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C. S. Lewis wrote a marvelous litle book giving his views on what "hell" is or may be, called The Great Divorce. It makes sense of a subject that is usually considered insoluble, and on which people tend to take sides and have intense red-faced arguments ... Consider: if there is no hell...

Glad you could figure that out so quickly.

In the world of horse racing,the word "meek" signifies a horse that is trained to respond to the command of its rider. Such a horse may be quite powerful, fleet, and elegant, but will not be capable of winning a race if it is not meek. Moses was described as being "meek," and we know he had a...

When one has to "interpret" Scripture like a crazed philosopher, Strong's in one hand and a thesaurus in the other, "discovering" that this word or that "really" means this or that (something else besides the plainly evident meanng), then one is not dealing with Scripture at all, but with one's...

I was involved in a discussion of this topic on another message board, and thought I'd share what I posted there on the subject. Some of this repeats what others have already posted here, of course. Just my 2¢... BIBLIOLATRY Since the subject has arisen, and some have shown interest in it...

Agreed, totally, provided it is understood that the word "love" is used properly. Today, "love" is a word that is [mis]used to signify anything from liking your dog to sleeping with your pick-up from the local bar. In Scripture, Love = God = Love, period. I would say again, priorities matter...

Makes me think of all the TV evangelists I have heard, shouting at me that "the bible is the Woooord of Gawd" ... Certainly the bible tells us about the Word of God, but the bible itself tells us it is not the Word of God; that in fact the Lord Jesus Christ is the Word of God, made flesh...

Atheism: the belief that there was nothing and nothing happened to nothing and then nothing magically exploded for no reason, creating everything and then a bunch of everything magically rearranged itself for no reason whatsoever into self-replicating bits which then turned into dinosaurs...

The final flaw in any discussion such as this is the human propensity for providing our own measuring standard and then applying it to the Creator of Standards. As C. S. Lewis pointed out, if one has two boards and wishes to measure which will fit in the project one is building, the standard...

Interesting. In 35 years as a member of AA I have never heard this oattitude expressed. What I have heard is, "If you are an alcoholic, we have a program that may help you recover." We acknowledge that other programs, including psychiatric treatment, rehab, and church, are effective for many...

I consult AA, and a number of great writers such as Lewis and Chesterton, and my rector, and friends, and people on this board and others, because I am not one who believes that followers of Jesus follow in isolation. My problem is not with association or fellowship or consulting others: my...

I have a real problemwith the label "Christian," simply becaue in this day and age it can and does mean just about anythiing anyone wants it to mean. It is applied to Catholic and Mormon alike, to Presbyterian and JW alike, I read of "Christian witches" and prosperity gospels and...

All of this assumes (incorrectly, IMO) that the kingdom of Heaven is a place at all. Jesus said, "the kingdom of God is within you." Did He actually mean a literal "place?' If so, where is it? In the spleen? Is it visible under a microscpe? I must agree with Taijasi: the "Kingdom of Heaven" is...

you may have something there. IMO "religious" does not equate to "spiritual" necessarily. I see churches (even the one I belong to) as "religion clubs," like any other club havng a stated purpose, rules and regulations, and rites or activities that unite the members. Imn other words -- a social...

[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR] Suzanne Langer, in the astonishing book Philosophy In A New Key, discusses this and makes a distinction between "signs" and "symbols." To the dog, "cookie" is a sign, not a symbol: it does not invoke an image of a cookie: it invokes a response of looking about to find...

Here's a definition f "religion"that I hve found workable: Religion: a set of doctrines, plus a set of rules and regulations that are inferred from those doctrines, and a set of rituals (including jargon & terminology) that unite and identify the adherents of those doctrines. Spirituality...

I'd say, just stay with the flow you are in. Not everyone will agree with this, but ... it doesn;t make a rat's tooth of difference what church you attend. Churches are religion clubs, each with its own membership rules and regulations, its own special jargon and terminology, and there's nothing...

At the end of his life, St. Thomas was urged to continue writing and refused, saying, "I can write no more. I have seen things that make my writings seem as straw." The greatest of all theologians had transcended theology.

The dilemma is presented exactly,tough in an entirely diffeentform, in the novel The Cruel Sea (and the movie as well). In it the captain of the frigate Compass Rose has a U-boat in sight, below the surface, where his depth charges can destroy it: on the surface above are a number of British...

That is the rationale for my statement. So long as we inhabit bodies, we cannot discount the effect of that body on anything we do, including meditation and/or other spiritual practices. And I have found that consuming reasonable amounts of fish or chicken has little effect in that regard...