Posted by I Wonder on September 07, 2013 at 12:39:02
In Reply to: Re: Think about it. posted by consider the source on September 06, 2013 at 23:17:36:
I don't know who Oprah's God is, but I do know that every one of us chooses the diety with whom we form a relationship of faith--trust and devotion--whether that diety is rationalized by by a literal interpretation of proof texts or not.
I attest that I am in relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ as revealed in scripture and through the inspiration of the the Holy Spirit speaking in the Mystical Body (how I experience that is another issue, see my posts as Step 11). Whether it is the same Lord Jesus that other, more literalist believers embrace, I don't know. It's not my place to judge. My place is to be true to the light I have been given and to testify to the Lord of Life as I know Him.
It may be a false Jesus I profess. I deal with that possibility by doing my best to follow Him as a Red Letter Christian. My primary focus is on living the way Jesus taught--nonjudgmental, forgiving, generous, loving, with humility and as a friend to widows and orphans, prisoners, Samaritans and strangers, the poor, destitute and despised.
I don't claim to live up to that ideal with any degree of perfection. I can only walk in the Way, Truth and Light (WTL) to the degree I turn my will and life over to that WTL as I understand Him. It's about progress, not perfection.
I read the Genesis creation stories (there's more than one, just as there's more than one account of the resurrection) as myth, which means their "truthiness" is fundamentally spiritual, psychological, and existential. The creation stories may contain some elements of historical fact, but I do not read them as lessons in history or science. Do I believe the creation myths? Yes, at a spiritual, psychological, and existential level they have great importance in my walk with the Lord.
As far as life after death is concerned, there is more and more scientific evidence that supports a belief in human consciousness surviving the cessation of life in the body. I just finished reading a book by Sam Parnia, MD, called "Erasing Death: The Science that is Rewriting the Boundaries between Life and Death." It's a good book to start with regarding the scientific evidence that is emerging because Parnia reviews the scope of the research that is currently underway. That materialist notion of human beings that science has posited for so long is under vigorous assault from inquiring minds trained in scientific method.