You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger. Let a person overcome anger by love. Hate is never ended by hatred but by love. — Buddha — These words could just as easily come from the mouth of Jesus as from Buddha. But in reality Buddha lived on this earth several hundred years before Jesus. It amazes me … Continue reading You Are Punished By Your Anger, Not For Your Anger…
I am a regular reader of a Quaker blog called Quaker Quaker. On a recent posting by Mac Lemann I learned a little about Mary Dyer. Here are some of his words from that post: I had recently re-learned, at Pendle Hill from Marcelle Martin, the story of Mary Dyer and the other Quaker martyrs hung on Boston Common. Mary was a follower of Anne Hutchinson … Continue reading Mary Dyer….. Heretic… Quaker….
Merry Christmas Everyone Continue reading Merry Christmas
This is a continuation of the previous post about the words of Jesus taking front and center in Christian living. Last time we talked about how the red letters came about in our Christian bibles and about an organization dedicated to putting them back in their proper place in Christianity. This time I want to tell you about a couple of books that put the … Continue reading The Words of Jesus….
I think its time to revisit a little history of the red letters and some of the people besides me who concentrated on them. Who started putting the words of Jesus in red letters? Here is what Wikipedia says about that: The term red letter edition is used to describe Bibles in which words spoken by Jesus, commonly only while he was on the Earth, … Continue reading About The Red Letters….
This is a continuation of the previous post about heresy and why it has contaminated the church. We all have our opinions of what God wants us to do and believe and we are for the most part not at all tolerant of those who might think differently than we do. It seems when someone has the inherent power to do something about those who … Continue reading The Effects of Heresy….
Many people throughout church history have been put to death because of heresy. But, just what is heresy? That is what this post will be about. Many church leaders have charged others with heresy many times in its history. The most recognizable instances are the inquisitions, post-Constantine period, the Crusades, and of course Galileo and Joan of Arc. Of this list I am the most … Continue reading What is Heresy??
I do believe that Jesus was both a man and God. How that combination can co-exist is a total mystery to me. In that light I continue to study and try to learn as much about Jesus, both his God side and his human side. In this post I want to reflect a few things that I have learned about his human side. We know … Continue reading About The Man Jesus…
As I have mentioned in previous posts Luke Chapter 6 is at the heart of the Bible as far as I am concerned. Lets look at some of it starting at verse 27. “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps … Continue reading Luke 6 — Love Your Enemies….
It always saddens me to see yet another instance of a Christian church exercising exclusion but that is what this article is all about. This time it is the Roman Catholic church. They stripped Rev. Bill Brennan, a 92-year-old Jesuit priest (that is him in the picture here) of his duties because he performed a liturgy in with a female priest not sanctioned with the Roman … Continue reading A Priest Following His Conscience…..
The primary reason there are 39,000+ Christian denominations is that each are trying to maintain “purity” of beliefs. Here is how that logic usually plays out: ” If we allow differences of opinions among us then we will soon reach a slippery slope where we will slide into heresy. For that reason we must be on the constant watch to exclude anyone among us who … Continue reading Institutional Purity…..
I read the Bible on a regular basis. The words of Jesus, which to me is what the Bible is really all about, inspire me to love my fellow-man and to love my God. Many stories in the Bible even though they might just be stories, parables, or even myths are inspiring in the lessons they teach. I delight in the sheer narrative power they … Continue reading Taking Back the Bible….
The gospel of Luke Chapter 6 is the most important chapter in the Bible for me. Of course it includes the Beatitudes which are primary in teaching us how to live our lives but they include much more than that. I want to concentrate on the first beatitude for this post. Luke 6:20 Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, … Continue reading Luke Chapter 6…
This post is about the fourth great rummage sale and that is the “Great Emergence”. In this post I am only giving you a small taste of the emergent movement In future posts we will look at just what the Great Emergence is and where it is going. Lets start off this post again with some words by Phyllis Tickle in her book The Great … Continue reading The Fourth Rummage Sale??…..The Emergent Church of the 21st Century
RedLetterLiving 