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One Love
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   Posted 2/26/2012 9:06 AM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.

Disbelief in the pulpit

What should pastors do if they no longer hold the defining beliefs of their denomination? Do clergy have a moral obligation not to challenge the sincere faith of their parishioners? If this requires them to dissemble from the pulpit, doesn't this create systematic hypocrisy at the center of religion? What would you want your pastor to do with his or her personal doubts or loss of faith?

Read "Preachers who are not Believers," a study by Daniel C. Dennett and Linda LaScola of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University.


Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

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One Love
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   Posted 2/26/2012 9:08 AM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
My take:

I know that if it were NOT for 1) my own undeniable subjective experience with Creator/Christ AND  2) Greg/Paul's excellent work on the historical Jesus...

I'd probably have fallen into disbelief by now, too. I'd have been a goner.

By the Grace of God, go I...


Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

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One Love
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   Posted 2/26/2012 9:43 AM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
But lookin at this, I definitely saw something about myself.

I am a BELIEVER.

I BELIEVE that I'm not just talking to myself (or some hallucination) when I talk to Jesus.

I BELIEVE there's someone HEAR ME TALK TO HIM when I pray the Jesus Prayer!
 
I BELIEVE that this person that I've been talking to was crucified around 2 millenia ago, and raised from death.
 
I BELIEVE this person is sustaining all Creation in existence, indwelling us in our very centers...right here, right now.

And I'm too deep in it now to DISbelieve.

All I can say is...

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon us sinners, of whom I am chief.


Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Post Edited (One Love) : 2/26/2012 12:06:57 PM (GMT-6)

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BBBCanada
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   Posted 2/27/2012 12:20 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Yep. I have my doubts. There's so much that doesn't add up, it seems. Maybe that's why God requires faith. But I know that when I left this little COGIC church when I was 13, SOMETHING happened. Jesus met me and fill me with his joy. Have you ever been filled with so much joy that you actually LONG for death? Because you want to be with God? How could the early martyrs face death like that? Because Jesus was their all in all.


Brandon
Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul.--Saint Augustine

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BBBCanada
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   Posted 2/28/2012 7:27 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Trauma


Brandon
Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul.--Saint Augustine

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BBBCanada
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   Posted 5/1/2012 1:04 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
From Minister To Atheist: A Story of Losing Faith


Brandon
Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul.--Saint Augustine

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One Love
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   Posted 5/1/2012 3:21 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Sometimes I can't help but think...

What if ministers like Teresa McBain knew about some of the stuff we've been talking about (ie EUR, trinitarian process, God as Beauty, Orthodox incarnation and human glorification, Etc)?

What would be her options then?

That's that I like about what kind of conversations we've had on the board here.  We more or less come to intellectually satisfying conclusions about the above...right?  It actually MAKES SENSE when you think it all through.  Would anyone disagree with that? 

What if more people knew about that...rather than "apostasizing" against a non-Orthodox view of God in the first place...thus becoming "atheists"?


Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Post Edited (One Love) : 5/1/2012 3:47:29 PM (GMT-5)

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One Love
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   Posted 5/1/2012 3:49 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
"Sometimes, I think to myself, if I could just go back a few years and not ask the questions and just be one of those sheep and blindly follow and not know the truth, it would be so much easier. I'd just keep my job. But I can't do that. I know it's a lie. I know it's false."

That's what McBain said. Now think about this. She is saying that she KNOWS that Christianity is a "lie" and that it's "false." 
 
And who are these "sheep" who "blindly follow"?  Anyone who DOES believe Christianity (let alone theistic belief) is the "truth"?

What do y'all think about that?


Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Post Edited (One Love) : 5/1/2012 4:05:18 PM (GMT-5)

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One Love
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   Posted 5/1/2012 3:55 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
If there is anything that we ALL agree on...it's that consistent denial of a benevolent, uncreated creator who "gifts" us with existence is impossible, rationally and existentially.

In other words, people are quick to be "atheists"...but not so quickly to embrace the totality of the Void. Truly embodying the moral, epistemological, and existential nihilism...which would be consistent with such a denial.


Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

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Asher
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   Posted 5/1/2012 4:20 PM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Exactly Dwayne. It's sad really. Ignorance of modal logic. They haven't exhausted the logical possibilities. Only acknowledging 2 poles...claiming one to be true and the other false...but when they lose faith in what they belief is "true", they swing to the other pole and declare IT now to be true and the other to be false. But their acceptance (in both instances? ) is surface deep. They don't follow the logical conclusions of the new "truth". They found logical flaw in their original position, which caused them to abandon it (OK, that's good); but now they don't follow logic where it would take them in the new position.

Another sad option is those who DO follow the logical flow of atheism and become nihilists. (Again, usually first preceded by a rejection of a false "truth" ) Again, a lack in appreciation for the methodology of modal logic, which would lead them to other viable options.
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BBBCanada
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   Posted 5/2/2012 10:52 AM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.

Nicely said Asher D.  Was struggling how to formulate that.  Let me ask this for clarity sake.  Asher you say:

"Another sad option is those who DO follow the logical flow of atheism and become nihilists. (Again, usually first preceded by a rejection of a false "truth" )"

You are saying that as they follow the logical flow of atheism they eventually reject THAT "truth" and slip into nihilism simply because they refuse or have a lack of appreciation for other viable options such as what has been discussed on these boards.


Brandon
Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul.--Saint Augustine

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BBBCanada
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   Posted 5/2/2012 11:01 AM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Also, as you describe it Asher, that seems more like a "sweep" of a "psychological pendulum." Do you think these folk honestly believe there are no other viable options? WHY do they swing like this?


Brandon
Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul.--Saint Augustine

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Tom
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   Posted 5/2/2012 11:56 AM (GMT -6)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Sad how all her friends shunned her and her superintendent wouldn't even meet with her. And the Humanists Association of FL offered to pay her salary for year. Look who is doing the LOVING.

T


"The aesthetic value the world has for God is in expressing, not constituting, the aesthetic value God eternally finds within Godself." Greg Boyd

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