Cost of Discipleship

Jay, you are among the 1% of bible readers who go to the lengths of linguistic research necessary to reach this conclusion. What about the 99% who are deceived by the literal interpretation and act accordingly? How many “just wars” have been fought over matters that must seem trivial in God’s eyes.
Al Leo

I cannot agree, Jay. Love and Hate are not opposites, one grading gradually into the other on some “scale of affection”. Apathy is more like the opposite of Love. NO WAY can love ever look like hate.
Al Leo

Sorry you don’t agree.

The Bible is not meant to be read in an exclusively individualistic, private way, apart from a community of faith. People need to be catechized and they need to meet regularly together to receive teaching and instruction from the 1% you mention. That is one of the main functions of the church.

Name one war allegedly fought in the name of religion where the Church or the Scriptures were not being co-opted by the powers that be to serve their own a-religious political goals.

Points well taken, Christy. Bible study classes are quite popular in the Catholic parishes that I have attended, but finding even the 1% among the clergy and laity who are fully qualified to lead them is a problem. That is why I value BioLogos and your input to it.
Al Leo

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Hey @aleo !!! Are you sure you aren’t a Unitarian Universalist? I think you’d make some of our coffee gatherings a real boon!

George, I believe a ‘coffee klach’ with some of your U.U. friends would be enjoyable, with neither ‘side’ trying to convert the other. In my journey through a rather long life, my formative years needed something of the ritual and the 'certainty’ that Roman Catholicism offered. By the time I reached maturity, and as my scientific career encouraged the raising of doubts and the effort to resolve them, the intellectual aspects of my Christian Faith demanded more attention. I found that to merge the Truth that Jesus taught–that our Creator was a God of love–with the Truth that evolution was the mechanism that God used to create us–I could no longer believe in Original Sin, but should replace it with Original Blessing. Strangely, in spite of this un-sheep-like thinking, I still believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

I do believe that Humanity’s long range future depends on our finding ways to be united-united in a society that is as cohesive as ants and termites, but with freedom for an individual’s gifts to be developed. Is that an oxymoron? Cohesive and Free simultaneously? Centuries ago it was hoped that the Christian Religion might be the force to accomplish this feat. Just a dream. Nowadays Globalization of industry and finance seem more likely to move us in that direction. To get these two forces working together would seem like hitching God and Mammon together to pull Humanity’s wagon.

If our discussions take this sort of direction, maybe we should replace ‘coffee’ with wine or a martini.
Al Leo

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