Clean and Unclean Meats

Peter Ditzel has a new article about Armstrongism's fascination with unclean meats. When  you  look on-line you can find huge lists of forbidden meats that UCG and others put out to regulate people's lives.  Yet, this is just one of many list of rules and regulations that Armstrongism pick's and chooses from.  It's ok to live in homes with mold, wear mixed fabric's, stone your rebellious children,  not kick your wife out of the home during menstruation, etc., etc.,.

The Real Poison of Biblical Dietary Laws and "Health Secrets"

Peter Ditzel

Is the Bible a health manual? Are the dietary laws found in the Bible God’s ways of telling us what is healthy and unhealthy to eat? Or did God have an entirely different reason for putting these laws in the Bible? What’s more, do these laws given to ancient Israel have anything at all to do with Christians today?

Herbert W. Armstrong, the late founder and "apostle" of the Worldwide Church of God, taught that Christians must obey the laws of clean and unclean meats found in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. On page 18 of Principles of Healthful Living, he wrote: "This is a basic law—a revelation from God to man about which kinds of flesh will properly digest and assimilate in the human system, and which will not" (Principles of Healthful Living [Pasadena, CA: Worldwide Church of God, Chapter Three 1958, 1978; Chapter Four 1979], version 1.0, May 1990 printing).

As might be expected, most of the splinter groups of the Worldwide Church of God that continue to follow Armstrong’s teachings have their requisite publications on clean and unclean meats. More surprising, perhaps, is the number of others—including physicians, dieticians, and cooks—who have written popular books that claim to reveal the health secrets God has stashed into the pages of the Bible. And, being the narcissistic, health-crazed society we are, these books sell well. In fact, it has become common for many Christians who do not strictly follow the Old Testament dietary laws to nevertheless think of them as health guidelines. They believe the meats listed as unclean in the Old Testament are not as healthful as other meats, and they also think that the Bible contains many other health secrets.

Clean and Unclean Meats

Contentious Women in the COG's

I have never understood how women in the COG allowed themselves to be treated like dirt by the 'all knowing' men that surround them.

Women have suffered under HWA, GTA, Meredith, Flurry, and many under their abusive husbands.  I remember many of the single bachelors in Pasadena who had literal lists made up on the qualifications that women needed to have before they dated or married them.  It is no wonder why many of them still are not married to this day.  They were weird!  Just plain weird!

Malm, on his 'Shining Light' blog is continuing his beat down on women.  Not only is his theology way off base, but his understanding of women is made many times in complete ignorance.  Sometimes I have to wonder if he is one of these perpetual bachelors that still has not had a relationship with a woman or if he is one of these bitter angry men who's wives left them when they got sick of the legalistic BS in the COG?

The church is espoused to Jesus Chirst(sic), the “Called Out” and are presently being watched and tested concrning (sic)their suitability to enter a wife type of relationship with our Lord. 

So what kind of wife does our Lord want? 


Brethren, we are all to become good wives for Jesus Christ! So, what is a good wife?

If I were choosing a wife today, I would not be looking first at appearance, or skills, or education, or intelligence.  The very first matter of concern would be: LOYALTY: can she be trusted. Will she be looking at others? Will she say yes I will do that and then not do it?   Will she use the Women’s lib type of self justification and say “I am a woman, I can change my mind whenever I want”?   Or is her word her bond?
Ladies, there is no excuse for mind changing or failing to keep promises or disloyalty.  Think about what you are committing to BEFORE you speak and then be faithful to your word.  To be chosen as a part of the bride of Christ, you men MUST do likewise.

One of the biggest problems is: Emotional Adultery.  Physical adultery is intercourse with another besides our mate, it is sexual disloyalty.  Emotional adultery is being emotionally attached to anyone other than your mate.  How many ladies remain emotionally attached to former friends or parents?  I am not saying don’t have friends or abandon parents; I am talking about putting their opinions and advice above your husbands. About having more respect for them than for your husband; about having more concern for them and putting them above your husbands in your affections and secret desires.  Such emotional adultery can include friends, hobbies, lust to shop and purchase, or anything that you alow (sic) to come between you and your husband  And you men, how many yearn for a former lover or friend, how many put you jobs, or hobbies, friends, or some sport above or much too close to the level of relationship you promised to  have with your wives?  


Brethren, there has been much emotional adultery among the “Called Out”.  You who are frustrated with your wives for admiring others, or spendind (sic) too much time with others and neglecting you, or for spending too much in selfish disregard of the family: look to your own conduct and example!

Hiow (sic) many of you fellows like to be hen pecked by a contentious woman: probably nobody!  You wives consider that and learn to control your tongues; you men learn the same thing and gain mastery over what comes out of your mouths.


You men MUST work at being GOOD WIVES of Christ; then you will better understand  what is acceptable conduct in the eyes of Almighty God.  You wives must also work at being good wives and mothers.

Losing Faith In Faith

I remember well when Joseph Tkach Jr, Eternal Head of the present, almost non-existant, Worldwide Church of God, said that from what they could tell, almost 40,000 former members were staying home from any church. Others have written well about this total mismanagement of the spirituality and sincere hopes that tens of thousands had invested in over the years in that particular church, so I spare you.


I would like to talk a bit about how one, such as myself, can go from being a minister in WCG, or any church for that matter, to an informed skeptic, with the hope that human beings, somehow, are spirits trapped in a limited five sensed carbon based wet suit of sorts, for now. No, I'm really not kidding! Very metaphysical I know, but then again, you never heard of a bunch of metaphysicists declaring war, Jihad and utter annihilation upon each other unless they repent or convert to each others "faith." Most of the real history of Christianity, Islam and Judaism as practiced by those who rule over the believer is pure bullshit. Is it any wonder that people of faith, inquiry and hope simply want to be left alone?


Years ago I took a personality profile test found it so accurate, down to the kinds of gestures I use and why, that I suggest to Joe Tkach that all ministers and leader types take one. This, from my naive perspective, might just prevent sending the same, ill placed and probably not really called to serve anyone but themselves type ministers from going on and on and hurting one congregation after another. WCG had this very bad habit of transferring it's problem ministers rather than confronting them. They said no to testing. Now I know why. People hate the insecurity that comes from knowing they aren't as special as they think they are.


Being out of the loop, it took me years to figure this out. It took me years to admit that what I was seeing in WCG was happening as my ENFP personality, which is Extroverted, Intuitive, Feeling and Perceptive, also is founded upon the idea that people like me are negotiators, ministers, counselors and even massage therapists, but simply hate conflict. Or as my son said so aptly said once, "dad, you'd take a stabbing lying down." That hurt, not the stabbing, but the fact he was right. It's my loathing of conflict I have found that some, like Dave Pack, leader of the Restored Church of God, and others, who are what I would consider abusive, personality driven and more narcissist than shepherds, actually thrive on. Or as Stanley Rader, personal counsel to Herbert Armstrong once said, "I don't care what you say about me, just spell my name right." True narcissism. And so I dismissed in my mind what my heart was telling me was so and went about the business of pastoring people in concepts I still had faith in, even if I could see that the higher up one went in the business of religion, the more your brains turned to shit and you forgot where you put your spirit.


But even more than that, even more than losing faith in a particular church, I knew I was losing faith in faith. I had seen too much that was real and did not match the great promises of the Bible. For all the conflict over healing and doctor care, make-up, and all that I generally labeled as "majoring in the minors," I never asked anyone to do or not do what I would or would not do myself. My conscience is clean when it comes to being an enforcer of stupid things in years gone by. I found that "ask and you shall not have, do not ask and all things are possible", worked just fine in most cases and the years have proven my gut feelings correct in thinking that "someday, none of these things will be issues."


Back to the original thought. I have always been a seeker and open to new things even as a minister. Actually my internal definition of a minister seemed to contain the "keep looking" clause, but that was rare among my peers who felt they had found once and for all, as I did too, but now don't. I think my working mostly alone, apart from the big cities and multiple ministers in one place, probably saved me from scrutiny. The few times I did work with other ministers it was ongoing drama and egomania. I found it entertaining but stupid as well and it took me years to see it was more widespread than I imagined. So even as a minister in a "One True Church," I could see the Bible itself had problems that my Church and all Churches simply do not want to address. I think I ended my own ministry in the midst of WCG's "miracle from Christ" (was Jesus drunk when he did this miracle?), when I asked in a Festival Sermon at Myrtle Beach before one of last large gatherings of WCG members for such things, "Just where do babies come from," when showing how Matthew only over reached in trying to show how Jesus was born of a Virgin etc. I know most of you believe he was, but I will still ask you where do babies come from? Mark, Luke, John and Paul (not a band) knew nothing of what Matthew "knew."


Even as a kid in Sunday School, the stories in the Bible generated many questions about how such things could be in reality. Did Joshua really stop the earth from rotating so the Israelites could kill more Amelakites? Answer: NO. Not only is it bad science, but it's a just plain stupid reason to stop the rotation of the earth! Also, no one else on the planet noticed, which made me suspect.


Did 600,000 men, plus women, children and hangers on really trek around the Sinai in a group for 40 years leaving no signs of it? NO, they did not, at least not that many or for that long. I once read a study on how long it would take those in the back of a group that large to get moving once the front of the group started to move. It was weeks! It's mythology adopted to give a small insignificant people, who now get way too much attention, a history. How many times have we almost found Noah's Ark? Always a great story in the news that just goes away. It never happened, at least not in anyway the Bible describes.


Over time, I came to see that evolution of all life, including man, is generally true, details to unfold as time goes on. The defensive arguments of the Creationists are lame. Not to them, because they need to believe it, but to me, because I don't. I'm not afraid not to believe the unbelievable. I'd rather be ahead of my times than behind. I have flint hand tools in my collection that are 1.8 and 1.4 million years old, from Oldavai Gorge in Kenya made by "men" who became us over time. I can sit and hold them, and somehow it comforts and enlightens me. I have 12,000 year old Ice Age American spear points that do the same. I have a coin given to me as a tip, minted by Caligula to remind the population of Jerusalem just who really was in charge. It doesn't encourage me, but it does inform.


I have had my DNA taken back 70,000 years to Africa (I'm Dutch) and tracing the personal journey my cells, blood and spit have taken to get "me" to America. Fascinating how my saliva proves that in the distant past, "I" traveled through Yemen, Iran, Iraq, the Russian Steppes and left into Europe as Cro-Magnon, routing the Neanderthal who were already there, but lacked the imagination I had to rid the place of them in 18,000 years or so. I love that explanation and journey far more than I do those of the Bible, because it is true.


When I was a pastor and WCG was changing over from Holydays to Holidays, every doubt about the Biblical story of Jesus birth circumstances and the actual narratives came out. I felt that if they could flip over to something so theologically lame as Christmas, I could finally examine my doubts about the whole story. Needless to say, the birth narratives, over which the Church said I studied too much, are not coherent, do not agree, are two different stories, are not known by Mark, John or Paul and find their origins in pagan mythology. All Paul knew of the physical Jesus, who he never met or quoted, was that he was "born of a woman of the tribe of Judah." Nothing special there. Long story.


From there, I discovered that the story of the dying Sons of God in history, such as Osiris, Mithras and Jesus, were retelling of the larger story of the journey the real SUN of God takes around the 12 constellations of the Zodiac every year. It is no coincidence that the SON of God and the SUN are crucified in the Spring on and around the Spring Equinox or that Jesus was the Lamb of God as was the SUN in Aries, the Lamb when it was "crucified". For Jesus to be "with you until the end of the age," means more the age of Aries which ended 2000 years ago with Jesus death and not the end of the world as fundamentalist Christians insist. It explained all those 12 tribes, 12 sons, 12 disciples, 12 Apostles etc, that surrounded the "SON" on his one year ministry, according to Matthew, Mark and Luke, but three years according to John. It's no coincidence that in Revelation, God is surrounded by 24 elders, which are the hours in the day. To me this makes perfect sense and the fact that Matthew's Gospel accounts of Jesus ministry through the twelve months of his short ministry, exactly match the story of the SUN through the twelve signs of the Zodiac. Stories in the Bible that make no sense literally on earth, (like the Magi seeing Jesus star in the East and following it West to his house) often make perfect sense when you understand them as astro-theology. The story of the dying Son/Sun of God takes place every year over our heads. Light is the great revealer, but light also hides. You won't hear that story in church! Nuther long story. I suppose years ago I did wonder why in Malachi, the "Messiah" or Jesus as Christians said it pointed to, was said to be "the Sun that arose with healing in his wings." If you know of the Egyptian sun symbol with wings, you'll see how old a concept that was.


So while I find the story of the Bible in the heavens, as below...so above etc, I don't fear the literalism of the Bible anymore, nor would I teach it. This is, in part, why I feel strongly about those that are manipulated by ignorant and pushy pastor types, into supporting something literally that is not literally to be supported. Ideas have consequences and we see that every day with religion gone amuck. Spirituality, as I have always noted, comes from within and doesn't need your money nor for you to show up Wednesday evenings, Saturday or Sunday.
Now to some, the reason I can go on this journey of discovery and enlightenment, while painful at times, is because I was never converted to the truth of past affiliations. I think I was. I was a true believer for a long time. But when I saw how quickly those in "high" places could change and demand change, everything I ever doubted bubbled up and here I am. I have both a deep resentment for those that have hurt so many and a gratefulness that I was able to get out and not have the drama of all that followed. The local church I last pastored was already using me as a punching bag in place of those they really resented enough. Remember, I don't like conflict, much less being the imagined target and cause of their anger. I learned to tell people I was never one of them, but one of "you" working for "them." I grew up Presbyterian and well outside a lifelong WCG mentality. I did manage to remind Joe Tkach that he was reinventing the wheel and that what he found so so new in Jesus, was so so old a story to the vast majority of those who came to WCG in the first place. For that I was told later that "HQ thinks you know a lot about Jesus, Dennis...but they don't think you KNOW Jesus." Uh oh.... :) Actually I think I know about Jesus more than they can possibly imagine... at least the Jesus of the Bible. It seems real contemporaries of Jesus know little or nothing of a Jesus who was known everywhere according to the Bible.


And so I have lost faith in just having faith. I like the facts more than I like faith. I understand faith and I agree that sometimes there is nothing to have but faith until facts come forward. But I do not substitute faith for facts. Even a good Buddhist will say that sometimes there is nothing left in life to do but have a good laugh. A good laugh and "faith" sometimes are the same thing. When I had my kids immunized in 1974 when it was not fashionable theologically in WCG, I did so because facts over rode my faith factors. When Herbert Armstrong said in a Bible study that dinosaurs probably couldn't reproduce because they were created by Satan who couldn't either, I went with the cover of National Geographic that displayed dino eggs. That happened a lot over the years when I listened to one minister or another on various topics they really knew little about. Mixing religion with science is lame.
So now I kid about "rubbing people the right way." It still fits my personality profile. I"m still an extrovert, intuitive, feeling and perceptive. I still do "counseling" and I still hate conflict and confrontation. I don't, however, believer I will take a stabbing lying down again. I suggest you find out what you are and you'll understand your life in much more detail. Humans are hardwired the moment the sperm hits the egg...the rest is conditioning, programming, tribal expectations, fear, guilt and shame that keeps one in line with the group, religion or organization.


Sometimes we have to loose our minds to come to our senses. You can loose a lot of other things along the way when you do that, but being more authentic is well worth it. It's what ENFP's treasure almost above all other things.

DenniscDiehl@aol.com

More OnThe Bar Church

More on the Bar Church story.

With all the incredibly silliness going on in the UCG/COGaWA pissing contest perhaps the self righteous leaders could get off their rear ends and go meet in some bars and do something useful for a while...

Emerging Church’: Should You Really Worship Jesus in a Bar?

TWO HARBORS, Minn. (AP) — It was a Sunday during Advent, and inside a small pub a few blocks up from the north shore of Lake Superior, 17 people gathered around four bar-top tables shoved into a ring.
Betsy Nelson, the bar’s cook, lit two candles with a cigarette lighter as Addison Houle strapped on an acoustic guitar and sang a slightly off-key rendition of “We Three Kings.“ Curt ”Fish” Anderson sipped a beer as TVs overhead flickered with NFL pregame shows.

“Father, thank you for this time we can share on Sunday morning with new friends,” prayed Chris Fletcher, an emergency medical technician, part-time bartender and seminary student who has led this service every Sunday morning at Dunnigan’s Pub & Grub since last summer. “We’re getting to know you, and getting to know each other better.”

Spending Sunday mornings in a bar sounds like an activity for those running from God. For this small group in a watering hole in Twin Harbors, about 160 miles northeast of Minneapolis, it’s about chasing God. It’s one unconventional place of worship around the country fostered by an evangelical movement known as “the emerging church.”


“I feel closer to God here than I do at a conventional church,” said Nelson, 56, a lifelong churchgoer who until recently could be found every Sunday morning in the pews at First Baptist Church nearby. “Jesus said we’re supposed to be a light to the world. What better place to do that than at a bar?”

After the opening prayer, Fletcher read a brief passage from the Bible before opening the floor to a group discussion. Gene Shank, a 68-year-old retired police officer making his first visit after reading a notice Fletcher put in the local newspaper, confessed to a bit of discomfort.

“I’m a reality person, and I’m finding a little too much established religion here to be honest,” Shank said. “I believe, I pray — but I don’t like structured religion.”

Read the rest of the story here:   Can You Worship Jesus In A Bar?

So Where Were You When God Called You into the Belief---I mean Truth?

So Where Were You When God Called You into the Belief-I mean Truth?


"I don't know anything that gives me greater pleasure, or profit either, than talking or listening to philosophy. But when it comes to ordinary conversation, such as the stuff you talk about financiers and the money market, well, I find it pretty tiresome personally, and I feel sorry that my friends should think they're being very busy when they're really doing absolutely nothing. Of course, I know your idea of me: you think I'm just a poor unfortunate, and I shouldn't wonder if your right. But then I don't THINK that you're unfortunate - I know you are."
(Plato)

"The difference between a man who is led by opinion or emotion and one who is led by reason. The former, whether he will or not, performs things of which he is entirely ignorant; the latter is subordinate to no one, and only does those things which he knows to be of primary importance in his life, and which on that account he desires the most; and therefore I call the former a slave, but the latter free."
(David Hume, 1737)

What happens when one is faced with the reality that ones truth is not really true? What do Christians, of all types, do when their truth turns out to be merely a belief that has been found wanting?

Years ago I gave a sermon using the then new and fascinating 3D art form where one had to practically go into a trance, release the fixation on the wavy pattern of nonsensical forms and let the mind sense another way of looking before one could see that, indeed, there was a 3D picture of ships and sharks staring you right in the face. I had this picture on a tripod by the lectern during the sermon which was on "Can you see it?" I suppose the point at the time was seeing the truth etc. What was fascinating was the crowd that gathered around the picture after the sermon to try and see what I saw and indeed, was there to be seen.

Some saw it right away and gave themselves a big pat on the back and acted like it was no big deal. They became the instant experts at helping others "see" it too. They pontificated on how to look, how to stand, how to relax ones eyes etc, and to their dismay, most could not do it with the pressure they were putting on them to "see it." The one or two who did received a great congratulations which was really the zealot congratulating himself for being such a good teacher.

Others were quiet, not needing help, nor wanting it. They would figure it out. Some quietly did and some did not and just wandered away perhaps feeling a bit dumb for not being able to see it or wondering if everyone that did see it was nuts. Some rejoiced when they finally could see the ships and sharks and some got mad when they couldn't and never did. It was fascinating and I learned more about how we see the truth of something after the sermon than I did in giving the sermon.

The fact is that a belief is just that and not necessarily a truth or the truth. We all have believed many things that turned out not to be so true from the not so reality of Santa Claus to the idea that perhaps I was not a part of the one really really true, only and exclusive Church of God. But belief goes further than that and mere belief in something does not make it truth by any means, or there would not be so much disagreement, for example on the doctrines, history, meaning and intent of God, the Prophets, Jesus, the Disciples, Paul, and all the so called "early Church (which Church?) Fathers.

Other impediments to the truth are the following beliefs. It should not be such a threat to question these core beliefs, but in fact, one might never come to see anymore truth if one gets stuck in these erroneous beliefs.
The Bible says it, I believe it, that does it for me"

To which we might add. "Darwin said it, I believe it, that settles it." If you think this is a silly reason for accepting evolution, you know why "The Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it" is a silly reason for accepting Creationism. But the evolution side does not use that argument: the Theory of Evolution is based on evidence, not Darwin's authority.

The Bible is literally true

To which we might add...There are many things in the Bible that are not literally true or did not literally happen. Yet to even hint at this is to raise the ire of fundamentalists. Joshua did not really raise his arms and stop the earth from rotating which is what stopping the sun from going down for "about a whole day" really is all about. Yet we struggle with thinking we simply have to believe that is literally true or God will be angry at us and label us as weak in the faith. Ok, well it won't really be God letting you know that, but it might be your Pastor.

The Bible says it is true

To Which we might add the Bible also calls a bat a bird which we know is not true or that snakes and donkeys can talk at times and do. It tells us humans can survive ovens, Fiery Chariots pick up the good guys so they can skip death, iron floats, fish deliver loose change and hundreds of other things that it is not my intention to remind us of, but you know them well. It also says women come from men and not men from women and I KNOW you don't believe that..at least not literally.

Prophecies prove the accuracy of the Bible.

To Which we might add that both Ezekiel and Isaiah prophesied different fates for the City of Tyre and neither one of them came true and Tyre stands to this day. Prophecies about Egypt also failed to materialize and adjustments to reality are obvious in much of what Ezekiel writes about. The idea that many "prophecies" in Daniel are so accurate because they were written after the fact never crosses the readers mind and enrages the fundamentalist and apologist.

The Bible must be accurate because archaeology supports it.

To which we might add that archaeology also does not verify Biblical stories as well. No evidence has ever been found in the Sinai of millions of people having passed through specific places in the wilderness, not with ground nor satellite surveys. And many never think that real place names can be used to tell stories that are not literally true as well. The literally true place name does not make the story true. The Angel Moroni gave Joseph Smith the Gold Plates, now conveniently unavailable, to start the Mormon faith at Hill Comorah in NY. I have been to the literally real Smith farm in NY and grew up where this literally false story took place and on which millions of Mormons base their literal beliefs.

Bible's accuracy on other scientific points shows overall accuracy.

To which we can add that the Bible makes some very big blunders in scientific observation. The sun does not rise in the east nor really go down in the west as we know even though a modern apologist would insist that is only an explanation of an apparent truth just as we today know it is the earth that rotates. Well, the inspired Bible did not know that back then. To the bible characters, the earth was indeed flat. The "circle of the earth" was not a ball, it was their idea of a round plate 360 degrees around them, not a sphere. Its what they saw when they turned in a circle , not what they knew was beneath their feet. Satan could show Jesus all the Kingdoms of earth because the earth was flat and they could be "seen" from a "high mountain."

The 29,000 feet high Himalayas were not covered by flood waters and did exist a mere 4000 years ago no matter what apologetic geo-creationists come up with. That much water would drain no where and only penguins and polar bears would survive the adventure on the ark if they could breath.

The Bible is harmonious in it's presentation

To which we could say it absolutely is not. I challenge anyone to sit down with the Gospels and try to put together a coherent account of what happened at Jesus birth or death from the "harmony of the Gospels." If you think it will be easy, or can be done with the proper approach, you are kidding yourself. If you think you can explain why Jesus chased the money changers out of the temple at the beginning of his ministry in John but at the end of his ministry everywhere else, go ahead. You'd have to say he did it twice. If you think you can reconcile Luke's account of Paul's conversion in Acts, and Paul's account in Galatians, go for it. You won't the first nor come up with a satisfactory solution. Of course, some, who need the belief of inerrancy to be true will satisfy themselves but it still will not be true.

It is not my purpose to prove these points one way or the other. It is merely my point to show how these ideas are what hold a belief in place that perhaps is not, in fact, the truth of the matter. There are hundreds of sites dedicated to both the defense of the Bible as literally true and sites showing how this is not really the case. I happen to be of the "not really the case" persuasion after spending decades sincerely developing a belief that I thought was true and was found wanting...for me. In reality, I consider it neither my business nor responsibility to any longer convince anyone of anything they simply are neither willing to consider nor able to "see."
For me, the joy is in the search for meaning and, yes, I still want to know the truth as it really is. That path has never changed in me and it began when I was a very young and precocious kid.

... it's quite true that the best of the philosophers are of no use to their fellows; but that he should blame, not the philosophers, but those who fail to make use of them. (Plato, 380BC)

And isn't it a bad thing to be deceived about the truth, and a good thing to know what the truth is? For I assume that by knowing the truth you mean knowing things as they really are. (Plato)

A human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. The true value of a human being is determined by the measure and the sense in which they have obtained liberation from the self. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive. (Albert Einstein)

'... I have a right to ask for a rational explanation of religious faith.' (Cicero)

So, how's the journey going for you personally in looking for "the truth." Is it not like that 3D confused patterned art in which someone managed to place a beautiful picture if only one could see it . Some will insist there is only that one true and obvious confused picture and there is nothing more to understand about it. Some will catch a glimpse only to have it fade and never be able to see it again. Some will see past the pattern to the 3D picture that really really is there and be amazed they didn't see it before. And of course some will just get angry and stay mad that they can't see it and that you and I are idiots for thinking we do.

Never confuse mere belief in ideas for the truth of the matter....

This is a lifelong process and we are all here to learn.

 

Dennis Diehl

DennisCDiehl@aol.com

A Man Walks Into A Bar And Starts A New Church

No, this is not some UCG splinter church, even though they do love their alcohol.....

Read the article here: Star Tribune Article 
and here: Parliament of Religions.org

"Father, thank you for this time we can share on Sunday morning with new friends," prayed Chris Fletcher, an emergency medical technician, part-time bartender and seminary student who has led this service every Sunday morning at Dunnigan's Pub & Grub since last summer. "We're getting to know you, and getting to know each other better."

Spending Sunday mornings in a bar sounds like an activity for those running from God. For this small group in a watering hole in Twin Harbors, about 160 miles northeast of Minneapolis, it's about chasing God. It's one unconventional place of worship around the country fostered by an evangelical movement known as "the emerging church."

"I feel closer to God here than I do at a conventional church," said Nelson, 56, a lifelong churchgoer who until recently could be found every Sunday morning in the pews at First Baptist Church nearby. "Jesus said we're supposed to be a light to the world. What better place to do that than at a bar?"

After the opening prayer, Fletcher read a brief passage from the Bible before opening the floor to a group discussion. Gene Shank, a 68-year-old retired police officer making his first visit after reading a notice Fletcher put in the local newspaper, confessed to a bit of discomfort.

"I'm a reality person, and I'm finding a little too much established religion here to be honest," Shank said. "I believe, I pray — but I don't like structured religion."

Fletcher responded that, while he wants to be as informal as possible, the main goal is still "creating an open space for Jesus to come into our lives, then he does the transforming work."

He quickly adds that anyone who questions the way he's running the service has come to the right place.
"We're all messed up," he said. "We're all screwed up some way."

Fletcher, a stocky, balding 43-year-old with a bristly goatee, is his own first example. The native of Sudbury, Ontario, grew up in the Worldwide Church of God, a small evangelical sect he described as "almost cult-like." He left religion behind as a young man, but was drawn back as he was hitting 40 and experiencing a series of personal crises: the death of a close friend in an auto accident and the dissolution of his marriage.