another angel of my nature, equally better in its own way, demands that I comment candidly and sincerely about the times in which I live. 

I must live with these embattled better angels of my nature.  I have been thrown down before stairways to heaven, but I cannot allow this struggle to silence me. 

I walk not with God by a steady gait, but I limp along daily.  It is the price for seeking and speaking truth to power.  

Wisdom lies at the core of what I seek and share.  I cannot settle for less than that.

Moreover, the veneration of our God of love by necessity can never be a sugar coated enterprise.

Although I hope never to turn the withering scorn of which I am capable onto individuals, I must expose the stupid and idolatrous beliefs of my fellow kinfolk in Christ--doctrines that are dated and deserving of nothing but ridicule, resistance, and a resounding, "No!"

Indeed, love must never be mean, nor must it be blind. So shall I proceed.

So welcome back and blessings...