RE: God, bible

[Guest guest]

(This is a repeat of a message that was sent last week but never appeared as a

post)

Joe wrote:

> a lot of people would say that " their born again experience " is one of life

while drug addiction is one of death. Well, that might be the case, but it gets

the individual no closer to achieving wholeness and understanding. And phrases

like " new age sew-age " in this article just shows the intolerence and violent

nature of these " born

agains " . All must obey Jesus? This is nothing more than a master and

slave mentality and another reason why Christianity of this extreme like this

has been barbaric and violent in nature for 2,000 years...sorry for the ranting

Dear Dan and Joe,

I don't think either of you is ranting on this topic. Thanks for bringing this

" Kansas " article to our attention Joe. To a degree I agree with your reflections

of the way the born again experiece is interpreted by those who have had it. And

first I should say that I do NOT deny that they have had such an experience.

Furthermore, it is both real and powerful to those who have experienced it. And

for many, it moves them into a new life than propels them toward the Good. So I

see that it is helpful to them, allowing them to live a more productive,

joy-filled life. I don't see that as a 'bad' thing. I have spent some time with

the esoteric end of the Christian theological spectrum, and find much there to

commend. It is far from " new-age sew-age " as he so harshly and negatively

suggested.

Yet they are left with the psycho-spiritual task of interpreting the revelation.

Sometimes this leads to a generous amount of inflation. But needless to say it

is always interpreted somehow to " make sense " of it. In the case of the Kansas

guy, he had to make sense of his epiphany, in light of the question he asked,

namely is Jesus the true son of God....and other items. The feeling that washed

over him suggested a certain answer to his questions, which he intrepreted in a

way that both helped him reflect on and " make sense " of his revelation, but in a

way that alienated him from many loved ones in his life who couldn't possibly

relate to his experience from their own POV.

But perhaps his dilemma (if he believes that he has one, which is doubtful) is

in the way he answered/interpreted the epiphany. And he did so within the mental

construct/worldview of evangelical Christianity - one I find to be often severly

limiting (mostly because of its simplistic language). I have the same challenge

with members of my own family, including my dear sister, who now thinks only in

terms of the evangelical lens (thanks to her regular Bible study group, which

often seems like a kind of brain washing). Yet what she has come to realize is

not so different from my own non-evangelical experience. Yet when she tries to

explain to me her views of " holy spirit " " works " " faith " I find much in common

with them, even as I use entirely different language and context through which

to explain/understand them. Sometimes words get in the way. And, for me, this

has been a major problem with the evangelicals. Their language often gets in

" my " way, " even while what they are

saying is often understandable to me. I'm not so sure that their understanding

of my words is so easily comprehended though - or fit within their lens of

perception. And I'm not sure if that is my problem..... or theirs.

Greg

_______________________________________________

Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com

The most personalized portal on the Web!