In
the beginning, God created skies and earth.
It’s good to have you
visit with me here today. Below is the
final installment of the 95 Theses I wrote.
I hope you are inspired to write your own.
85. Much of the imagery about Jesus is Jewish. Theology and Christology are grounded in
ancient Jewish, Greek, and Roman philosophical categories such time, space,
causality, and substance. Because of
science we understand those categories with more clarity than the ancients
understood them. There are more profound
ways of understanding God and Jesus that accord with the universe that we know
to be true, a way that ancients could never have dreamed.
86. Any believer, whose conscience
compels them to interpret the Bible literally or in any other way, must be
received and loved as family. The only
commandments we are to obey have to do with loving God and loving all people. We are not commanded by Jesus to argue about doctrine,
but we are commanded to love each other.
87. Whether we interpret the Bible literally or
poetically, we still have to meet God there, to discover God’s inspiration
embedded there, and explain what scripture means to us today.
88. The church needs a method to make sense of God
in the world. Whatever the method,
love should should be the litmus.
89. Love
is expressed in the saying, “Greater love has no man than to lay down his life
for his friends.” (John 15:13). We are
commanded to love God and everyone else, including our enemies, with such a
love. That should be our starting point
when it comes to understanding our faith and our purpose in the world.
90. The
gospel of John has no love for Jewish people; thus, it speaks of love for
friends, but as someone else has said, if we love those who love us, what
credit is that to us?
91. Christians
are not of this world. That means we do
not think like other people think. It
does not mean that we do not cuss, drink, have sex, go to movies, etc. There are plenty of pious ones in the
world. Being pious serves the pious
only. It is easier to be pious, and
despise those who are not, than it is to be one who loves.
92. Many
are willing to uphold philosophies and political systems that promote economic
injustice, civil strife, corruption, and war.
Do not be deceived into believing that is God’s way. The second killing begins, love leaves.
Christians should abhor war.
93. In
society, love is all about everyone getting a fair deal. Among humans are the most brilliant minds in
the world. It is the 21st
Century. We should be able to figure out
an economic system that works fairly for all peoples, and not just a few. Surely we can make a more practical, less wasteful
system that is beyond socialist and capitalist doctrines.
94. If
we Christians work for governments, then we should not try to engineer society
so that our religion is promulgated in some way. Doctrines are personal and once they become
coerced they are idolatrous. Instead, we
should seek a society that is just and peaceful. If we ever achieve that, we will come to
realize that God has been working in us the whole time it unfolded.
95. Do
you seek signs of his coming? See homeless
and broken people who are cast off in our society decrease. God commands us to invite anyone who will
come to God’s feast. That banquet is
another metaphor, by the way. It persuades
us to look past life’s circumstances in order to love souls even if they are
inconveniently poor.
96. The
greatest prayer is love in action.
Oops! I cheated.
That’s 95 Theses plus 1 for me. I
could have written a whole lot more for the word pouring out my heart is
boundless.
Thanks
for coming. I hope to see you here and
receive your input. Blessings…
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