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[french_rhubarb]

I had a question posed to me by an intelligent and respected athiest friend of mine in response to my previous LJ post.

He asked: "What exactly is it you've experienced? You call it God, which is fine. But what is it that ties this sense of God to the doctrines you've also encountered? I don't want to question your experiences, this would be

Comments

[nun_sense]

Well reasoned arguments. You sound a lot like Bishop John Shelby Spong.

I wish I could adopt this attitude. I've tried, but I just can't see my way clear. When I tried, I found myself sitting in the mist of a "community" that wasn't really.

If I were back in the States, I would go running back to Unity. I attended a Unity Church in Georgia for about three years and loved it. There was no creed to which I had to sign on the dotted line. The "community" was made of up of seekers, each walking his/her own path. The Sunday services were diverse and drew from many traditions. I liked the idea of "digging little holes". For me, it did not seem to preclude that I couldn't also dig deeply. Yet, I honor your choice.

[french_rhubarb]

"You sound a lot like Bishop John Shelby Spong."

I am honoured.

I love learning about other religions and faith. Comparative religion is one of the most absorbing fields of study for me. I am quite happy to try to see a way to incorporating things I like from other religions, but I approach it as enriching my Christianity through dialogue with other faiths. Sufism is still capturing my imagination. I guess rather than imagining I'm digging other holes, I imagine I am taking a drink at someone else's already-established well as I pass by. :P Something to appreciate and even be nourished by, but not something of my own.

Perhaps it is not so different from digging lots of little holes, but, since I am happy (and wanting) to stay rooted in Christianity, perhaps it is different after all.

I honour your choice also, my dear. Who knows how I'll be thinking by the time I am in my 60s. I may have done an about-face by then! Haha.

[nun_sense]

Yea, I love Spong's work. Yet, when all is said and done, I wonder how he can stomach reciting a creed he doesn't believe every time he goes to mass. And the old hymns that portray God in a way that is obsolete and painful when you really think about the words.

I think that, in a way, I do the same as you.....visit other people's wells and take what fits my own spiritual journey. Yet, I don't seem to be able to be OK with staying in Christianity, especially the Catholicism that is practiced here in the Philippines. And the alternatives seem to be Fundamental Protestantism. No thank you very much!

So..... I have no spiritual "home" and must content myself to being a wandering pilgrim. I still feel very close to Jesus, and that's important to me. I can accept the Christian theology of people like Spong, Borg and even Richard Rohr, but I would need a community that reflected this theology, at least in part, to feel comfortable there.

[french_rhubarb]

I imagine that for you in the Philippines it is much harder to find community for yourself in Christianity. As you say, you have two options to choose from, more or less