A Shot in the Dark

WE are semi-literate and will not pass our exams--if we do--until we die.
     There's no use our opponents using our religious texts as evidence to prove there is no God and religion is a fairytale.
     The Book of Common Prayer and other religious liturgy and instruction are the best we can do to express what seems to be good wherever beyond us--not that atheists can do any better.
     As Augustine  said, 'Believe so that you might understand.'
     I believe, and suspect that I'll learn more  or not after I'm dead.
     How can we think science has debunked belief when the urbane among us still occasionally look into the sky when we struggle to depict God in modern terms?

Diary 26 July 2015

COLD and raining, but still warm this  morning, so how to dress for Sunday service?
    So many aspects to consider. Might be warmer or colder in church,  so I could be overdressed or underdressed. Require less clothing when I'm moving about, and more when I'm sitting still.
    Solution: wear clothing easily removed. I did, but was noisy taking off and putting back on: disturbed people behind me. Sleeves rustling as my arms came out of them. Weatherproof jacket crackled as it refused to be removed without vigorous behind-the-back arm wrestling from fixed position in pew. Trousers,  of course,  remained in place.
     Next time will sit in back row.

Inside the head

MAN is spirit.  But what is spirit?  Spirit is the self. But what is the self? The self is a relation which relates itself to its own
.... self.

... Man is a synthesis of the infinite and the finite...of freedom and necessity.

...A synthesis is a relation between two factors. So regarded,  man is not yet a self.

----Kierkegaard

'God told me to...I was called by God to...'

CAUTION is required when someone tells you God has been talking to him.
   Sincerity is possible,  and so are motives of exhibitionism,  intimidation and mental illness.
     A young girl on a television programme in  a church asked a clergyman how he began.  He said, 'I was called by God.' The sincerity of some clergy is in no doubt,  but my instinct is to doubt others. Why could not  some be called by themselves? I'm not saying they are  dishonest: I mean that they think they have been called by God but it is themselves talking.
     How far does the claim to have a direct line to God go? Did God call them to go on holiday or redecorate the vicarage?
     An acquaintance, not in holy orders,  told me God sets up bargains for him at the supermarket.
     That is the comical or pitiful side.
     I'm slightly intimidated when a person tells me emphatically and at length God has been talking to him or pointing the way to a well-deserved reward. Often there seems to be an air of defiance about his manner, daring me to disbelieve him. In addition,  to imply God talks to
him, but not to me: therefore he's holier than me.
     If I have been called by God I keep it to myself, in case I'm wrong. A person might think me immodest.
    All of us are confined to the inside of our head, so in the end I have to give a person who cites God the benefit of the doubt.

More to come,  on what I feel when a person says, 'I'll pray for you.'

Cruelty: Christianity not to blame

CHRISTIANITY has been blamed for some cruelty to animals. The Biblical evidence given is the passage that says man had dominion over animals. Dominion does not imply licensed callousness or  sadism.
   The cause is the usual abuse of power by human beings, flawed and shoddy goods---born into sin,  they would have called it in previous,  less arrogant times.

Knocking the Gnostics

THE GNOSTICS have a reputation for being elitist outsiders to Christianity.
      Some commentators are saying they should be reassessed.
      If we know the Gnostics at all, it is for having a reputation of being know-alls with essential knowledge for salvation which has been denied to outsiders or those who are deemed inferior.
     However, in the period of Early Christianity many Christians of differing views formed rival groups. They, too, surely thought they knew everything and that others were out of favour with God.
     The commentators also say the term Gnostics is inaccurate and should be abandoned. The term erroneously stands for groups with strongly differing views.
    I asked a clergyman when I knew even less than now who were the Gnostics. He said, 'A sort of secret society.'
   With the exception of a few hard-researching academics we have a long way to go to be fully informed.
    

Not dull, it's my fault

The writings of mediaeval mystics sometimes I find dull. However,  often it's my fault.  When I've settled into the world their prose conjures, they're stimulating,  even exciting. It's a matter of me thinking spiritually without coming down to earth to board a bus,  or pausing to look out of the window at the traffic.