Well, I have missed this spirited thread and its black or white judgements so I thought I would peek in again, and low and behold the name calling rages on.

I purchased a copy of "Letting Go Of God" by Julia Sweeney, her one woman tour de force on how she came to alter her beliefs from being raised as a Catholic to becoming a non-believer. This stage show is carefully and gently crafted to let the audience see why she has changed her beliefs and is both funny and mind blowing at the same time. I highly recommend to all interested in religious beliefs and their manuals. You can obtain a copy at:

www.juliasweeney.com

You may remember her as a former member of SNL and her previous one woman show about the death of her brother to cancer.

I only wish I had the control that Julia exhibits to speak in such soft notes about a topic that incites the rath of the true believers as their dogma is put under the spotlight of reason.

patrask !

I'll have to read Julia Sweeney's blog. As a former Roman Catholic, too...(8 years elementary school with Dominican nuns, and 4 years of Augustinian monks for high school)...I can see why she would leave the church and God. I didn't learn a thing there about salvation or redemption. The Catholic nuns and monks all seemed to act as if us youngsters knew everything, and so we never got around to learning anything. And I mean anything. Now some did, but they were in the minority. But going into a Catholic church today and asking a handful of Catholics things about their faith and God and heaven, and you'd get a mish-mash of answers and non answers. You can always discover a Catholic by asking someone this one question: 'Are you going to heaven when you die?' Catholics almost always answer, "I hope so!" That's a Catholic answer, and not a biblical answer. Times are changing; but when I attended school it was something historians call...the dark ages.

Patrick Swayze was in an interview with Barbara Walters last week, and when asked if he was scared about his fate with his cancer, he said..."Well, yes, but I am afraid about what is beyond, when I die. I know there is something, but I just don;t know what it is." At least his conscious is not burned out.

quote:

Originally posted by Nard Kordell:
I'll have to read Julia Sweeney's blog. Times are changing; but when I attended school it was something historians call...the dark ages.

Phil, I am always saddened when one loses their faith.

Nard, times aren't changing enough - the church is still in the dark ages.

Doug Spaulding ! It's unfair to say that the church is in the dark ages. The church is veeerrryy big and encompasses a whole host of denominations. Even the Roman Catholic Church has many groups who are on cutting edge. Many individuals thru Catholic history have been right on. The church, specifically speaking of the Roman Catholic Church, is in trouble in educating their church goers on the whole. But there are many Godly and well informed ones around. And many absolutely stupid and narrow-minded ones as well. I worked at a Roman Catholic newspaper from 1997 -2003, and met priests on both sides of the spectrum. But as to the lay-person, not one in the entire company I worked at, tho all Catholics, had a clue to anything outside their own world.

Doug Spaulding thinks the church is in the dark ages because he thinks he has found great light in wayward Bishop Spong. Doug, of course, will take a word-bite from this posting, such as, 'found a great light', and say Thank You! But the fact is this is poking fun of what is truly no light at all. No, Doug, the church isn't that bad off, but Spong is.

Well, here's some good news for a change!

http://www.oca.org/jonah-enthronement-speech.html

I've known Bp. Jonah since he was Jim Paffhausen and, believe me, he is one of the good guys.

Thanks, Braling II!!

As of this posting-time, Rick Warren is preaching live. (see live link below). Anyone interested can catch his sermon thruout this weekend. (He visited with Ray last year at home.) He will be giving a message at the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama.

http://saddlebackfamily.com/mediacenter/services/#

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Thanks for the link. Now Warren is being sued by the atheists, that he doesn't invoked the name of God during the inauguration.

"In God we Trust".

Just got back from Washington DC. Visit the Jefferson memorial--idolized as the great deist. It is impossible to read the quotes at his memorial and accept the idea of removing God from government. We have rewritten history in a tragic way. Go back and read the sources of our founding. Stop reading trashy, shallow, self-serving interpreters.

Mr. Dark ~Thanks for the info. And, yep, it is ingrain in American history. Having re-written history in a tragic way is putting it mildly.
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This afternoon, I attended the 4:30 worship service where Rick Warren preached. Tho he has been served papers by lawyers for the atheists telling him NOT to use the name of God at the inauguration in a couple weeks, he said he will, in fact, NOT use the word 'God' in the inauguration. Instead, he will use the name of 'Jesus'!! (that got everyone to applaud). At the same time you can just sense the hairs on the back of the necks of the atheists bristling at the very thought.

Day before Obama's inauguration, celebrating Martin Luther King's birthday Rick Warren has been invited to be the first 'white' preacher ever to preach at the church where King preached. (That definitely should be interesting.)

Well, maybe there will some justice and ecumenical spirit at the innaguration after all.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/

patrask, of course this is utter nonsense. Christianity has been fighting these type of guys for 2,000 years. Scripture is clear that judgment begins in the house of God. These guys will be first in line. If you are gay, that's one thing. But without God you'll never have the power to remain celebate. Same for Catholic priests. Same for anyone who finds God leading them into a single lifestyle. A pure heart before God is something God gives. Charlatans who feel God is not enough, turn scripture to please their own self-promoted lifestyle. And they want acceptance.

Are you just homophobic or what? I am looking at this as an inclusion, not exclusion. Its comin'.

patrask, according to you, Jesus was a homophobic. God is a homophobic. The Holy Scriptures are homophobic.

Does it matter if an entire society is tipping into the abyss? Of course everything is coming. Hang in there long enough to see everything good be called evil, and everything evil eventually be called good. Those who hang onto what is right and true and good will be there as well. But what a horrid culture to be living in.