Friday, May 11, 2007
A New Abraham and a New Earth
Real Live Preacher has published a great post about the problems with religious exclusivity. As always, his post is emotional and challenging. Please read the whole post. Here is a sample:
At some point don’t you start listening to the spiritual stories of other people and find the beauty and the common ground in them? At some point don’t you realize that our myths are delicate, like environments? The oldest ones are very fragile, and many have already been lost. At some point don’t you come to understand that these things are worth saving?
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2 comments:
I love listening to the spiritual stories of people and their journey of faith. That's why I don't like watering down faith by making it one big "smoothie of religion." The problem with this "everybody wins" blend of inclusive spirituality is that you rob the distinctive elements that make that particular faith so rich.
The problem is not a theology or religion- the problem is people. Humanity is fallen. All the more glorious the work of the cross of Christ!
"Real Live Preacher" writes, "...your humanity must speak to your theology..." and "humanity is moving on..." The difference here is that in his view, humanity defines theology. Biblically, however, we don't define God, but God defines us.
Jeremy,
I agree with you to some extent. The idea of blending religions together would at some level devalue all of them.
In anything that he said or anything I have ever said about inclusivity, where do you hear anything about blending things together to get one single new form? I argue consistently for each form developing its own traditions but understanding that beneath them is the same core universal concept of transformation (renewal) through love, peace, and justice. I suggest the cooperation, admiration, and even exploration, but I don't suggest that they should be dissolved or incorporated into something else less authentic.
I can't comprehend what you might mean by "We don't define God, but God defines us." I think you confused definition with creation.
Theology is very much our own attempts to define God or put God into language. Every theology in some way defines God. That is the whole point. We don't change God by defining God and by creating theology we don't create God, we simply create an "image" or a "language" to describe God.
Jesus defined God as "like a shepherd", "like a father", "like a vineyard owner", etc. We all define God and the way we do that is through symbolic (metaphorical) language like myths, parables, and narratives (gospels).
We need those human definitions so we can discuss it, write poetry about it, sing about it, etc. If humans were not allowed to define God then we would not have the Bible which contains all those those beautiful Psalms that touch our hearts by defining God through poetic lyrics.
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