Hi. I'm Jim

[jstemmle]

Greetings theologians:

This web site may be a new window on the world for me. I am looking for the graduate school of Christianity or Catholicism. I mean where you go once you have graduated. Moving beyond.

It’s not as if I have abandoned Christianity. It’s just that eventually you have to go beyond. You have to recognize that some Christianity stuff doesn’t make sense. You have to do the smorgasbord thing. Pick and choose. No you don’t have to accept the whole package. You have to be the captain of you own soul. You have to think for yourself.

But there are parts of Christianity and Judaism too, reaching back, that I can’t let go. There are treasures. Treasures to find and keep. But lots of dross to let go. I suspect that other religions have dross too. And their scriptures won’t withstand a good parsing either. Scriptures and doctrines and rituals and all. Just like with Christianity.

And so I have arrived at a place where I believe I have or should have a lot of brothers and sisters. Pilgrims all who have graduated from their respective religions and are ready for a commencement. Let us commence. We all have truth to contribute. We all have flaws to shed. Together we can find the truth about God. Piece together a better concept than our legacy ones. Given God is inscrutable. We can’t know everything. Maybe just a tiny fraction. But there are truths to be had.

And while we’re at it, we might get a fix on the right relationship with God. Salvation and an instance of the Kingdom of God on earth.

I’ve been writing meditations along this line for years. Or maybe I should call them lectio divina, since they all use scripture as a spring board. This morning it was number 380. If I get a chance, I’ll share some of them. They are all a little south of orthodoxy. But positive. Asking honestly where is the truth. What were they thinking?

I look forward to meeting many new people and committing communication with them. Locking horns or affirming their take on these things. Should be fun.

Cheers

Jim

 

[Ask Mr. Religion]

You have to be the captain of you own soul.

Yup, you will fit in nicely hereabouts.

Welcome!

AMR

 

[Thunder's Muse]

Welcome to TOL

 

[Spitfire]

I don't like cafeterias. The food is always horrible.

 

[Lucky]

Howdy.

 

[Town Heretic]

Greetings theologians:

This web site may be a new window on the world for me. I am looking for the graduate school of Christianity or Catholicism.

Or as we like to call it around here: hell. lain:

I mean where you go once you have graduated. Moving beyond.

There's no shortage of people who'll be happy to give you directions...I mean direction, of course. :think:

It’s not as if I have abandoned Christianity.

Ah, did Christianity sneak off while you were sleeping? Change its address? Won't return any of your calls?

It’s just that eventually you have to go beyond.

AKA: out there.

You have to recognize that some Christianity stuff doesn’t make sense.

Christianity stuff...there's so much of it about and where can you put it all. :think: I bet you'll get someone to answer that question too if you ask it.

You have to do the smorgasbord thing. Pick and choose. No you don’t have to accept the whole package. You have to be the captain of you own soul. You have to think for yourself.

Eat that apple...be like God...isn't this where we all came in?

But there are parts of Christianity and Judaism too, reaching back, that I can’t let go.

Why not? If the premise is false how on earth can you trust any of the conclusions? Same minds, once you take God out of the equation.

I suspect that other religions have dross too. And their scriptures won’t withstand a good parsing either.

Either? You might want to actually make the point before you "move beyond"...unless you've moved beyond argument too.

And so I have arrived at a place where I believe I have or should have a lot of brothers and sisters.

I think you'll find quite a crowd, actually. Half of them will be channeling, but if you wait them out...

Pilgrims all who have graduated from their respective religions and are ready for a commencement.

Okay, a bit of fun aside, if you're going to posit something better, nobler, or more encompassing of the truth you're going to have to set out more than an attitude or feeling. What, in particular, do you see as an elevation from your former ties/ideology? What new thing, superior thing, have you gleaned from it? Graduation is always marked by something more than hat hurling. I've seen your hat, now what's under it...or should I hand it back to you? :idunno:

Let us commence. We all have truth to contribute. We all have flaws to shed. Together we can find the truth about God.

Until the next graduation? If you couldn't trust your last truth why on earth will you trust the next?

Piece together a better concept than our legacy ones. Given God is inscrutable. We can’t know everything. Maybe just a tiny fraction. But there are truths to be had.

And maybe the truth isn't a new thing either, but a more serious examination of an old one...I realize that's not sexy and you'd have to give your cr...I mean cap and gown back, but still...

And while we’re at it, we might get a fix on the right relationship with God.

Wouldn't it be embarrassing though if we already had it and you'd graduated yourself right out of it? Wouldn't you just die?

I’ve been writing meditations along this line for years. Or maybe I should call them lectio divina, since they all use scripture as a spring board. This morning it was number 380. If I get a chance, I’ll share some of them. They are all a little south of orthodoxy. But positive. Asking honestly where is the truth. What were they thinking?

I have a fairly good idea what they were thinking. Now you, on the other hand, I'll have to wait for a little more proof posit, as it were.

I look forward to meeting many new people and committing communication with them. Locking horns or affirming their take on these things. Should be fun.

Or at least interesting...which is fun for some of us and an aneurysm for others.

Welcome. :e4e:

 

[Prisca]

Welcome, jstemmle! Pleased to meet you.....I think....

 

[Evoken]

I don't like cafeterias. The food is always horrible.

Yes, specially in "Catholic" ones. Which makes one wonder why they call themselves Catholic if they do not accept the whole package :think:

 

[Ktoyou]

Greetings theologians:

This web site may be a new window on the world for me. I am looking for the graduate school of Christianity or Catholicism. I mean where you go once you have graduated. Moving beyond.

It’s not as if I have abandoned Christianity. It’s just that eventually you have to go beyond. You have to recognize that some Christianity stuff doesn’t make sense. You have to do the smorgasbord thing. Pick and choose. No you don’t have to accept the whole package. You have to be the captain of you own soul. You have to think for yourself.

But there are parts of Christianity and Judaism too, reaching back, that I can’t let go. There are treasures. Treasures to find and keep. But lots of dross to let go. I suspect that other religions have dross too. And their scriptures won’t withstand a good parsing either. Scriptures and doctrines and rituals and all. Just like with Christianity.

And so I have arrived at a place where I believe I have or should have a lot of brothers and sisters. Pilgrims all who have graduated from their respective religions and are ready for a commencement. Let us commence. We all have truth to contribute. We all have flaws to shed. Together we can find the truth about God. Piece together a better concept than our legacy ones. Given God is inscrutable. We can’t know everything. Maybe just a tiny fraction. But there are truths to be had.

And while we’re at it, we might get a fix on the right relationship with God. Salvation and an instance of the Kingdom of God on earth.

I’ve been writing meditations along this line for years. Or maybe I should call them lectio divina, since they all use scripture as a spring board. This morning it was number 380. If I get a chance, I’ll share some of them. They are all a little south of orthodoxy. But positive. Asking honestly where is the truth. What were they thinking?

I look forward to meeting many new people and committing communication with them. Locking horns or affirming their take on these things. Should be fun.

Cheers

Jim

I am not feeling too well and maybe I am missing something.
"graduate school of Christianity or Catholicism"
From what I read sounds like baloney.

Perhaps you will do better?

 

[elohiym]

No you don’t have to accept the whole package. You have to be the captain of you own soul. You have to think for yourself.

Should you be describing yourself as Catholic?

Welcome, Jim.

 

[Town Heretic]

Should you be describing yourself as Catholic?

Welcome, Jim.

:think: Maybe he means r-e-a-l-l-y Catholic...or needs a better thesaurus. oly:

Where did he go anyway? :idunno:

 

[jstemmle]

:think: Maybe he means r-e-a-l-l-y Catholic...or needs a better thesaurus. oly:

Where did he go anyway? :idunno:

Not far. Or do you mean go to school? I don't check in perhaps as often as you would like. My previous experience in social networking is Gather.com, where if anyone comments, you get email. Which is not part of the package here.

Or wait. Did you mean me? Or am I answering when I ought not.

With me, confusion is normal.

Cheers

Jim

 

[jstemmle]

I am not feeling too well and maybe I am missing something.
"graduate school of Christianity or Catholicism"
From what I read sounds like baloney.

Perhaps you will do better?

Baloney? Your favorite word perhaps?

What part of graduate school of Christianity do you not understand? What part is baloney?

There's a notion that the whole christian thing no longer works. The rest of the world's religions are likely similarly broken. What should be the next development? Where should we go? Do you espouse we stay and just ignore the broken parts? Or is there a creative need here? Creative and redemptive. We have to take the first baby steps. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Seemingly, many people are content to stay with what they have and just endlessly argue. Arguing has contributed to our survival. It's built into our DNA. But now it seems to constrain our progress. But maybe it's time to walk away. Walk beyond. Explore a brave new world. Extend the human map beyond the borders of our current knowledge. Wade in unknown waters.

I imagine it can be a little scary. We can take with us the treasures of our legacy religions. Just the treasures. Leave the dross behind. And so that means we have to decide what is worth keeping and what to throw away. Every gambler knows that the secret to surviving is knowing what to throw away and knowing what to keep. (Did Kenny Rogers write that or just sing it?)

I'd keep the creator God. Without gender. With only two jobs: creation and redemption. For saints and founders of religions I'd cite gifts. Specially gifted people (part of our experience actually, easy to understand with a little projection). Geniuses of religion sort of. Able to connect with God and see what he or she is doing and participate in that work. And for us, I'd keep the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Each of us carrying around divinity. Each of us capable of being God present on this tiny planet. And the ability to connect with God. And the secret of happiness then being attuning to God and doing godly work.

I'd throw away the God of law and rules and judgment and condemnation. The God of discrimination. The God who would have a chosen people. The God who would thus relegate everyone else to second class status. The God who would command his people to desecrate and decimate and kill and destroy. These are human decisions. We can't bring God in by the *** (oops, can't use that word. They bleep it out. I should probably spell it aqq,) to cover our evil.

Does this give you an idea of graduate school of Christianity?

Cheers

Jim

 

[keypurr]

Baloney? Your favorite word perhaps?

What part of graduate school of Christianity do you not understand? What part is baloney?

There's a notion that the whole christian thing no longer works. The rest of the world's religions are likely similarly broken. What should be the next development? Where should we go? Do you espouse we stay and just ignore the broken parts? Or is there a creative need here? Creative and redemptive. We have to take the first baby steps. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Seemingly, many people are content to stay with what they have and just endlessly argue. Arguing has contributed to our survival. It's built into our DNA. But now it seems to constrain our progress. But maybe it's time to walk away. Walk beyond. Explore a brave new world. Extend the human map beyond the borders of our current knowledge. Wade in unknown waters.

I imagine it can be a little scary. We can take with us the treasures of our legacy religions. Just the treasures. Leave the dross behind. And so that means we have to decide what is worth keeping and what to throw away. Every gambler knows that the secret to surviving is knowing what to throw away and knowing what to keep. (Did Kenny Rogers write that or just sing it?)

I'd keep the creator God. Without gender. With only two jobs: creation and redemption. For saints and founders of religions I'd cite gifts. Specially gifted people (part of our experience actually, easy to understand with a little projection). Geniuses of religion sort of. Able to connect with God and see what he or she is doing and participate in that work. And for us, I'd keep the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Each of us carrying around divinity. Each of us capable of being God present on this tiny planet. And the ability to connect with God. And the secret of happiness then being attuning to God and doing godly work.

I'd throw away the God of law and rules and judgment and condemnation. The God of discrimination. The God who would have a chosen people. The God who would thus relegate everyone else to second class status. The God who would command his people to desecrate and decimate and kill and destroy. These are human decisions. We can't bring God in by the *** (oops, can't use that word. They bleep it out. I should probably spell it aqq,) to cover our evil.

Does this give you an idea of graduate school of Christianity?

Cheers

Jim

Sounds to me that you are a certifiable anti-traditionalist. Please join the club.

 

[bucksplasher]

Sounds

Sounds

good and easy.

Guess I really don't have to do anything or believe anything and things will just toddle along.

Sign me up great leader.

tWINs

 

[Calypso]

.
"Welcome!"


:wave:

 

[Nathon Detroit]

Welcome to da "big show".

 

[chrysostom]

welcome to TOL

if you are going to the cafeteria

you better know what you are doing

 

[freelight]

cornucopia

cornucopia

welcome to TOL

if you are going to the cafeteria

you better know what you are doing

You become what you assimilate, so choose your 'food' wisely at the TOL buffet.





pj