tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9146621359348727295.post7899460900894122499..comments2011-05-18T02:02:43.447-05:00Comments on Online with First Presbyterian: Fresh VisionsPastor Stephanie Anthonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15635652653303556718noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9146621359348727295.post-63037283492478240382010-02-28T06:49:46.646-06:002010-02-28T06:49:46.646-06:00Thanks, John! I've "cut and paste" ...Thanks, John! I've "cut and paste" your comment to share for sure at Adult Ed this morning. The favorite quote of my favorite college professor was always "Where do you draw the line?" In this case maybe trying to draw the line is the problem. It's not our line to draw. Declaring some things evil and other things not means taking a turn in the judgment seat that just isn't ours to take. <br /><br />Thanks again, for sharing it!Pastor Stephanie Anthonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15635652653303556718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9146621359348727295.post-71815904210394190772010-02-24T08:38:29.206-06:002010-02-24T08:38:29.206-06:00Your message on Sunday was wonderful, and the pres...Your message on Sunday was wonderful, and the presence of the Spirit in our midst was palpable. The congregational response to he closing song Shine was a blessing for those of us who are passionate about music. Thanks for your vulnerability, to see how much you care about this congregation. Jannae and I will be traveling the next two sundays, and it is a testament to what is going on that I feel conflicted about taking a vacation now. I want to chime in on the subject that is upcoming in adult ed ahead of time, and you can do with it what you will. Not sure this is the "right" place to plug this, but I'm not too concerned with who knows what I think. Going back to my favorite source again, Greg Boyd's repenting of religion, he painstakingly builds a case against judgment, that is human judgment, and if fact claims that Adam and Eve's original sin was in fact a judgment of God, that God didn't really have their best interest at heart in forbidding eating of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. In fact the Genesis story depicts the serpent undermining their trust in that fashion. As a result of having this knowledge, we become like adolescents with only a glimmer of the nature of the universe, but we have this powerful tool stuck in our brains, which leads us to constantly evaluate (judge) situations, events, but mostly people around us as right-wrong, good-evil and a whole host of other judgments. This tendency, (I would argue our default mode) blocks the flow of love from God, to us and through us, keeping us out of union with the Trinity. I think that this argument explains a lot of problems in the church today, and that is a totally different path that we can go down another time. Getting back to evil; Boyd argues with some success I believe, that because we are finite beings, who have limited understanding of he world, much less the cosmos, we are unable to come to any accurate conclusions about evil. He is not arguing that evil doesn't exist, only that we are not capable of accurate discernment. This is a pretty strong statement, and raised some real objections in my current men's group. "Of course we know Evil, abortion's evil!" "Well how about in the case of rape," I asked? "Well no, not in that case." There it was, judging a situation as if we are God, have the knowledge of God. Brings me back to Job, "where were you when I laid out the foundations of the world?" Boyd goes on to state that we are terribly uncomfortable with ambiguity, and yet that is the nature of our existence. Hope this is of some value, and if you care to share it with the adult ed, feel free. Wish I could be there...these are hard questions....JohnAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07260951408004620036noreply@blogger.com