Friday, October 21, 2005
One God?
Over at pomomusings, a post on praying with Muslims drew many questions on whether or not Christians and Muslims are praying to the same God? The general consensus was that no, they are not, due to the trinitarian beliefs of orthodox Christianity.
This is so weird to me, because it seems like orthodox Christianity is also monotheist. So there is only ONE God.
Unless there are a bunch of Gods out there for different religions, which is certainly one method of dealing with pluralism but not one I hear very often, isn't the actual question whether the ONE God hears prayers of those who use the wrong name, or don't believe he came to earth, or think he is revealed through a prophet and a book that is not the Bible?
I just see the problem as more in what the ONE God will tolerate as far as differing beliefs about him than in the question of to what God are people praying?
Am I off base on this logical progression somewhere?
This is so weird to me, because it seems like orthodox Christianity is also monotheist. So there is only ONE God.
Unless there are a bunch of Gods out there for different religions, which is certainly one method of dealing with pluralism but not one I hear very often, isn't the actual question whether the ONE God hears prayers of those who use the wrong name, or don't believe he came to earth, or think he is revealed through a prophet and a book that is not the Bible?
I just see the problem as more in what the ONE God will tolerate as far as differing beliefs about him than in the question of to what God are people praying?
Am I off base on this logical progression somewhere?
Saturday, October 15, 2005
Nice Day with the Parents
My mom and stepdad came up to visit this weekend. They made me a headboard and today we installed it and rearranged the bedroom around it. We also built a bathroom cabinet.
Before that, we went to Virginia Highlands and walked around. We saw some neat mid-century modern furniture at a few shops down there, then went to Highland Hardware, which was a really cool hardware store with lots of woodworking tools and books, and we ate at Everybody's Pizza, out on the patio, which overlooked the trees behind the shops. It was such a nice day for a walk and eating outside.
We also went to Best Buy for a flat screen monitor, which was necessitated by the rearranging and a little pricy, but when I got home with it, I found out I got two different $50 rebates with it, rather than the one I was expecting, so it only ended up costing us about $145. That was awesome.
What a great day!
Before that, we went to Virginia Highlands and walked around. We saw some neat mid-century modern furniture at a few shops down there, then went to Highland Hardware, which was a really cool hardware store with lots of woodworking tools and books, and we ate at Everybody's Pizza, out on the patio, which overlooked the trees behind the shops. It was such a nice day for a walk and eating outside.
We also went to Best Buy for a flat screen monitor, which was necessitated by the rearranging and a little pricy, but when I got home with it, I found out I got two different $50 rebates with it, rather than the one I was expecting, so it only ended up costing us about $145. That was awesome.
What a great day!
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Liberal Baptists?
As I have posted, we have been going to a very liberal Baptist/UCC church now that we're in Atlanta. I like it because it has communion every Sunday, is liturgically oriented, and is welcoming to all, without all the conditions you find in many churches, such as baptised only, straight only, etc.
Today I got an email from the advisor of the Baptist Studies Program at Candler asking if I wanted to get involved in some of their activities. I said yes, but then I thought, maybe I should do a little more research into this Baptist thing.
Here are some places I looked:
Alliance of Baptists-This organization, with 9 churches in Georgia, formed in 1987, is a network of pretty liberal Baptist churches. It has an ecumenical agreement with the United Church of Christ and the Churches of Christ, Disciples. This is the organization to which Virginia Highland Church belongs. There is some overlap with:
American Baptists-This is the other half of the Convention that split over slavery and produced the Southern Baptists. Moderately liberal and racially diverse, with 22 churches in Georgia, one of which is Georgia Avenue Church, the church which houses my Con Ed site, Georgia Avenue Community Ministries.
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship-Another network of churches, 40 in Georgia. Moderate, with an emphasis on individual and congregational freedom, it does not take positions on issues, but focuses on networking congregations. Surprisingly, a church from my hometown is a member, but not First Baptist, which is Southern Baptist all the way.
Progressive Baptist.net-a progressive Baptist blogger, getting a PhD at Brite Seminary.
I will post more resources as I find them.
Today I got an email from the advisor of the Baptist Studies Program at Candler asking if I wanted to get involved in some of their activities. I said yes, but then I thought, maybe I should do a little more research into this Baptist thing.
Here are some places I looked:
Alliance of Baptists-This organization, with 9 churches in Georgia, formed in 1987, is a network of pretty liberal Baptist churches. It has an ecumenical agreement with the United Church of Christ and the Churches of Christ, Disciples. This is the organization to which Virginia Highland Church belongs. There is some overlap with:
American Baptists-This is the other half of the Convention that split over slavery and produced the Southern Baptists. Moderately liberal and racially diverse, with 22 churches in Georgia, one of which is Georgia Avenue Church, the church which houses my Con Ed site, Georgia Avenue Community Ministries.
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship-Another network of churches, 40 in Georgia. Moderate, with an emphasis on individual and congregational freedom, it does not take positions on issues, but focuses on networking congregations. Surprisingly, a church from my hometown is a member, but not First Baptist, which is Southern Baptist all the way.
Progressive Baptist.net-a progressive Baptist blogger, getting a PhD at Brite Seminary.
I will post more resources as I find them.
Monday, October 03, 2005
A few cool links
There is an emergent cohort in Atlanta now:
Emerging Phoenix/*
*For those of you who don't know, "One of the city's nicknames, "The Phoenix City", relates to its rise after the Civil War. The phoenix appears in many of Atlanta's symbols, including its seal and flag." wikipedia
I haven't made it to the meetings yet, they had one last week, but things are still so crazy for me.
Also the description of this blog is fairly close to my theology, so I added it to my kinja blog feed:
Wildfaith
Went to Oakland Cemetary/ for a Cemetery Festival yesterday after church. It was so fun, there was old time music and a victorian costume contest, and I ran into an old friend from college.
Last week was pretty crazy and we ate out way too much because today is the first day I felt totally awake ever since the Edelman event. I have three short assignments to finish up this morning and then laundry and reading this evening, with a fun break for soap operas in the afternoon.
Emerging Phoenix/*
*For those of you who don't know, "One of the city's nicknames, "The Phoenix City", relates to its rise after the Civil War. The phoenix appears in many of Atlanta's symbols, including its seal and flag." wikipedia
I haven't made it to the meetings yet, they had one last week, but things are still so crazy for me.
Also the description of this blog is fairly close to my theology, so I added it to my kinja blog feed:
Wildfaith
Went to Oakland Cemetary/ for a Cemetery Festival yesterday after church. It was so fun, there was old time music and a victorian costume contest, and I ran into an old friend from college.
Last week was pretty crazy and we ate out way too much because today is the first day I felt totally awake ever since the Edelman event. I have three short assignments to finish up this morning and then laundry and reading this evening, with a fun break for soap operas in the afternoon.
