January 2004 Bookshelf
Given an extended business trip in Asia, I had the opportunity to work through a large list of excellent reads. Some challenging material from Cass Sunstein, John Hick and NT Wright as well as some additional research on homosexuality.Book Review: The Demon Haunted World
If religion were to limit itself to questions and pursuits that were based purely on the internal change of the soul, would religion not find itself in a better place than it does now, where it purports to speak for political affiliations and unknowable doctrines? Religion, properly placed within the human experience, inspires one towards the noble ideas of service, charity and forgiveness. And to the question of whether or not religion provides a crutch mortals lean upon in the face of the vastness of the universe and the singular aloneness of eternity; yes, it also provides safety as we attempt and answer the questions of ultimate truth and origins.Question #3: Can you set aside your own homosexual stereotypes?
Contentious issues such as homosexuality rarely find environments where they can be wrestled with outside of simple stereotypes. As do many others, I would suggest that homosexual stereotypes serve several important functions. Most importantly, they allow us to reduce human beings to outrageous and egregious anachronisms versus simply human beings. In doing this, stereotypes ensure we do not have to really struggle with the underlying complexities to a question we are inherently uncomfortable with.The Challenge of Personal Change
As long as change does not come from the broken soul of someone who is willing to set aside all disingenuous thoughts, actions and deeds, it will simply result in only external change. The challenge of personal change is not, as we are frequently taught, getting the externals all lined up; it is breaking down, hitting the wall, destructing upon ourselves, only to be forced in the shambles of our life to realize what it is we really need most.Is This of God?
Dispensationalists, covenant theologians, and postmodern Christians such as Brian McLaren or NT Wright all agree on one simple thing that is untenable to people such as myself: that at some point in time it was acceptable for innocent men, women and children to be murdered. Stop hiding behind dry theologies please! Recognize that murder is murder; infants being butchered is evil - it is the heart of all that is wicked and wrong. Is this really of God? If you wish to have this God, you may have Him; but do not be surprised when your faith becomes increasingly fundamentalist, rigid, and ultimately advocates rabid nationalism which is discriminatory and immoral. Progressive Christians do not understand or are unwilling to accept that their view of what God has mandated in the past is transferred into the modern day in moments of time that history records as holocausts and wars.Part 2: Let’s Talk About Sex - Can a Christian Homosexual Exist?
In this essay I explore the second of eight questions I am asking the Christian church to ask itself: do you believe such a thing as a Christian homosexual exists?Christmas 2004 Letter
The 2004 Christmas letter from the Shoberts can be downloaded here.About MysteriousFaith
“If anyone can show me, and prove to me, that I am wrong in thought or deed, I will gladly change. I seek the truth, which never yet hurt anybody. It is only persistence in self-delusion and ignorance which does harm.”
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