{"id":30625,"date":"2015-07-01T06:31:13","date_gmt":"2015-07-01T10:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/exploringourmatrix\/?p=30625"},"modified":"2015-07-01T06:31:13","modified_gmt":"2015-07-01T10:31:13","slug":"virtuoso-expression-of-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2015\/07\/virtuoso-expression-of-love.html","title":{"rendered":"Virtuoso Expression of Love"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Virtuoso<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is only one defense against the rising, worldwide, fear-filled fundamentalist tide engulfing all religions (including the intolerant religion of the New Atheists) which once engulfed me: the embrace of paradox and uncertainty as the virtuoso expression of love.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2013 Frank Schaeffer, Why I am an Atheist Who Believes in God: How to give love, create beauty and find peace<\/a>\"\", <\/em>as quoted on his blog<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

I like the quote, and think that the language used deserves to be reflected on. Do you agree that love inherently involves uncertainty and paradox? Love is inherently risky and cannot be realized without moving outside of our comfort zone. Becoming a virtuoso in such risk-taking, learning to courageously explore an area so rewarding, and to embrace the inevitable pain as inherent in the process of making connections and transcending our narrow individual horizons, is the only hope for a brighter future.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThere is only one defense against the rising, worldwide, fear-filled fundamentalist tide engulfing all religions (including the intolerant religion of the New Atheists) which once engulfed me: the embrace of paradox and uncertainty as the virtuoso expression of love.\u201d \u2013 Frank Schaeffer, Why I am an Atheist Who Believes in God: How to give love, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":30712,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[139],"tags":[3583,3675,6741,8700,13092],"class_list":["post-30625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fundamentalism-religion","tag-frank-schaeffer","tag-fundamentalism-religion","tag-love","tag-paradox","tag-uncertainty"],"yoast_head":"\nVirtuoso Expression of Love<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""There is only one defense against the rising, worldwide, fear-filled fundamentalist tide engulfing all religions (including the intolerant religion of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2015\/07\/virtuoso-expression-of-love.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Virtuoso Expression of Love\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\""There is only one defense against the rising, worldwide, fear-filled fundamentalist tide engulfing all religions (including the intolerant religion of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2015\/07\/virtuoso-expression-of-love.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. 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