Roger Wolsey shared some thoughts about Jesus as yogi. His starting point, unsurprisingly, was the Gospel of John, ch.17, where Jesus is depicted as praying, and even after acknowledging the distinction between the only true God and himself as the one God sent, he then goes on to blur the two in mystical interrelatedness, so that he and God are one, and so too his disciples. I’ve mentioned before that the idea of Jesus as mystic – as one who,... Read more
Keith Reich posted on the subject of belief within Christianity. He is worth quoting at length: Many see Christianity as a “belief system.” That is, Christianity is about believing the right stuff. And belief used in this sense is defined as giving your mental agreement to a set of statements., such as, “Jesus Christ died for our sins,” or “Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man, of one substance (homoousios) with the father.” To believe these statements, for much... Read more
This video about Butler University’s Center for Faith and Vocation was created to mark the occasion of its 10th anniversary this year. Happy birthday, CFV, and thank you for the privilege of being connected with so much of the great work that you do! Read more
In his sermon on Sunday, my pastor Tom Bartley mentioned a conversation he had, in which a person had said that our situation today is different from the time of Jesus, because we no longer have “the physical presence of God” with us. Tom wasn’t happy with that statement, and gave examples of acts of kindness that deserve to be considered “the physical presence of God.” I wonder whether we can take this completely seriously, and not only as a... Read more
Whether it is the Christian message or the advances of science, there is always good news and bad news that can be shared. Among science-denying religious people, there is a lot focus on what they consider the “bad news” in evolutionary biology. If you were an evangelist for mainstream science, what would you share as the good news about evolutionary biology since Darwin’s time? Read more
Jeff Carter drew my attention to the music in the above video, which is the Civilization IV theme song. The text is the Lord’s Prayer in Swahili. It is interesting to consider that, juxtaposed with the events and possibilities of human history depicted in the game, and the opening question in the video: What will your civilization stand for? Read more
Today I will be leaving for Israel and the West Bank with a group of students from Butler University. I hope to be sharing photos and updates from the trip here at Exploring Our Matrix, as well as on a blog dedicated specifically to that purpose: From Indianapolis to Israel There is also a Facebook page for the trip, which I would encourage you to “like.” It is another venue for sharing photos and updates while we are traveling. I... Read more
Above is the latest video from Time for Three. Enjoy! Read more
A post on the blog Is That In The Bible? pointed out some interesting parallels between the teaching of Simon Magus according to Irenaeus, and the teaching of Paul in Galatians. The question was then asked how much Paul and Simon Magus would have disagreed. It is also noteworthy that Simon is depicted in Acts as claiming to be a divine entity made flesh, despite Acts not depicting Jesus in that way. That claim by Simon is also mentioned by... Read more
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