tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28637516.post8569081017288551548..comments2024-01-20T07:17:13.678-05:00Comments on Phil Wyman's Square No More: Does God need to die again?Pastor Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07344719487413688550noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28637516.post-57927848389308971052012-07-30T17:14:15.557-04:002012-07-30T17:14:15.557-04:00Your term “aggressive evangelical atheists” is int...Your term “aggressive evangelical atheists” is interesting and I like it. It is, in many ways, fitting to a certain number of people. This is a topic that I have been contemplating recently. The thought process is not yet complete, but here is where I am at and what is triggered by this term.<br />I wonder about people who could be called aggressive evangelical atheists…I wonder if they are truly atheists, or really atheists at all. Perhaps they are really pseudo- atheists. For instance, I really do not believe there is a bigfoot running around in the southern states for the US. Therefore if I were to notice that if someone were to think that bigfoot in Alabama really existed then it would not bother me in the least. Because I genuinely 100% sure that it does not exist. Why would I become angry about something that I do not believe even exists? Perhaps it is the effect that the false belief would have on others? That sounds too much like a rationalization to me.<br />Recently I knew a person who would become quickly enraged if you called them “crazy”. Just joking around some people might use the term in an offhand manner. Kind of a red flag if a person reacts quickly and excessively to the offhand comment. As if they have a secret fear about something….touching a nerve.<br />This makes me wonder if the aggressive atheists are really not atheists deep down after all. Is there a fear or doubt that causes a reactionary set of negative behaviors? Maybe a fear that there really is some form of God. It would be a pestering thought…to one who would prefer to be atheist but could not quite get all the way off the platform.<br />My friends that are genuine atheists have no problem with my faith…nor I theirs for that matter. As we each genuinely have the idea that the other is completely wrong. It makes it OK for us to discuss the issue and accept one another.<br />But then again there is rarely one easy answer for any question in life is there? Just something to ponder. Only part way down the road.<br />P.S. God loves people whether they believe in Him or not.counselorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13279420220030827881noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28637516.post-25645543578111196682012-01-10T20:37:37.101-05:002012-01-10T20:37:37.101-05:00Hey Adam, I absolutely love your statement that He...Hey Adam, I absolutely love your statement that He is "far less predictable than either of these images portrays." Nice.<br /><br />And my pet peeve top rankings gets that line as as well. Thanks bro.Pastor Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07344719487413688550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28637516.post-46617984113436051042012-01-09T14:34:24.533-05:002012-01-09T14:34:24.533-05:00I don't want to go too deep, but this post tri...I don't want to go too deep, but this post triggered a couple of thoughts.<br /><br />First, the images I see circulate the most among churches are either of a goody-two-shoes deity who couldn't harm a fly, or of a god who spends all his time getting angrier and angrier over various types of sexual sin. The God who revealed himself to Israel and through Jesus is vastly different and far less predictable than either of those images portrays.<br /><br />Second, high up on my lengthy list of pet peeves is people saying some variation of "everything happens for a reason." What they do by implication is place the world's vilest evil in the lap of whatever god or guiding force they see behind the universe. Omnipotence and sovereignty do not mean God is the direct cause of every event in a world subject to futility and inhabited by fallen free agents.Adam Gonnermanhttp://missionaljourneyman.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28637516.post-33544441291741176842012-01-08T00:01:08.849-05:002012-01-08T00:01:08.849-05:00Hey Bruce,
Thanks for the input. Vahanian actuall...Hey Bruce,<br /><br />Thanks for the input. Vahanian actually was a conservative in a primarily liberally driven theological movement. He was rejected a radical immanence theology and was saying that had brought the death of God consciousness in Western culture. The response was then to let that theology die, and revive the transcendence of God into Christian theology. So I am not sure He was Hegelian in the sense you mean. <br /><br />What do you think?Pastor Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07344719487413688550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28637516.post-69329882527690330862012-01-05T17:13:01.069-05:002012-01-05T17:13:01.069-05:00Vahanian's approach strikes me as pretty close...Vahanian's approach strikes me as pretty close to Hegel's, on first glance. Been there, done that.<br /><br />Yet: it's more a revisiting than a simple re-teaching of the same perspective. Hegel was truly excited that he and others were bringing about the Kingdom of God through his theology. His theology was a complicated and nuanced emphasis on God's identity with the created universe via His immanence.<br /><br />I studied Hegel's work in Theology with Dr. Oliva Blanchette at Boston College. Frankly it was way over my head at the time, and I didn't have the depth of reading to grasp Hegel adequately. But Hegel's theology is tremendously influential in the extreme liberal-to-existential wing of Euro-American protestant theology.<br /><br />My point of view is that one can hardly become more radical than those who are whole heartedly saints in mind and soul and body, in the center of the concrete traditions. There's an old thought that the problem with Christianity is not that it's been tried and found wanting, but that it hasn't been tried. That's where I toss my hat. Keeping my feet on the path and eyes on the Kingdom, and try not to get too distracted.Brucehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05791587899672940996noreply@blogger.com