the secular view of a disposable world

A similar image is that Earth itself is disposable. According to some popular views, Earth will continue to deteriorate until its final destruction at the hands of God. Before that day of wrath, however, the faithful will be caught up in the rapture to escape the final conflagration. Earth itself is destined for destruction, as if God would slough off Continue Reading

Other-worldly religion

EARTH AS DISPOSABLE; HEAVEN-ISM AS SIN: One reason we have sinned against creation is that we have focused on an other-worldly religion to the detriment of Earth. We have relegated God to heaven and to a life after death, seeing this world merely as a place of pilgrimage or even just as a place for human mastery. This view may Continue Reading

Our sins against Creation

“It is appropriate in our worship that we make confession of our sins against creation. Having invoked the presence of God the Creator, having seen Earth as the sanctuary of our worship, having established our human solidarity with all creation, and having invited the whole Earth community into a chorus of praise, we must now acknowledge our broken relationship with Continue Reading

Not worship OF Creation but Worship WITH Creation

“This biblical revelation of how the glory of God fills Earth-and indeed all of creation—does not claim that creation itself is God. We do not worship creation. God’s presence is “in, with, and under” every aspect of this world, as Martin Luther teaches us. Of course, the most powerful and definitive revelation of God’s glory is seen in the person Continue Reading

The neglect (and denial) of the churches heighten the emotional toll of climate change

Re: this previously highlighted quote:  “imagine what the cultural expression of climate change denial and avoidance does to compound the depression, anxiety, and grief! ” — Margaret Swedish in New Creation News https://buff.ly/2QGWyZx (re: the grief such as that written about in https://www.nbcnews.com/health/mental-health/climate-grief-growing-emotional-toll-climate-change-n946751 Imagine what the church’s silence on this, even in so-called “Progressive” denominations and church communities, does to Continue Reading

Abusing the Bible

“For all its inspiration, for all the lives it has changed, the Bible is undeniably problematic. Put in the hands of egocentric, unloving, or power-hungry people or those who have never learned how to read spiritually inspired literature, it is almost always a disaster.” — Richard Rohr And: “Just as the Bible takes us through many stages of consciousness and history, Continue Reading

The calming, centering effects of time spent in nature

““scientists believe that we evolved to be more relaxed in natural spaces.” — From a Facebook post linked  article.Gives further credence to the idea of natural revelation, for which the Scriptures themselves are witness. Some theologians have called the natural world one of “two Scriptures”; one of written word, the other of God revealed through Creation.

Evangelicalism’s Capitalist Captivity

From the previously shared article: “Jesus’ cross is an invitation not a payment; insofar as it functions as a “payment,” its purpose is to invite us to stop justifying our sins and enter into honest, authentic communion with God. We are invited to join Jesus in the poverty of his cruciform death and resurrection. To embrace Jesus’ cross in its Continue Reading