Questions For the Heart and Mind
Imagine a Christianity without the influence of original sin and the fall. If we remove "fall/redemption theology" from Christianity, what is left and what can be put in its place?
Without the fall there would be more and more temptation until there was a fall OR God would have removed Satan and removed temptation. Without temptation there is not chance for us to practice our gift of free will, thus diminishing the gift to something that is worthless. Temptation is thus necessary for us to fully use Gods gifts. Also, we cannot experience Gods true grace unless we have sinned so bad that it overwhelms us. Since God is an all knowing God, He knew that we would fall. I don't think that that is the issue, but rather what would we do after the fall.
Explain the connection between the traditional understanding of the Genesis narratives and our ecological concerns for Mother Earth. Why are the two connected?
God made the earth and then He gave it to us to manage, not to conquer. To manage means that you do your best to bring out the true glory of what it is that you are managing, a glory that you cannot conceive of in your mind, for it is not your personal gifts that you are nurturing. When we nurture something (or someone) we often grow ourselves in ways that could not conceive in our minds. In other words we grow in ways that we cannot imagine when we help others (including nature) to attain its potential (that God created)
How do you react to the possibility, as theorized by Gregg Braden, that you carry the message "God Eternal within the body" in your genetic code?
Genetic means that it is carried from person to person and thus existed at the creation of mankind. This very well could be the definition of human as compared to animal. I also believe that this "genetic code" existed prior to the creation of Man, and is thus truly a part of God Himself. The divine essence has always existed, however the unique human conscience (individual subjectivity of each person) is created at conception. Put the two together and you have humanity.
If this "God Code" is common to all humanity, how does it affect your understanding of current issues of world peace and justice?
We are all brothers and sisters, and there is no such thing as a stranger, it is just that we may not be familiar with all of our brothers and sisters because of logistics. We do not put each other down because we are different but rather that we want something that the other has and we want. Very similar to siblings of the same parents living in the same home.
Become the storyteller of your life and create your own creation mythology. What would your creation story feel, look and sound like?
My creation story is very simple, God takes a part of Himself and gives it to each and every person (I call this the soul, but lets not argue about semantics) The purpose of life is to bring back this God given part of Himself back to where it came from (God), and then to bring with it the unique subjectivity that was created and matured over our lifetimes back to God as well. We cannot do this ourselves, thus we need Gods assistance. After God decided to give part of Himself to us, (prior to actually making our physical bodies), He created the universe, animals and plants in such a way to help us on our journey of bringing our souls back to Him, as well as to help us discover Him (through learning about the way the world operates- science), and at the same time to be challenged by creation in order to help us grow in such a way that we can truly glorify Him who made us.
Imagine a Christianity without the influence of original sin and the fall. If we remove "fall/redemption theology" from Christianity, what is left and what can be put in its place?
Without the fall there would be more and more temptation until there was a fall OR God would have removed Satan and removed temptation. Without temptation there is not chance for us to practice our gift of free will, thus diminishing the gift to something that is worthless. Temptation is thus necessary for us to fully use Gods gifts. Also, we cannot experience Gods true grace unless we have sinned so bad that it overwhelms us. Since God is an all knowing God, He knew that we would fall. I don't think that that is the issue, but rather what would we do after the fall.
Explain the connection between the traditional understanding of the Genesis narratives and our ecological concerns for Mother Earth. Why are the two connected?
God made the earth and then He gave it to us to manage, not to conquer. To manage means that you do your best to bring out the true glory of what it is that you are managing, a glory that you cannot conceive of in your mind, for it is not your personal gifts that you are nurturing. When we nurture something (or someone) we often grow ourselves in ways that could not conceive in our minds. In other words we grow in ways that we cannot imagine when we help others (including nature) to attain its potential (that God created)
How do you react to the possibility, as theorized by Gregg Braden, that you carry the message "God Eternal within the body" in your genetic code?
Genetic means that it is carried from person to person and thus existed at the creation of mankind. This very well could be the definition of human as compared to animal. I also believe that this "genetic code" existed prior to the creation of Man, and is thus truly a part of God Himself. The divine essence has always existed, however the unique human conscience (individual subjectivity of each person) is created at conception. Put the two together and you have humanity.
If this "God Code" is common to all humanity, how does it affect your understanding of current issues of world peace and justice?
We are all brothers and sisters, and there is no such thing as a stranger, it is just that we may not be familiar with all of our brothers and sisters because of logistics. We do not put each other down because we are different but rather that we want something that the other has and we want. Very similar to siblings of the same parents living in the same home.
Become the storyteller of your life and create your own creation mythology. What would your creation story feel, look and sound like?
My creation story is very simple, God takes a part of Himself and gives it to each and every person (I call this the soul, but lets not argue about semantics) The purpose of life is to bring back this God given part of Himself back to where it came from (God), and then to bring with it the unique subjectivity that was created and matured over our lifetimes back to God as well. We cannot do this ourselves, thus we need Gods assistance. After God decided to give part of Himself to us, (prior to actually making our physical bodies), He created the universe, animals and plants in such a way to help us on our journey of bringing our souls back to Him, as well as to help us discover Him (through learning about the way the world operates- science), and at the same time to be challenged by creation in order to help us grow in such a way that we can truly glorify Him who made us.
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