MD What it means to believe in the orthodox Christian God

From: Sam Norton (elizaphanian@kohath.wanadoo.co.uk)
Date: Tue Aug 16 2005 - 13:11:35 BST

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    Hi Kevin,

    I thought this deserved it's own thread.

    > Sam wrote, "[...] I'm denying [...] the _existence_ of
    > God [...]" and "The
    > trouble comes with people who think they know what the
    > word God means [...]"
    >
    > Hello Sam. May I chime in?

    Be my guest.

    >
    > Your bio on the members page says you're the Rector of
    > a small Christian
    > congregation.

    Smallish. It's a 'combined benefice' of four different parishes, one large,
    three small. About 300+ regular members, so -as a job - it's actually the
    biggest in the area. But it's nothing like the 'big' churches, like
    Saddleback CA for example.

    > I'm a practicing Christian too. This
    > may be obvious from some of
    > my posts.

    Yes. I loved your reference to the Paschal mystery.

    > Anyway, I've read some of your posts and I
    > think I understand your
    > use of the term "existence." And then I don't. But
    > it's your position as
    > Rector of a church that creates a context that I just
    > can figure out. I ask
    > myself, what meaningful purpose would the leader of a
    > Christian community have
    > for engaging...no that's not quite right...for
    > championing a stumbling block.

    Sam gasps. That's precisely the opposite of what I was trying to do, ie I'm
    trying to 'remove' a stumbling block. But it's quite possible I've got it
    wrong.

    > This is a forum for discussions of things metaphysical
    > so it should be no
    > surprise to see the meaning of a word analyzed this
    > closely. <snip>
    > But I can't make
    > sense of the Rector of a
    > Christian community denying the existence of God.

    Well, be aware that a) this is a conversation that has been going on for a
    long time; b) it's a secular forum, so, despite appearances, I do normally
    keep the Christian language tied down; c) I'm not denying the reality of God
    or saying that I don't believe in God (because I believe in the reality of
    God 100%); d) my position is orthodox, ie in tune with the teachings of the
    mainstream Christian denominations, not least the Magisterium.

    > I'd like to share my thoughts on existence. Love
    > exists. <snip> God loves all of us.

    I agree with all of that. The principal function of religion (Christianity)
    is, for me, to educate us in love. The apparatus of doctrine and worship -
    developed as static latching mechanisms attempting to safeguard the dynamic
    breakthroughs made by Jesus - are things which are primarily functional, not
    definitional or descriptive. The traditions of prayer and spirituality are a
    highly sophisticated means of raising our emotional awareness - and
    therefore our cognitive capacity - in a qualitatively superior direction. In
    other words, if we really want to describe and understand a philosophy of
    love, we have to live it, not just talk about it. See:
    http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/0110/0034.html

    I wanted to talk about how this links in with Christian mysticism, but I've
    run out of time. More later.

    Sam

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