Faith is a highly personal thing. No two people have the same take on religious issues. That is the case with me. I find myself being wary of people who use a ton of scripture in every part of their written and verbal communications. Don’t get me wrong, I am a believer in God and I am a follower of Jesus but I would rather my actions speak for me than what is written in The Bible.
I don’t follow the Good Book, I tend to follow the one who inspired it. Scripture is intended to point to God (no matter your faith) but I don’t think it should be used to do harm to others and that happens a lot. I believe in a progressive revelation of who God is and that faith and community in the 21st century is different from that of the era that we read about in the Holy Books of faith that many use.
I think God is doing things now and being more inclusive than many want to admit. Perhaps we should looking at faith and love through the experiences of people in the here and now. Don’t get me wrong, I still am a fan of the Gospels, Psalms and some of what the Apostle Paul wrote. Yeah some folks would have issue with me picking and choosing what I adhere to in the Bible but you know what, God still loves me and all those who are on the fringes who some would keep out of Heaven through highly rigid, highly legalistic and highly fundamentalist interpretations of whatever scripture their faith system holds to. From my perspective there is no fun in fundamentalism. It just doesn’t work for the vast majority of people who see God as loving, caring and comforting.
We all have free will and through that we are going to find our own path through life and the freedom to say yes or no to a divine being. Good for those who make their own choices. Many good people come from a place where they aren’t believers but should be given the same respect as those who have signed on to Team God.
Yeah, everyone is working out their deal with God through a lot of questioning, trembling and perhaps a little fear. I am of the persuasion that there will be a lot of people in the afterlife we will be surprised to see…so I guess we need to treat those folks better while we are still living. There are too many people who might have said yes to God without going through some of the rituals…you just never know.
(I am using God from my Episcopalian/Anglican/Christian perspective… God can be interpreted as something different to those from other cultures and places in the world.)
In an American context where the media equates religion with social conservatism, Lady Gaga represents a welcome, non-fundamentalist Christianity. She is the closest pop culture version, in values if not tone, to her fellow Catholic, Pope Francis. She champions Christian values not of exclusion and discrimination but of empowerment, grace and self-acceptance.
At my baptism as an 11 year old Baptist kid I was immersed by the Rev. Monty Jordan. That was an experience I will never forget. For the last sixteen years as a United Methodist and in the last year as an Episcopalian I have seen this sacrament expressed as sprinkling, pouring and immersion. There is one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism from a Christian perspective. As far as I am concerned the amount of water needed isn’t what is important. Once you are baptized its a thing between you and God and it should stick with you and be honored in your faith journey. Something universal, something timeless, something that brings you into communion with Christ. Today I saw a baptism of a little one at church and it reminded me that being cleansed, is a spiritual act that takes you into eternity.
The Tony Burgess Blog 