michal's musings

Science helps me with faith.  When I look at the theoretical science I find myself needing this same approach that I have towards religion.  Both systems try to describe the reality of life.  Both are interested in experience.  And, both of them have theoretical tendencies.  This is an interesting clip of a believer in G-d who is fascinated by science. Also, sometimes we say that Islam is not intellectual.  Here, we can find that this is not true.  Muslims can be very much interested in faith and science.  We need to break our stereotypes.

G-d is a subject ... We are not G-d but we are like God ... We don't see G-d because we are G-d ... We participate in God ... Grace is participation in God ... It not about becoming a better human being but becoming a divine human being ... The gift of God is there ... religion brings us into the reality of G-d ...

                            God is bigger than anyone is able to think and say anything about God.  I do not want to even use any pronouns.  When we put pronoun to God we put God into box.  We do not need to liberate God.  What we need to do is to liberate our understanding and our language of God.  I think that the LGBTQ community brings a great gift to the faith groups.  It challenges the status quo.  Recently, two Catholic bishops write two very different letters regarding the Catholic approach to LGBTQ people in loving and committed relationships.  Bishop of Springfield, IL was very exclusivist - no SSR (Same Sex Relationship) people are able to participate actively in the life of his diocese. The bishop of San Jose, CA welcomed people from SSR into a...

Keating says that fear doesn't help to create a relationship with G-d and that role of religion is to help to create that relationship. For centuries religion created fear in people. Sometimes religion can be an obstacle to the relationship with G-d. And yet, it can be the best way to help someone to have that relationship.

Cosmic Christ is Christ’s hospitality … Christ means anointed. Christ’s hospitality means anointed hospitality – hospitality of relationship. I and you are together in union for the moment of being in the presence of each other. Anointed hospitality means that we are in the presence of each other all the time. You and I are that hospitality. That hospitality has been manifested in the person of Jesus Christ. This is what I get from Fr. Thomas Keating 

There are some of us who like to live in a box. And, there are some of us who like to put others into box.  As a religious person I need to make sure I don't do this with my teachers and with my religion and especially with G-d that I believe in. By the definition my believe in G-d does not make sense - One in three plus human and divine. My believe in G-d is above any definition. 

"Jesus of Nazareth, himself, was not a Christian (a simple fact that I’ve seen folks turn somersaults trying to contradict). And Jesus of Nazareth, that wondrous and mystifying Palestinian Jew whom some of us believe was none other than the Christ of God, died a victim of political, religious and imperial violence." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-jinkins/call-it-what-you-want-but_b_9562406.html? This is a very interesting article. It makes us think about Jesus, America and Muslims and violence