Forgiven

"Forgiven" by Thomas Blackshear

the reality of the cross

How real is the Cross to you personally? Is it more than just a concept?

Galatians 2:20... "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

Galatians 6:14... "But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."

don't fear questions

I saw this on one of the Yahoo lists that I read. It’s written by Sister Joan Chittister, a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, PA. I've put emphasis on parts to which I relate.

I DON'T FEAR QUESTIONS

"As a young teenager, kneeling in a dark cathedral one night, with no illumination in the church but the sanctuary lamp, I had an experience of intense light. I was thirteen years old and totally convinced that, whatever it was and wherever it came from, the light was God. Perhaps it was a good janitor working late, or a bad switch that did not work at all, or a startling insight given to a young woman, given gratuitously. I did not know then and I do not know now. But I did know that the light was God and that God was light.

"It has not always been easy—I went through a terrible period as a young sister—to the point that I thought I would have to leave religious life because I doubted the divinity of Jesus. Only when I realized that I did believe deeply and profoundly in God could I come to peace with the fact that faith in God would have to be enough. It was a dark, empty time. It threw me back on the barest of beliefs but the deepest of beliefs. I hung on in hope like a spider on a thread. But the thread was enough for me. As a result, my faith actually deepened over the years. The humanity of Jesus gave promise to my own. Jesus ceased to be distant and ethereal and “perfect.” Jesus let no system, no matter how revered, keep him from a relationship with God. And that union with God, I came to understand, was divine. Then I also understood that questions are of the essence in a mature faith.

"I don’t fear the questions any more. I know that they are all part of the process of coming to union with God and refusing to make an idol of anything less. The point is that during that difficult time I didn’t try to force anything. I simply lived in the desert believing that whatever life I found there was life enough for me. I believed that God was in the darkness. It is all part of the purification process and should be revered. It takes away from us our paltry little definitions of God and brings us face-to-face with the Transcendent. It is not to be feared. It is simply to be experienced. Then, God begins to live in us without benefit of recipes and rituals, laws, and “answers”—of which there are, in the final analysis, none at all."

resurrection

Switchfoot is a band that goes below the surface. Their music has been a healing balm to me again and again. Their song Dare You To Move says to me that death precedes resurrection. Change always involves some kind of death in us. Watch the video here.

transformation

Not sure where I got this... I like it.

"How do I know when I am transformed?

"Paul uses that wonderful phrase, “I no longer live, but Christ lives
in me” (Galatians 2:20). It is a different sense of self. I think
until I have come to that realization, I have not been transformed.

"Contemplative prayer draws us to our true self. This is the only self
that’s ever existed. We came forth from God and our deepest DNA is
divine. We are not human beings trying to become spiritual, we are
already spiritual beings and the profound question is how to be
human. I believe that is why Jesus came as a human being."

A Quiz

Here's a personality quiz I took over at Belief-O-Matic Quiz answering questions about my religious and spiritual beliefs. Mind you, it's highly unscientific, only 20 questions, and some didn't have the answers written the way I would have answered. The results seem accurate enough if you paint with a broad brush, although I find quite distasteful the idea of labeling and stereotyping. I'm the one who decided to take the quiz though, figure that.

Something that drew my attention on this was how much similarity there must be between beliefs. How could I be 64% Buddhist? Perhaps we're not that different from one another in some of the core ideas.

1. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (100%)
2. Orthodox Quaker (98%)
3. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (87%)
4. Liberal Quakers (82%)
5. Unitarian Universalism (79%)
6. Seventh Day Adventist (68%)
7. Eastern Orthodox (68%)
8. Roman Catholic (68%)
9. New Thought (65%)
10. Mahayana Buddhism (64%)
11. Theravada Buddhism (64%)
12. Reform Judaism (64%)
13. Hinduism (63%)
14. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (62%)
15. Baha'i Faith (59%)
16. Orthodox Judaism (59%)
17. New Age (56%)
18. Scientology (54%)
19. Sikhism (52%)
20. Islam (51%)
21. Taoism (51%)
22. Neo-Pagan (49%)
23. Nontheist (45%)
24. Jainism (44%)
25. Secular Humanism (44%)
26. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (29%)
27. Jehovah's Witness (19%)

Too Much Thinking Going On?

2% of the people think. 3% of the people think they think and 95% of the people would rather die than think. ~ George Bernard Shaw