We are a interfaith spiritual community who accept all people without judgment and who desire to work and gather as a community striving for social justice.
Sent on to the Social Justice Team at the UU I had been attending. However, I am tired of trying to ameliorate poverty with donations and food banks, trying to fix our broken Heath Care for profit system (retired RN) with “Go Fund Me” campaigns and thinking getting out the vote will fix things when things are rigged and powered on both sides by $. (That said, I am wearing oversized pearls, a coach’s whistle and my blue T that has the State of Liberty on it, emblazoned with “I’m with her!” On it when I go vote ASAP! Oh, I am also former Coast Guard officer, with degree in education. And I am your “AMEN!” Corner. And contributor when o can get things to go through…
You have so eloquently stated what I have thought and tried to communicate for a long time. This "sermon"should be printed and distributed across our country. I plan to share this with anyone who will just listen.
If more churches preached love like this I would have a greater respect for the their institution as a positive influence in the world, regardless of whether I believe or not
The fundamentalist concern with IVF is usually that multiple embryos are created, but often not all embryos are transferred to uterus. They see this is murder, since they believe life begins at conception. There are some other issues they raise as well, but I think that’s the main one.
Government like political campaigns can only survive with money. The Don The Con for King campaign is relying on grifts and small donations from MAGA faithful to pay for lawyers and jet fuel to keep the Tr*mp airplane flying between his golf courses and his Hannibal Tour rallies. The history and DNA of America is No Taxation Without Representation, ala the Boston Tea Party. Even prior to Project 2025 plans the RepubliCON Party has always been anti-IRS and wants to layoff IRS agents and employees. Don King's friend, wannabe King Don said he was "smart" by avoiding paying his taxes (we are still waiting for his 2016 IRS Audit) in his debate against Hillary. So, the American people will surely be smart enough to become tax avoiders like Draft Dodge Tax Dodge Donnie. The American people will cause Lying' Don's Continental Casino and Country Club Kingdom to go bankrupt just like his New Jersey casinos. Start talking with a tax planner now, or make your own plan. The Scripture says, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's". If you interpret that literally, it doesn't say Orange Julius Caesar, does it? Sorry, no taxes for Orange Julius, King of False Social. It's the smart thing to do! Project 2025 sounds like Soviet style central planning. It's not going to go well for Don The Commie. Bring it on Heritage Flounders! 🤑🤑🤑
The majority of people have "cognitive dissonance" because of lack of a personal experience. What this arrogant man has not even figured out himself is that "he himself" cannot think outside the box. When you are ready to "know" the teacher will come. This teacher is the Holy Spirit - which Jesus talked about ---- one of the reasons He had to return to spirit realm. The Holy Spirit will meet you where you are at and "open your eyes" to truth. The truth is: Jesus came to help us understand that, yes, indeed, we MUST BE BORN AGAIN. This man is Stupid Being born again is a spiritual birth - rebirth --- an awakening............ a spiritual ascension. I have met this man before and his "energy is arrogant and condescending to people who are not quite "ready yet" to receive truth. Makes me sick sick sick to know of his negative influence upon the Christian Church
Thank you for today's message. It's very appropriate for me this week with a conflict that I haven't handled as well as I could have. It's understandable that Children can be scared of dark , but as adults we shouldn't be at all scared of the light. As Adults we need to learn the Art of having Adult Conversations in a respectfully manner willing to change our minds. As you used examples this is at all levels of Society. At Work. At level politics With our Political Opinions. Religious/ Moral Opions. The challenge is having these civilised conversations and are we willing to listen debate and even change our position. I/ we, can NOT Be right all the time, how humble are we really.??? Thanks again for your practical address for all of us. Paul, from Australia.
Biologists are now saying that many of the higher mammals can be observed exhibiting behaviours that are consistent with higher types of consciousness than previously thought. In great apes it’s suggested that self-awareness may be present.
A Pastor ???? or Woke Brainwashed Person. This guy make me Remember. The Film Dumb and Dumber. (Blind leading the Blind. ) Wolves in Sheep's Clothing ?? . Be God Wise and Stay Well Clear of this Guy . JESUS LOVES YOU FOLLOW HIM .
If religion is defined as belief/worship of a god, why call non-religion by the word "religion"? Nobody prevents me (a non-religious atheist) from saying I value morality, justice, love, beauty, etc. In fact if someone thinks I don't value those things _only_ on the basis of my non-religiousness, then they're simply being irrational, because none of those things requires belief/worship of a god to function.
I once played an adult confirmation service (organ) which hBishop Spong presided over. Such a wonderful and uplifting person. His sermon really uplifted everyone and during the passing of the peace he came over to the organ and choir and greeted everyone. He then autographed one of his books for me. A truly great man and I am truly thankful to have been able to meet him in person.
Even with my combined background as a Roman Catholic youth and my limited scientific knowledge, I am not convinced of anything existing outside of nature. The aforementioned beliefs were handed down to us by our primitive ancestors, from a time when myth and superstition were the norm. These belief systems were in search of an understanding by human beings, for the reason and purpose of our existence. Today, in the modern world, we have come to believe that the reason and purpose of our existence can only be determined by us individually, otherwise we have no reason and purpose for our existence. Life came into existence finite, that is, it is subject to the “2nd Law of Thermodynamics which relies on a concept known as entropy. Entropy is a measure of the disorder of a system. Entropy also describes how much energy is not available to do work. The more disordered a system and higher the entropy, the less of a system's energy is available to do work.” Simply put, in other words, we live, and we die. Life came into existence fallible. Nature was human beings greatest teacher and provider. It gave us shelter, and with the stars overhead we were able to keep track of time with the seasons. It provided us with food, clothing to cover our bodies, and medicine for whatever ailed us. With fire we were able to cook our food, giving us the ability to input more neurons into our cerebral cortex providing us with a large brain capable of collective learning. Because of our inherited emotional, intellectual, and cultural shortcomings, humans are capable of getting a number of things wrong and they do. Humans are capable of, and do make, erroneous decisions throughout their entire existence. To complicate matters, religion came into existence, and with it, religious dogmatism and theocracy. Because we are finite and fallible, it is my opinion that we are a “product of evolution” with the ability to learn collectively. If a loving, merciful, all knowing, and all-powerful God created us, would you not think that He/It would have created us, instead, as finite and impeccable . For what reason would He/It create us as fallible; to populate the eternity known as Hell? I personally cannot believe that a loving, merciful, all knowing, and all-powerful God would create an eternal hell to punish those who had no say in the matter of their creation. Well, one might mention the excuse that, God gave us “Free Will.” I reject that excuse. We are programmed from birth by our biological development, our environment, our authority figures, and our cultural societies, good and/or bad, which means everything that we do is “Determined.” There is a point in our lives when we might be able to exercise “limited” Free Will, but that would not be before we reach the “Age of Reason and Common Sense.” Many do not reach that level of maturity. and those that do, find these attributes constantly evolving over their entire lifetime.
Wonderful. Thank you so much. Am in the UK. No progressive church near me. I loved listening to Jack Spong. So glad to now find your channel. This sermon gives me hope. Also that others out there are realising for the current ypung generation , they are not Bible literate. Plus us old timers are listening to the bible scholars and realising the Bible is written by humans.
Hi Rachel. Hope you’re doing well. I’m very happy you are asking the important questions and I want to emphasize Hod embraces your feelings, questions, and adjustments to your beliefs. It’s natural and a sign of maturity to ask these questions. Some people are so terrified and threatened by every “other” outside their tribe that they will project their fear of nuance on you with veiled threats of God’s abandonment of you - and of course it’s your own fault because you were given the offer (shake-down) of Salvation theology. But many Christians will embrace you with all your doubts and questions - most of all God, the Father, who rejoices that you’re interested enough to ask. When I was pretty ready to walk away from Christianity some 35 years ago, my decision was based on the tribal egotism of fundamentalists who have the pretense to define God and Jesus to everyone else - especially Christians that ask difficult questions. I find literalism intellectually dishonest and I know many of them agree but keep it to themselves. Imagine my surprise when I stumbled across one of Bishop John Shelby Spong’s first books RESCUING THE BIBLE FROM FUNDAMENTALISM. It changed my life, brought me closer to God and my understanding of what Jesus was getting at. I’ve read a lot of his books and watched lots of debates and talks he has given that are now posted to RU-vid. I find this one particularly excellent at presenting an understanding of Christianity that stopped me from throwing out baby Jesus with the bath water. It’s all good for thought and your journey is yours, but through my life I’ve learned some things and said to myself “I wish someone had told me about this years ago”…So here you are. I hope it helps your understanding of Christianity. Never forget: the Loving Father and creator of the universe might just be wise enough to love you even deeper because of, not in spite of, your sincere questions. If you can glean one nuggets from this, you’re a little more ahead than before. Love you and be gentle on yourself. 😊🙏❤️😊😁.
Great-- except you threw in "the soviet union" in a terrible resurrection of the Cold War. I am anti-war. We should not be engaging in proxy war. Was wrong in Vietnam, is now wrong in Ukraine. (See the late Stephen Cohen's book "War With Russia?" and everything Dr. Mearsheimer speaks about today. ) Please be consistent in anti-war stance. It is not humanitarian to send weapons to fight a war that cannot be won. Diplomacy is required.
I am, and have always been an Independent. I spent a 34 year career in the aircraft industry and for the most part I leaned to the Right. The Right was strong on giving military contracts to the aircraft industry. I sent a lifetime, first as a USAF military brat, enlisted in the USAF, spent 6 Yrs total in support of NATO, then throughout my civilian career I worked directly with the USAF as they were my customer. Then I retired. During Trump's 2015 campaign I recognized him as a Mussolini wannabe, he has never proved me wrong. with the House being a clown circus today and the Senate performance under the leadership of Mitch McConnell, I do not think I will vote Republican for the rest of my life. I say all of this, because I concur totally with the speaker in this video. I ask whomever read these words, learn the history of our country, and understand we have made mistakes, but we have always tried to improve it. The only way to improve it, is to work toward the happiness and progress for every citizen in the USA and our allies regardless of their race or creed.
I have had several conversations with folks that will be voting for Trump but could care less about his policies, not the "he could ..... and I would still vote for him" side but the "name one thing politicians have done for me in the past 20 years" side and want to watch the system burn down and worry about cleaning up later. We are down to a "Road warrior" apocalypse or a Star Trek future, AI and automation have turned the job market into a game of musical chairs. It is time to get off the Neoliberal train that has pushed "corporate rights" over "human rights" forgetting that the birth of our nation was about this exact same issue, King George and his elite created corporate tax loop holes for the East India Trading company and caused anarchists to throw tea into the Boston Harbor, and when the elite responded with even more rules our forefathers a bunch of 20 - 30 year old hot heads lead by a handful of wise old guys created the Declaration of Independence built on the core belief written in the Spring of 1776. “Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity and happiness of the people; and not for the profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men.” - John Adams The Declaration of Independence echos this where it states ... all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. ... That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men ... This implies that the only reason for a government to exist and its sole responsibility is to protect “ Human Rights ” of which the most notable list is the “ Universal Declaration of Human Rights ”.
Correct. People might for example "accept" Jesus one Sunday afternoon at a revival meeting, and then forget most everything about the event or the Bible or attending church. Now I'm not against revival meetings, preaching, Bible study and so forth. But for individuals to want to do those things, God has to awaken them! See Ephesians 2:1-5 Verse 5: Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) See where it says "dead" ... adjust it a tad to read "DEAD!!" God must instill new spiritual life within us for us to be "born again". We don't "select" or "accept" the all knowing all powerful ever present God Almighty like ordering from an a-la-carte brunch menu! Thanks.
Exactly correct. I disagree with the use of "accepted". God Almighty is just that without my casting a nod of approval. The following is only 3.5 mins and my response to the video here. Many thanks. "Why we Can't Choose God" by R.C. Sproul: m.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-b0C8AArEk3E.html
It's true that the Bible doesn't include the word "personal". But that was a modern way of wording what was felt to be in the Bible; that people must accept not just that Jesus is a savior in the abstract, but that they are accepting Jesus' salvation. What the Bible does say, however, is that salvation is by faith, not by works; even though it also says that faith without works is dead. So you don't get saved by feeding the hungry or clothing the naked; in fact, you don't even stay saved that way (that's Galatianism) but you will do those things if you really are saved, because those things please God, and you will want to please God.
This is great, I remember when the Calvinist Born-Again movement was fairly strong back in the 1980's to 1990's, I knew quite a few people turned to this theology. Not surprisingly, some of them had pasts they wanted to escape for good, I guess they thought it could be done through the belief that Jesus died for them personally.
