Death questiions

Forty years ago I was way into the eternal discussion of what happens when you die. It's a big thing these days with all kinds of  theories and proofs from people who died and came back. Right now I don't know and it doesn't matter.  I will find out when it happens.

Show biz spirituality

Andrew Keegan, star of TV's "10 Things I Hate About You," which I never watched, has started another "new" religion. It ain't hardly new at all.  Just the same old New Age, counter-culture, alternative spirituality.

Why talk about church stuff??

Not much point talking about religion  So personal, so subjective.  The words we use are so loaded. So why do I do it? It's interesting,  That's why. If  somebody should  land here for good, non  controversial conversation, that will be nice. .

The Reformation and Martin Luther's ears

Am I a Protestant because of Martin Luther's health issues?  Heaven knows the poor fellow fell victim to just about everything that can go wrong with the human body.  It's known that he had terrible gastrointestinal  problems and he spoke of them quite graphically.  Now an audiologist suggests that he had severe Meniere's  Disease which further contributed to his cranky disposition and his split with his church. It's an awful inner ear thing that makes you dizzy, unbalanced and fills your head with awful buzzing, ringing and all manner of noises that won't stop.

BIG BAD CHRISTIANITY

The prevalent feeling about religion these days seems to be that all religions are evil and dangerous and Christianity is the worst one.

RELIGIOUS TV

I sat next to a well known long time local priest... had high hopes of engaging him  in conversation about EWTN, the Catholic TV channel about Mother Angelica, Father Groeschel and all the stuff happening there.  Didn't know what I was talking about .,..doesn't watch it. Probably true of us Protestants, too. Except for folks on the far right who have favorite preachers, most of us don't even know about religious TV, don't care and don't watch it.  Interesting.

EWTN AGAIN

It's been a while since I watched the Catholic Channel.  Back at it last night.  I saw Fr. Andrew Apostoli on the Sunday night show.  There's something appealing about the Franciscan Friars.  I still miss Father Groeschel and I continue to be irritated that he  had to leave because he said something not quite socially correct.

High Tech Religion

From my Facebook page:

"I watched an area church service on the internet.  Wow, what a high tech production .  Put network TV to shame.

How about a holy hug, babe

Church is a good place to cop a feel if it's one of those where everybody runs around hugging each other.  Come on, don't get all shocked and self righteous and say it doesn't happen.  You know it does.

Fathers Day 2014

I have no difficulty thinking of God as a father or  "Heavenly Father." Maybe that's because I am a quite terribly old male person. So do I think God is an old guy with a beard up in the sky?  Of course not. Maybe I would feel different if I were were a young female into current political, theological and sociological correctness or if my earthly father had been a bad man who did awful things.

Remember Fulton J. Sheen?

A long time ago Fulton Sheen said "salvation begins when the ego dies." I am still wrestling with that one.

EASTER...The Will of God

My favorite sermon  illustration of the Easter story is still the one I read many many decades ago from a book of sermons on The Will of God preached by Leslie Weathered to his war weary congregation in London.  

"A young woman, widowed in an accident, says to me, 'My man has been killed and my two little children are fatherless.  I'm young and life stretches on in infinite loneliness. How  can God ever reach, in my life, His ultimate will?  His intentional will was surely home and married happiness.  His will is destroyed forever."

'Let me tenderly say one or two things.   On Good Friday night eleven men, in their deepest gloom felt like you.  They said in their hearts, 'We trusted him, we followed him.  It was his will to establish his kingdom.  He told us so.  And evil has been allowed to take him from us. It's the end of everything.'

"But they were wrong, weren't they. It was only the end of their mistake and the most wonderful use of evil which God has ever effected.  And if you give way one day to despair, you are wrong, too.  And one day, like them, you'll find out how wrong you were and be sadder at your despair than at your loss.  "

"For you know your loved one is not lost.  He is alive. He is working out a plan.  And God is still using him in his plan.  Maybe from the other side he is helping you."

"Big words, these,  but underneath them is the evidence of all the saints and the supreme evidence of the crucified that God is a father, and that the ultimate meaning of the whole universe is love, and that God will never fail one of his family unless that one opposes Him forever."
                                           -------------------------
Isn't that glorious?  It's in the little book, "The Will of God" by Leslie Weatherhead, available in religious bookstores and online.  

No No Noah!

I do not propose to tell God what to do.  But I sorta kinda hope He will richly bless those who refrain from making a big religious thing of the "Noah" film, asking silly questions like "Is it Biblical enough?"

MY Bible says ......

I turn off when I hear  "My Bible says."  Using the Bible to prove you're right about something is a pointless exercise.

Lent

It's the Lenten season.  I kind of like the idea of giving up something.  Ashes on the forehead is OK, too.  I must respectfully fail to agree with many friends who believe that traditional religious practices get in the way of true spirituality.  Sometimes they enhance it. But then those who are into alternative spirituality are a whole lot younger than I am.

Rehashing my fequent rant

Is there a church someplace that is not populated mostly by folks that are recovering or escaping from some other church that done 'em wrong and taught 'em bad stuff they have to un-learn?  Probably not.

Saint, Apostle, whatever

What an interesting fellow Paul was. The apostle.  Or the saint if you like that better.  I was raised Methodist and we didn't talk much about saints.  I don't know why.  I kind of like saints. 

Clergy persons

Clergy are just as wonderfully and terribly human as the rest of us.  Give them a break.

NO THANKS CHARLEY STANLEY

TV preacher Charles Stanley has a ton of followers.  I am  not one of them.  His style doesn't appeal to me.  Ok, I admit it.  I am so shallow that style is more important than substance.

POWER PREACHERS

Borrowed from one of my other countless blogs that nobody reads but which amuse me no end:

Those high powered mega-church preachers have an altar ego.

Karl Who?

Another big deal theologian from back in the olden days when I was into all that was Karl Barth. Those guys were always looking for new and better ways to describe God.  Barth called God "the wholly other."

Paul Who??

Does anybody under 75 know about Paul Tillich?  He was a big deal theologian a long time ago. Maybe they still teach his stuff in the Liberal Seminaries.  I don't know.  Anyway, one of his greatest sermons is titled simply, "You are accepted."  That's just about all you need to know about the nature of God.

OLD AND RESTED

I quit going to church quite a while ago.  Church is for the young and spiritually restless. I am old and never was all that restless about it. 

LIFE AFTER DEATH?

I don't know what happens when we die.  I don't think anybody else does, either.  There are many who say they do know, with lots of documents and experiences to prove it.  Such will be disappointed if they try to confront me about it.  My standard response is "You know, you  could be right.  Like the pope said about another hot button issue, whom am I to judge?"  If you are looking for a good argument, go to Facebook.

What about Fatima?

I must ask some thoughtful Catholics for their take on the Fatima Apparitions.  It would be my guess that most would say they don't think about it and it doesn't matter whether all the secrets have been revealed. Thanks to the most prolific James Patterson for getting me thinking about it with his earlier book, "Cradle and all."