Welcome to my blog * thoughts and things * poetry, pictures * ideas * opinions * kindness * video * stay and read a while.

Friday, January 27, 2012

Learning About The Bible As An Adult: What I Learned From Noah Part 3

Our lives can be subject to many influences such as peer pressure, the history of our family, the traditions of our culture, and advertising. Sometimes it happens that we wake up to these influences and decide to make a change and go against the powerful flow of such influences.  Such a change may require a radical change in scene, at least for a time, so that a sort of cleansing can take place.  It may mean that you have to step out of the sphere of influence of a powerful friend, or you may have to interrupt a compelling habit, and so on, so that the tendency to continue along that path can die away.

Sometimes when people make such changes in their lives, they report that friends who strongly identify with the previous way are disappointed, and the friend fall away with the abandoned habit.  And when we are in that change time, it can feel like we are shut up in dark box, floating around in the middle of nowhere. 

That is what the story of Noah reminds me of.  Here is how I read it:  God (that which is perfect in all of us) becames exceedingly sorrowful at the state of the world (our affairs) and decides it all has to go.  Obviously not some outer God, but something more like the spark of life or consciousness or perfection or whatever you want to call it. Imagine it whispering to you "this is not right for you!  And for you to get out of this, you need a radical change and transformation.  You are facing a whole new way of being right now--not later, now-- and you need to start preparing for it immediately."

To be continued...
Continue Reading...

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Learning About The Bible As An Adult: What I Learned From Noah Part Two

 

The story describes Noah saying “He walked with God” which I take to mean that he walked in step with Reality, or in the Same direction as Spirit, or whatever words you’d like to use to that captures the meaning.  To me it is what makes this main character different from others in the Bible such as Jonah who walked in the opposite direction of God (which, again I take to mean he pushed against Life, he argued with Reality, he resisted the Way of Things, and so on – and of course, in Jonah’s story the consequences are laid out in creative metaphors that are wonderful to read.)

I used to go for walks with a friend around a local lake, early in the mornings.  I am remembering those walks and remembering that when people walk together, one can’t go faster than the other.  One can’t go so fast that conversation is difficult, because then it becomes a jog or fitness exercise and there is nothing wrong with that, but ahh, to enjoy

Continue Reading...

Thursday, January 19, 2012

What's On My iPad? Blogsy and Blogger+

Recently when my favorite iPhone and iPad blogging app, BlogPress, ran into some difficulties distributing a bug fix update on iTunes App Store, the app disappeared for a while from the store.  At first I thought it was likely to do with some broken iTunes App Store rule, fake reviews or something like that.  So I sighed deeply and bid farewell to an app I really used a lot and enjoyed.  

It turns out that BlogPress wasn't gone for ever.  Customer Service responded to my inquiry and explained that the app was temporarily removed from the store until an update correcting the bug could get approved,  Wow.  I was so glad to hear my BlogPress was still in the game.  And, while I thought it
Continue Reading...

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Learning About The Bible As An Adult: What I Learned From Noah

CHRIS (19)Learning about the Bible as an adult has been an eye-opening experience. I've read about the challenges early translators had to accurately interpret poetic language in some of the books. I’ve learned about the difficulties of transferring idioms from ancient times to relevant and contemporary ideas. I’ve learned about new ways to view the stories of the Bible, as metaphors to offer insight about inner life, relationship conflicts and resolutions, the courage and strength of ordinary people to face trials just like we do today and so much more. Freed from the weight of all-or-nothing thinking I’ve enjoyed reading both old and new Bible scholars who are uninhibited by the need to take the Bible as the word of God.

American philosopher, Ernest Holmes, wrote “Strange as it may appear, the Bible contains a key to health, happiness and success. It tells how to obtain and what to avoid. When understood, the Bible is a text book for life. But the Bible presents its truths in a mystical manner; its meaning is hidden behind story and fable, work pictures, and figures of speech. We must seek its hidden meaning and reveal the purpose underlying its teaching.”

I think the key contained in the Bible remained hidden from me for so long because I didn’t get the big picture as a child; I didn’t understand the context. I didn’t realize that the world view of the ancient people who authored and heard the stories of the Bible was limited to their understanding of the physical world as they knew it. Bishop Spong’s book Rescuing the Bible From Fundamentalism introduced me to details that seem obvious to me now but which I hadn’t considered: the authors of Genesis thought that the earth was flat, surrounded by water on all sides and that the sky was a dome over the earth into which the sun had been placed to bright up the day and that God was thought to live just beyond the sky, like an earthly king, causing everything to be. I remember the relief of thinking, the people who wrote these Bible stories may have biblemade a few other errors too.

Bishop Spong wrote “The Bible relates to us the way our ancient forebears understood and interpreted their world, made sense out of life, and thought about God. Our task is the same as theirs. We must interpret our world in the light of our knowledge and suppositions. We must, as they sought to do , make sense out of life in terms of our understanding of meaning and values. We must think about God in the light of our perceptions of divinity. The Bible becomes not a literal road map to reality but a historic narrative of the journey our religious forebears made in the eternal human quest to understand life, the world, themselves and God.”

This has been wonderful, freeing me up to read the stories of the Bible as I would and revered stories with an openness to learn their life-lessons and the liberty to abandon what

Continue Reading...

Popular Posts


5 most recently updated from the blogs I'm following

Followers

Science of Mind and Spirit For Begnners

Science of Mind and Spirit For Begnners
"This wonderful book guides any individual to understand Science of Mind with ease and grace. It is a simple and beautiful presentation of the Spiritual Principles Science of Mind teaches. I highly recommend this book to students, licensed Practitioners and ministers. Blessings to Rev Edward." ~ Johan Gonzalez RScP. Science of Mind and Spirit for Beginners: Four Chapters in Simplified Prose, paraphrased by Edward VIljoen

Practice The Presence Journal

Practice The Presence Journal
Journaling offers a powerful way to record your spiritual growth. Writing in a journal calls on you to be more conscious of the insights that occur daily in your life. It gives you an opportunity to examine your beliefs and be mindful of your choices.

Seeing Good At Work

Seeing Good At Work
I have been through the book three times over three years, and am starting it again. This is not because the material in the book is not working, but because it is working so well! The weekly lessons keep me on track and focused on what is actually true and important, and help me experience more good in every area of my life. LS

Ezine.com