My Fundamental Beliefs - Summary

This blog entry summarizes my fundamental beliefs (using the "Fundamentals Framework" established in a previous blog entry). The beliefs summarized here have been expanded upon in other blog entries within this blog.

Hopefully, this summary provides insight into my core beliefs (NOTE THAT 3 YEARS AFTER I WROTE THIS, MY THINKING HAS CHANGED...I HAVE ADDED POSTSCRIPTS TO MY OTHER BLOG ENTRIES...I TRY TO NOTE BELOW WHICH OF THE FUNDAMENTAL BELIEFS STILL RESONATE WITH MY CURRENT THINKING):

The Bible (see Bible Beliefs)

• The Bible is a human product - capturing the experiences of the ancient Israel community and the early Christian community and their responses to God and Jesus. It does not contain the very words of God. (AGREE)
• The Bible contains a mixture of history and metaphors. As such, it should not be (and was never intended to be) read literally. Instead, readers should adopt a "historical-metaphorical approach" to gain a more complete understanding and appreciation of the Bible and the meaning of its stories. (AGREE)
• The Bible is a sacred document for Christians. It is the foundation document for our faith with which we should be in "continuing conversation" and from which we can better understand the character and will of God. (AGREE BUT I WOULD PUT MORE EMPHASIS ON OTHER BOOKS OF WISDOM AS WELL)
• The Bible is a mediator to God (i.e. a sacrament). (DISAGREE WITH THIS CONCEPT)

God (see My 'More Than' God)

• God is ‘more than’ language can describe…but within that constraint, I like “isness without limits” as a description of God (AGREE)
• God is ‘more than’ can be proven with evidence…but even without irrefutable evidence, I believe that God is real (AGREE)
• God is ‘more than’ just “right here”…God is an encompassing Spirit within which everything is, but God is also more than everything (AGREE)
• God is ‘more than’ just the source of love, life and being…God is also personal, relational and can be experienced (DISAGREE WITH THE CONCEPT OF A RELATIONAL GOD)
• The essence of God’s character is love, compassion, justice, and peace. (AGREE)

Jesus (see Jesus..."My God", man!)

• There was a real, historical Jesus. (AGREE)
• Our primary source about Jesus, the gospels, are the product of a developing tradition and include a mix of history remembered and history metaphorized. (AGREE)
• I like the dual view of a pre-Easter Jesus and a post-Easter Jesus. The pre-Easter Jesus is the historical Jesus…that is, Jesus before his death (Jewish mystic, healer, wisdom teacher, social prophet and movement initiator). The post-Easter Jesus is what Jesus became after his death…that is, the Jesus of Christian experience and tradition. (AGREE)
• Jesus was killed because of his social protest and the movement that was building around him, not because he was a mystic, healer and wisdom teacher. With that perspective, it doesn’t seem likely that Jesus saw his life purpose as “dying for our sins”. (AGREE)
• I do not think Jesus was born of a virgin. I think the idea of a virgin birth is a metaphorical narrative that evolved as the tradition of Jesus developed following his death. (AGREE)
• I believe that something must have happened at Easter, and it must have had startling and enormous power since it resulted in the whole Christianity movement. I think there were Easter encounters with Jesus (experiential realities involving Jesus) and Christians throughout the centuries have continued to experience Jesus as a living spiritual reality. As a result of these experiences, the post-Easter Jesus “lives” and “is Lord” (i.e. one with God) for us as Christians. Ultimately, the death and resurrection of Jesus is a revelation of “the way” – that is, an internal transformation which results in growth in love, life and being. (AGREE SOMETHING HAPPENED, BUT DON'T BELIEVE IT WAS AN EXPERIENCE...MAYBE A REFINED THINKING THAT BUILT MOMENTUM FOR THE MOVEMENT)
• For Christians, the decisive revelation of God is Jesus (note that this does not require affirming that Jesus is the only adequate revelation of God). Jesus shows us, as Christians, what a life full of God is like, and is our ultimate sacrament of God. As such, Jesus is divine. (AGREE, BUT WOULD EMPHASIZE THAT WE CAN LEARN FROM OTHERS AS WELL)

Pathways to God (see The Way)

• The enduring world religions are mediators of the absolute (the sacred) but, like Christianity, are not absolute in themselves. (DISAGREE THAT THEY ARE MEDIATORS)
• Christianity, as one of the world's great religious traditions (and my personal religion), is my pathway to God. (SORT OF AGREE BUT I DON'T ALIGN MYSELF WITH THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION LIKE I USED TO)
• For Christians, Jesus is "the way". He is the disclosure of what a life full of God looks like. This is who Jesus is for us...and we can say this without saying that God is known only in Jesus. (AGREE, BUT WOULD EMPHASIZE THAT WE CAN LEARN FROM OTHERS AS WELL)

Faith (see Faith Matters)

• While faith should not be about believing things that go against our factual knowledge of the way things are, I do firmly believe that faith is a required component of a Christian life. (DISAGREE)

Sin, Salvation and Afterlife (see Revisiting Sin, Salvation and the Afterlife)

• The concept of sin relates mainly to mankind’s natural separation from and lack of centering in God and God’s character. It is not about disobeying a set of “divine rules” and suffering the consequences (e.g. eternal damnation). (DON'T REALLY FOCUS ON THIS CONCEPT AT ALL ANYMORE)
• Repentence is not about contrition and guilt, but about resolving to reconnect to and center oneself in God and God’s character. (DON'T REALLY FOCUS ON THIS CONCEPT AT ALL ANYMORE)
• Salvation is about a personal transformation that results from a conscious and intentional centering of one’s life and identify in God and God’s character. The result is a life that fully loves and is fully lived; a life that is characterized by love, freedom, peace, compassion and justice. (DON'T REALLY FOCUS ON THIS CONCEPT AT ALL ANYMORE)
• The afterlife is a great unknown, but I believe there is something after this life, and I’m hoping it is us dying into God’s presence – which would be the ultimate experience of and connection with God. (AGREE)

Prayer (see What About Prayer?)

• Verbal (petitionary/intercessory) prayer feels ‘right’ to me – it is part of my process of thinking of and caring for others...but I don’t have an expectation that through these prayers I will change the mind or will of an ‘out there’ God so that He intervenes in the normal course of the universe. (DON'T REALLY FOCUS ON THIS CONCEPT AT ALL ANYMORE)
• Meditative and contemplative prayers can be powerful ‘centering’ mechanisms that allow us to ‘pay attention’ to God and focus on ‘experiencing God’. I believe these types of prayer can impact and change the pray-er, which can then help the pray-er impact and help others . (DISAGREE ABOUT THE "EXPERIENCING" GOD CONCEPT RELATED TO ANY KIND OF PRAYER...UNLESS THE MEANING OF "EXPERIENCE" IS REALLY LOOSE)

Christian Routines (see Routines and Thin Places)

• The core purpose of Christian routines (such as worship, Bible reading, prayer, attending church, sermons, etc.) is to help us encounter "thin places" where our hearts are opened to experience God and grow in compassion and justice. (DISAGREE WITH THE CONCEPT OF THIN PLACES UNLESS A VERY LOOSE INTERPRETATION IS GIVEN)
• I don't think that Christian routines are requirements, nor do I think that they are always effective - but they can help us encounter "thin places". (DISAGREE WITH THE CONCEPT OF THIN PLACES UNLESS A VERY LOOSE INTERPRETATION IS GIVEN)

Christian Life Focus (see Transformation: What It's All About)

• Christianity is, first and foremost, about a personal transformation - a transformation to a life that is centered in God and that is intentional about having a deepening relationship with the Sacred. The result of that personal transformation is a growth in love and compassion and life that can be lived more fully. (DISAGREE WITH THE RELATIONSHIP FOCUS OF THIS)
• Christianity is also about a social transformation that should lead to the experiencing of the "Kingdom of God" today...that is, the way life on earth (yes on earth, not heaven) would be today if God was ruler. The result of this social transformation is a focus on justice for the poor and marginalized, an indictment of the religious and political elites and a resistence to oppressive cultural systems of unfairness and dominance. (DISAGREE, AS UNFORTUNATELY I DON'T SEE THAT THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION IN ITS CURRENT FORM IS EVEN CLOSE TO BEING ABLE TO DRIVE SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION AS ENVISIONED HERE)