tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36295725.post5378421354278896957..comments2023-12-25T14:38:40.017-05:00Comments on Holy Ordinary: The Sacraments of Everyday Life: Just As I Am: A Bad Christian's Confessions on FaithBrent Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01351957537347562545noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36295725.post-56072140969335297262009-05-11T14:23:00.000-04:002009-05-11T14:23:00.000-04:00"Well, I say that it covers all sin and that there..."Well, I say that it covers all sin and that there is no need for "morality" when the "reality” of Divine Love through us is at work." -- Indeed. Thanks for sharing!!!Brent Billhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01351957537347562545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36295725.post-72893258020205354552009-05-11T14:15:00.000-04:002009-05-11T14:15:00.000-04:00Thanks for sharing this experience with us, Brent....Thanks for sharing this experience with us, Brent. For a time, as a child I was in a Baptist Sunday school where my parent's attended church after a conversion experience through a televised Billy Graham crusade, until they "backslid" a couple of years later. I remember well those hymns and alter calls and going through the baptism class at age 5 and being "dunked" in the large pool behind the pulpit of the church.<br /><br />I can recall the awful feelings of guilt and shame generated by those sermons and alter calls, not, I soon realized, by Divine Spirit. By the time I was a teenager I had figured out for myself that "original sin" wasn't even in the Bible and that the Bible had been cobbled together by a bunch of "control freak" men with their own socio-political agenda in the third century and while I still read it for inspiration (mostly symbolically, metaphorically and anecdotally), I am personally incredulous that so many folks try to interpret it literally as the inerrant, infallible "Word of God."<br /><br />But, to each his own: I don't see myself or the rest of humanity as "bad" or "not okay", merely imperfect. I continuously evolve, grow, and am transformed by “the renewing of my mind” through my relationship with and in the Divine. Jesus was an avatar and fully human template for who I believe we are created to be as fully integrated, enlightened and evolved human/Divine beings and that is what I am on my way to, whether in communion/collaboration with G_d, or all too often, kicking and screaming (my choice).<br /><br />When I refer to myself as a "bad" Christian or “bad” Quaker it is more "tongue in cheek" for me. I am only "bad" in relation to the all too un-Divine human tendency toward prescribed standards and morality (with either a self-righteousness or burden of guilt & shame that often results), which for me seems to be a cheap substitute for a truly Spirit-led life. <br /><br />By those kinds of standards I'm not even a "good" Liberal Quaker most of the time. But what's in a name?<br /><br />I don't take myself all that seriously. I like the "Laughing Buddha" energy and perspective on life. I do take "Love” seriously, though, and for me the only commandment (as Jesus pointed out) that I strive to live by is to love God with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength and to love everyone else as I am loving myself; all three are the exact same thing for me (a dialectic relationship, not division of labor). The Bible does say that "Love" covers a multitude of sins". Well, I say that it covers all sin and that there is no need for "morality" when the "reality” of Divine Love through us is at work.<br /><br />"Above all, keep your love for each other at full strength, because love cancels innumerable sins." I Peter 4:8 (The New English Bible)Thomas Reed Markhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15442863676448410507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36295725.post-31789159762575665832009-05-10T19:50:00.000-04:002009-05-10T19:50:00.000-04:00My memories are full of the same songs from my chi...My memories are full of the same songs from my childhood in Indiana Yearly Meeting. My father, a Friends pastor, even spoke at evangelistic services where those songs were played and I remember a few times I "went forward" only to "backslide." However, my father also taught me that the only real "alter" (I am ada/opting that word because I like it) call that meant something was the call we experienced "24/7" in a living relationship with a present Spirit/Word.<br /><br />I also like what, I believe it was Tom Mullen said in response to the "I'm OK, You're OK" book. He said he preferred, "I'm not OK, You're not OK, but that's OK."Tom Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12194918323559385371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36295725.post-90135229754370030352009-05-08T09:10:00.000-04:002009-05-08T09:10:00.000-04:00Sounded pretty Baptist to me too. I grew up in a f...Sounded pretty Baptist to me too. I grew up in a fundamentalist Southern Baptist Church and a week did not go by where I did not hear that, or "Draw me nearer blessed lord". After leaving that church I could not listen to them for a few years. Odly enough I feel myself pinning for them more and more now. <br /><br />No matter how hard we try to jettison the things of old, they quitely call us back.jcubsdadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08441530898226119655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36295725.post-52371596540563252572009-05-07T15:21:00.000-04:002009-05-07T15:21:00.000-04:00Hi Daniel --
Well, looking back I wonder sometime...Hi Daniel --<br /><br />Well, looking back I wonder sometimes if we were Quakers or Nazarenes, but we were the only kind of Quakers I knew about at the time (other than those LIBERALS in Pennsylvania!). I like the "alter" call line -- indeed we were altered -- perahps not the way the revivalist expected/hoped.<br /><br />Your friend,<br />BrentBrent Billhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01351957537347562545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36295725.post-25015305552158979942009-05-07T12:02:00.000-04:002009-05-07T12:02:00.000-04:00Hey Brent,
Thanks for the honest, spiritual, yet f...Hey Brent,<br />Thanks for the honest, spiritual, yet funny reflection.<br /><br />Some of the wording is priceless--"still send a shiver of sin..I tend to shiver.."<br /><br />Does that make you a Shiverer,rather than a bad Quaker?;-)<br /><br />Are you sure those were altar calls or alter calls?<br /><br />And are you sure you were Quaker? The song titles sound like my tiny village Baptist church in Nebraska.<br /><br />In the Light,<br /><br />DanielDaniel Wilcoxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05178375087492786696noreply@blogger.com