Where Does the Internet tidal wave leave Christians?

Tidal waves gather all manner of things and scatter them randomly when the water returns to the sea. Could that be what is happening in the world of information transfer in 2015?

 

Religion is just one more random store of information. In all of that "religion department" Christianity is just one more parcel. Here we lie on the beach of life all mixed up and confused.

 

It all happened so quickly. There was no time to plan. Now we are trying to make sense of what has happened. We have to do this with all those other religions that also claim to have "the truth". We did not intend to get so entangled with those outsiders. Can't we just take time off and rest?

 

No. This is a beach of many who wish to survive and will do anything to get on with their design even if it means violent climbing up over others to get on top. 

 

My belief statement:  Blessed be the name and person of Jesus, Creator God come among us humans to enable us to deal with evil and rise to new life in the Spirit. 

This is not for argument or debate. It is simply where I am at in the development of what centers my life at this moment. 

 

I am convinced that all Christian believers need to put into words the central beliefs by which they declare who they are here on this beach where another tidal wave may soon arrive.
Delton

 

 

An Offensive Religious Development

Some research into the Quran regarding rules regarding rape is occasioned by the story of young girls being plunged into sexual slavery by ISIS has awakened me to this sadness of our time in history.

Children and women of a minority religious group in Afghanistan (?) are being kidnapped, examined for virginity and beauty and then auctioned off for sexual slavery. 

 Apparently Sharia Law has rules that not only permit certain forms of slavery but prescribe how females that are not Muslim can be taken and used for sexual pleasure with no recourse. The non Muslim men are apparently taken off and killed.

Any female who is not Muslim is fair game for rape with the hope of conceiving a child who is then a Muslim. 

Years ago I learned that it was not only permitted but encourage for Muslim men to have their way with any non Muslim women in any way they desired. A non Muslim male was never to be allowed to have intercourse with a Muslim woman. 

How can it be that sexual slavery is encouraged today? The account by a girl who escaped was that the man who raped her regularly counted it as an act worship for him. He did his prostration for prayer both before and after being on top of her and putting his penis into her vagina leading to his orgasm.

Little wonder that religion is being shunned  by many. This primitive savagery is sad beyond words. And whatever can anyone do? The media seem hesitant to cover this kind of thing apparently fearful of being seen as too explicit for the tender minded and too suggestive for males to handle without compromising their own virtue.

I am a Christian with leadership background and credibililty today. Whatever can I have to do or say about this practice. Americans tend to be ignorant of the practices of  religions other than their own. How do I carry on the awakening process? 

 DK

Maybe life is basically a battle

Just now Garrison Keillor is telling an account from the Civil War. The song Tenting Tonight on the Old Campground. "Many are the hearts .... Looking for the dawn of peace".

Arlin is at the program at Wolftrap Center where this program is happening. Back in 1862 grandfather Charles was present in battles including Getteyburg and so we get quite immersed.  Historic matters need specific connections to take on some passions.

Such is the case with religion in any era.  Specific connections and some kind of ecstatic experience are necessary.  Some religions provide more fertile ground for development but all have possibilities. 

Battles are always going on and few accounts are composed. Why is that?  Are we too afraid?  maybe we are not paying attention.  TV and Newspapers provide the head lines and we of the religious community get taken up with resentment over not getting our names in the stories.

Example: the Christian / Muslim conflict is hot and bloody . So much drama. The stories are written by secular news people.  The managers and editors know what will sell. Politicians know what will drive the passions of the voting public.

The only person who I might convince to do something about filling this gap is me.  This a first step.

Delton

Roman Catholic Women Priests

Having just today learned about this organized effort to develop and place women as priests I feel led to post some information about a new phenomenon in the Christian Church.

In 2002 seven women were ordained on the Danube River.  This is part of an effort to challenge Church Canon Law 1024 as an unjust law that discriminates against women.  

Detailed information can be found at romancatholicwomenpriests. org

Reports that there are presently 208 ordained women priests across the world with 128 in the US. Many questions and myths are address at FAQs linked on the home page. 

There is expectations that all will be excommunicated by Rome. Women priests are convinced that they are part of the apostolic succession. Biblical references to the role of women in the church appear to give historic base for Roman Catholic Women Priests.

Thanks to Debra for putting me on to this innovation.

Delton

Descent into Ignorance

The gradual retreat from the use of reason in some Christian communities appears evident to me. In place of reason there is the practice of passion - true belief in an announced set of beliefs.

Willingness to debate points of belief in a public form has dwindled in face of the popularity of indoctrination using effective communication methods.

In a fearsome world there is a natural desire for safety and certainty. Such is the reason for the building of castles in England and Scotland. Today the castle is a community of like minded persons who affirm one another and set clear lines between "us" and "them". A certain natural urge toward tribalism prevails.

In 2015 the intrusion of other world religions into the assumptions of Christianity and Judaism in America is aiding the sense of being embattled by forces "out there".  

The ease of communication far and wide is primarily among people age 40 and younger. Less experience with traditional beliefs and practices leads to  personal innovations which then circulate without permission of historic limits. On the other hand it leads to younger persons favoring historic forms of order and control. In the midst of it all, the time needed for reflection and conversation is diminished further isolating and preventing spread of historical learning and earlier developed answers to issues.

Isolation from historical information leads to a form of ignorance that can make a society vulnerable to manipulation by forces that depend on docile and unquestioning persons. 

This sounds so judgmental and it is.  I make no excuse for personal opinion and offer my thoughts to the ongoing debate.
Delton

The Fog of Religion

The Fog of War is the description of the confusion that inevitability follows the onset of hostile efforts of combatants to conquer one another. The use of incorrect information adds to the effort to confuse the enemy. It amounts to the heaping up of confusion upon confusion. Whoever who can provide the most confusion wins.

I propose the term and concept of "The Fog of Religion". Religions depend on indoctrination and information for the furthering of their various causes. When there is a sense of danger from another religion a mirage of Fog rises like a mist over a meadow. 

The Fog of Religions bathes the society in misinformation based on attempts to manipulate through messages written to please the faithful and confuse the enemy. The more religions present the more complex and confusing the scene becomes. 

Certain religions set their agenda as doing away with all other religions and taking the entire society into their system of thought. 
Such religions apparently think themselves capable of convincing citizens of the might of their cause and/or the mortal dangers of promoting alternative religions. Such domineering religions wish to have the "Sun of their certainty" remove the Fog and have the matter settled in their favor.

The importance of maintaining a Fog of Religions begins to appear  a rather helpful state of affairs.  A stand off is, in my mind, better than brutal oppression or religious warfare. 

The Fog of Religions is also an atmosphere in which efforts to erase religion from the landscape of life will be frustrated by the difficulties of locating the religions that are to be obliterated. 

This is a new thought for me and I try it out here on the workbench of theological invention. I welcome assistance in pursing this alternative.
Delton

So all religion is simply tribalism

The big deal here in 2015 is to brand all religion as basically tribalism that needs to be discarded. I find this to be a fascinating way of dealing with mystery. 

Apparently with enough secular education and media advances coupled with hard data of measurable entities this process can be accomplished in the not too distant future. 

I am becoming ever more aware that tribes are hardening their borders and the weapons of conflict are being sharpened. However, this tendency is not limited to religions. In the secular world of agnostic and atheistic faith groups the internal struggles are alive and well. Why is it that religions are being singled out for attention? Likely because there are so many of them and they do not make the most devious use of technology in self defense. No doubt a number of religious tribes are attempting to stay above it all in their castles of certainty and destiny.

Once upon a time secular scientific folk were willing to admit that they might not fully grasp all things, at least in private conversations. The result has been a self confident secular scientific well monied tribe that claims to measure all things and have ultimate destiny in their reach. What needs to be remembered is that the passionate religious tribes can be amazingly violent in defense of their expansive territories. 

This stand off is in no one's best interest, from my viewpoint. Turn down the rhetoric. Recognize the best wisdom of all tribes. Listen to one another.

Delton