I’ve been hitting the public library a lot more lately. I found that you can check out movies and keep them for four days, and I also have increased my reading activity. While looking for a specific non-fiction title, I came across a little gem by Oliver “Buzz” Thomas called 10 Things Your Minister Wants to Tell You (But Can’t Because He Needs The Job).
Clearly an out-of-the-box theologian, Rev. Thomas makes some pithy observations about life, love and the role of the church in bringing the real Jesus to light. Here are some of his thoughts, as well as my own.
Consider again the question of origins. If, for example, scientists are able to take us back to a big bang, nagging questions remain. Why did it all happen in the first place? For what purpose? What does it all mean? How should we then live? Only the philosophers and theologians can help us there.
I don’t believe that scientists are out to prove that God doesn’t exist. But over-zealous Christians are out to prove that scientists are wrong on any scenario that doesn’t fit with their own biblical view.
Loving oneself is an essential part of being a healthy human. Orienting our lives and priorities around ourselves, on the other hand, is the essence of what the Bible calls sin. Like much of life, it’s a balancing act.
This is why we’re here. To live. And love. Jesus taught us as much. He gave his life, demonstrating the ultimate sacrifice, trusting his heavenly Father for his tomorrows.
In truth, the Bible is a collection of books — some short, some long. None in English. And, despite popular belief to the contrary, they are not in chronological order and do not lend themselves to being read straight through, despite what your grandfather may have told you.
I’m afraid that we have become Bible-worshippers, rather than seeking the Word himself. Multiple interpretations of the Bible have been the source of serious divisions over hundreds of years.
If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll admit there are things we simply don’t understand. Ask any doctor with wrinkles, and he’ll tell you a story that defies everything we know about medical science.
Jesus performed miracles to authenticate his position as God’s true son. We don’t need any more proof. We should be thankful for any miracles that come our way, but we are never to hang our hopes on them.
Living a life pleasing to God is really more simple than it looks. To be perfectly honest, knowing what to do isn’t so hard. Actually doing it, on the other hand, can be excruciating. As Mark Twain once put it, “It isn’t the parts of the Bible I don’t understand that trouble me. It’s the parts that I do!”
We Christians are always trying to develop a plan for our spiritual lives, when all that is required of us is to do the thing that is before us, moment by moment, day by day.
Times change, and God’s people must be prepared to change with those times. The time for men to lord authority over women is over, whether inside or outside the church. Instead, we should be working together as equals, for equals we surely are.
I’m going again to hear a lady Methodist preacher tomorrow. I like her. She speaks the truth in love. And our community needs more love and compassion.
But if God created us and if everything he created is good, how can a gay person be guilty of being anything more than what God created him to be? Viewed in this light, society’s current intolerance toward homosexuals starts to look more like the racism of the Ku Klux Klan or the anti-Semitism of Nazi Germany than authentic biblical faith. We’d do well to remember that both the Klan and the Nazis used proof texts from the Bible to support their prejudices.
I admit, I struggle with this one. Homosexuality seems to violate the natural order of things. But it in no way negates my duty to love all of those whom God has created.
Humans are innately social animals. The upside of this is we are adept at forming associations; the downside is we are adept at forming associations. We like to exclude.
I want a separation of church and state. Religion should never be forced on people. Morality, however, is essential to a healthy nation.
The truth is that no earthly father I’ve ever known would torture his child for five seconds, much less an eternity. Neither would the God of the Bible. On the contrary, everything Jesus taught us about God is undermined by the notion of hell. Jesus taught that God is love. If our definition of love has degenerated to the point that it allows for torture, perhaps Charles Manson should be considered as our next saint.
Amen. I can’t add anything to this statement.
I will take the liberty of adding a fourth school of interpretation — panmillenialism. I can’t recall where I first encountered it, but the essence of it is this: Trust God, and in the end things will all pan out.
10 Things … was published by St Martin’s Press in 2007. Read the book. I doubt that there will be a movie, but maybe there should be.
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