Religious Knowledge Quiz

Check out this link to see how you compare to Americans in a test on religious knowledge.

http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/

Jesus and Drop the Debt

“Debt is an efficient tool. It ensures access to other peoples’ raw materials and infrastructure on the cheapest possible terms… Market saturation ensues, reducing exporters’ income to a bare minimum while the North enjoys huge savings.”

Susan George, A Fate Worse Than Debt, (New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1990)

When we talk about debts in church we are usually referring to how we have sinned against God and against one another. Jesus told a parable about a manager who was accused of squandering his master's property and then of dishonesty for how he significantly reduced what his master's debtors owed. However, to our surprise the master commends the manager for his shrewd actions. Somewhere in this parable is a hint that forgiveness involves real action. Forgiving debts is not just about forgiving those who have sinned against us as individuals and saying,"I forgive you". Forgiving debts is also a matter of justice and that dropping the debt of the debt-ridden poorest nations of the world is about real forgiveness.

www.jubileeaustralia.org

Monotheism and People Control

Yes, I believe in God or perhaps more correctly I believe that there is that which we name God (as distinct from there is a God) but I think that every single human being has a different opinion of what God is or what God is like. So while people say, "I believe in God",  I'd have to ask what is that God like to you? What exactly do you believe about that God? When I hear the descriptions people make about the God they imagine or when they express their beliefs, I wonder if it is the same God that I imagine. I wonder where these beliefs came from and why people hold them so preciously especially if the person is quite dogmatic about what they believe to be the truth about God and that I must believe it if I am to have any hope of salvation.

Speaking of imagination, I sometimes wonder whether monotheism, the idea that there is only one God, has been employed as a way to control people. Dara Molloy in his book 'The Globalisation of God' says, "With the emergence of monotheism came the discovery of a new political tool by which people could be managed. That tool is what we now call dogma. Dogma is the exaltation of an opinion or hypothesis into a belief to which others must subscribe." (Molloy, Dara, 'The Globalisation of God', Co. Galway, Aisling Publications, 2009; p.46). The primary dogma being that there is only one God.

How has this one belief effected the world? How has this one belief been used by religious and political leaders in people control? More reflections on monotheism to come...

Attracted to Polytheism

I find myself attracted to Polytheism because of its tolerance of diversity of belief, its total connectivity to nature and respect for the environment, its sense of mystery, the spirituality of the everyday existence, and the lack of dogmatic beliefs, formal creeds and institutionalised religion common to Monotheistic religions. I wonder if the person and practices of Jesus has more in common with Polytheism than Christian denominations acknowledge. The stories of Jesus and the mystery of the Spirit seem to exude a freedom of expression and experience and wonder in relating both to the mystery of that which we name God and to the lives we live on a daily basis. To me this spirituality seems much more attractive and real and personal than the religion of reciting creeds and making orthodox confessions of faith. More to come...

Jihad - just war not holy war

According to Reza Aslan the doctrine of jihad differentiated between rules for warfare pre-Islam and under Islam, the difference being that there were categories of people one was not allowed to kill women and children, monks, Rabbis, the elderly and any other non-combatants and there were rules on torture, treatment of dead bodies, rape, property, prisoners etc which have become incorporated into modern international laws of war.

A just war was in response to injustice, a response to the aggression of others and never instigated by a follower of Muhammad.

Buy a Quran

Why not buy and read a copy of the Quran in response to the disrespectful and inflammatory actions of burning the Quran in Florida, and also celebrate the end of Ramadan on Friday?

Bothered by the Bible

I came across this quote yesterday as I was preparing a sermon on Luke 14:25-33:
'It ain't the parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.' Mark Twain

Jesus was talking to the large crowds of people who were travelling with him and he said some extremely disturbing things: Who ever does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, even life itself, cannot be my disciple... Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple... none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

I'm not sure whether I understand this or not but it certainly bothers me. I don't think telling people who come to church on Father's Day in Australia this Sunday that if one doesn't hate one's father one cannot be Jesus' disciple.

I guess Jesus was emphasising the real cost of his own life as he goes on 'the way' and that anyone who chooses to follow him ought to consider the possibility that it might cost of one's own life.

It sounds like the warning the leader of a terrorist organisation might give to her or his followers. Perhaps Jesus was exaggerating to make a point or perhaps Jesus was highlighting the fact that grace does not come cheap, or perhaps we'll never really be able to understand it. It's pretty heavy stuff and it bothers me.

Atheism

Sadly, Irish actor Mick Lalley died on 31 August. Seemingly he regarded himself as an atheist and religion as nonsense and Codology' (Irish slang). The words that he is most associated with are "Well Holy God' which he regularly delivered in the television series Glenroe.

Surely being anti-religion does not always mean that one is anti-God? What kinds of God are our religions creating? Have we made a god of religion?

Looking forward to hearing from people who cherish the name atheist.

Statistics

With the election in Australia dragging on for eleven days now and all sorts of arguements in the media and coming from political parties about who really has won the right to govern Australia it reminds me that the same statistics can be used to support opposite points of view such as in the debate on climate change and whether the economic outlook is brightening or becoming more gloomy. It seems to be the same when we approach the holy books such as the Bible or Quran. We use them to support our position on any subject.
Is there a way for us to negotiate meaning beyond statistical evidence and individual texts?