Interacting with Brian McLaren Ten Questions in A New Kind of Christianity: The TheOoze Interviews

First let me admit that I am still in the process of reading A New Kind of Christianity by Brian McLaren. Overall so far, I find it a thoughtful and thought provoking book and, I think that the questions are very necessary. In fact, a few years ago, I began to look at essential questions that would help recover the apostolic doctrine spoken of in Acts 2:42.

I am especially interested in the narrative question coupled with the authority question but, I see them as interlinked and interlocked. In the above interview with Spencer Burke on TheOoze Brian explains that the narrative as we understand it today is a foreign narrative and I believe that he is correct there. I do not have to rehash what he said as you can watch it for yourself and I suggest that you do several times.

What I would like to suggest is that rather than starting the narrative with Abraham… the rabbis have done that and... the new perspectives on Paul has done a lot of good work on changing the narrative… at least to a degree. But, I would actually like to see us begin our understanding of the narrative from Jesus perspective. Since we are Christians, followers of Jesus, then, what he taught about the narrative and biblical authority should in my view, be the driving force in determining our narrative.

One of the places where Jesus differed from the rabbinical line of thought about the narrative was in the definition of the word of God. In the New Testament writings He defined the word of God as the gospel of the kingdom and his followers defined it as either the gospel or Jesus himself. This gives the narrative a solely redemptive purpose. I am interested in what all of the critics of McLaren think about the totally redemptive focus that Jesus taught. Certainly, there is plenty of room for asking the questions and it would seem to me that the critics would be interested in the answers.

Holism; In the individual and in community

I think that holism is crying out to be adapted and adopted in Christianity. First, it should be adopted and adapted by individuals and, secondly, it should be adapted and adopted by believing communities. I acknowledge that there are groups across the country that are developing in this way. However, there should be many, many more and I think that this should be an important focus.

I went to the dictionary to find the definition of holism before I wrote this post because I wanted to be sure that I had a handle on the meaning and not just a connotative meaning that missed the mark. I don’t know about you but I have to look up terms that I have taken for granted from time to time and occasionally I am surprised to find that the connotative wide spread meaning that I have always accepted is not the real definition…but I digress, this should be the topic of another post.

Here is the dictionary definition: Holism; the theory that whole entities, as fundamental components of reality, have an existence other than as the mere sum of their parts. What I get from this definition is that when all of the parts are combined, acknowledged and working together the result is an entity that is more than the parts combined…it is an organism.

Therefore, in an individual the combination of the social self, the psychological self, the spiritual self, the economic self, the recreational self, the political self, the scientific self, the ethical self, the ritual or religious self and, the physical self should be integrated in a congruent manner….yet is it? Many people separate their spiritual, ritual and religious self from all of the other selves. Spirituality is isolated and not allowed to cross over into the economic self for example. We are different at church, different at home and, different at work. I have come to believe that the more we can totally integrate these separate selves into a harmonious whole, the better and, healthier we are.

Likewise, if the community is able to facilitate this harmony and not discourage it the better it is for the individual organism. We would do well to begin to dialog in each of these communities, i.e., our homes, work places and churches that can bring about the ability to interface each of our selves.

The two communities that inhibit this the most is the workplace and the church. We tend to try to hide our true selves in both of these settings to avoid being judged and criticized. Yet, I believe that to the degree that these communities can foster an open tolerant environment the easier it would be for the individual to incorporate his or her multiple selves into a single healthier whole.

Employers and pastors should be made aware of this so that the environment can be altered. 

I just launched a new blog today; A Paradigm Shift For Thoughtful Evangelicals

I just launched a new blog today. It is called A Paradigm Shift For Thoughtful Evangelicals. It is a blog that will unfold my paradigm shift five hundred words at a time. This is a shift that I have gone through over a period of time and I think that it could have an important effect on Christianity if enough people would grab a hold of it. At this point I am hopeful...that is cautiously optimistic. I hope you would pass it on to as many people as you think would be interested.


Check it out.

Holism; the future begins now

It is interesting to me that we humans fragment our existence. We compartmentalize so to speak. Thus, our lives are compartmentalized and fragmented. By this I mean that we have a certain way to be at work, another at home, another in our spiritual pursuits and it is not often that we are able to be a whole natural person. This is especially true with what I should like to call our practical selves and our spiritual selves. This is in my view the most compartmental and fragmented part of our existence. It seems to be quite difficult to merge our practical and spiritual selves. To be certain that I am communicating, I will define as precisely as possible the practical self and the spiritual self.

First, I define the practical self as the self that engages in commerce, politics, education and, socialization. It is the self that cooks meals, cleans the house, mows the lawn. It is the self that writes letters and communicates and eats meals. In other words it is the self that advances living day by day. The spiritual self then is the self that wonders about why we exist, that senses that there is more to life than what meets the eye. It is the self that is religious and superstitious. It is the creative self that seems connected to the muses. It is the self that senses the presence of God.

In many people, all too often these selves are separated and, as I have written in previous paragraphs they are fragmented and compartmentalized. This is not natural; children are not this way naturally. They are far more comfortable uniting the two. They are more holistic by nature and it seems that as they grow up and learn the ways of the elders they become more and more compartmentalized less holistic. I would like to suggest that we would be better off if we were able to have a more holistic approach to life. Connecting the natural mind and the spiritual mind brings about a level of creativity and problem solving that is not possible in a fragmented model of being.

This is one of the things that I am discovering as I do holosync. Without going into the workings of holosync technology, it seems to me that this type of meditation works toward allowing the practical and the spiritual to work together. This can be especially helpful in working the law of attraction. This allows me to bring affirmations of creativity into the practical realm. I guess what I am saying is that it is a good thing to take our awareness of the presence of the divine into the work place. I do not mean in the judgmental ways of condemning or approving of ones behaviors and mannerisms; not in an evangelical way of trying to get another person to think a certain way or be a certain way. I mean rather that it is good to realize the holistic nature of our selves and to allow the communication of the spiritual nature to interact with the practical. I am confident that it will add to success in very dynamic ways.

If you would like to comment it would be appreciated. This is an idea that welcomes discussion and disagreement.

Perfect love casts out fear

There seems to be a lot of fear mongering these days on every front. People are fearful of the economy, of the government, of gangs, of terrorists, of national debt and, the list goes on and on. From my evangelical circle connections come warnings of impending judgment and doom. It seems that fear is prevalent and, a driving force in day to day living and, yet those who are spiritual from many different persuasions have a message of the unconditional and undying love of the God of the Universe. Many are afraid, (here is fear again ;), of the connotation that the term God has received by various religious groups and, thereby are fearful to use the term; Yet, Bill Harris, in his Longevity CD, presents the following affirmation. “You are vibrating with energy, perfection and love,” What an interesting phrase; energy, perfection and love describe God. In other words, he suggests that we are vibrating God; that God indwells us at a molecular level. The New Testament says something very profound and I quote, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” (1John, 4).

As I meditate these days, I am becoming increasingly aware of the fact that I personally must allow myself to be made perfect in love and this realization casts out all fear and brings peace. In other words, being in the presence of God casts out fear and being in the presence of God is as easy as acknowledging his presence in all things. It is living in the present moment, in the now (thanks Eckhart Tolle). The present moment is the presence.

I am tired of the fear mongering. If you are fear mongering, don’t share it with me. On the other hand, if you are vibrating with energy perfection and love, I will take all the encouragement I can get. I want to reclaim some of the terms that have been co-opted and corrupted by evangelical Christianity. The indwelling Christ, the Christ within is this vibration of energy perfection and love. If you want to thump the bible, claim a specific revelation and, demand that a certain meaning is absolute then go ahead, but I for one am going to begin to use the combination of terms and allow them to have a new earth meaning. There are ways that we can be far more inclusive and remain true to an abiding faith in Christ. I am hopeful that over time more and more people of all faiths will embrace this ideal.

Finally, if this post seems to be scary remember that perfect love casts out all fear and that the one who fears has not been perfected in love.  I am trying my best not to throw the baby out with the bath water when it comes to my Christian walk and faith. I know, a good writer shouldn’t use so many clichés but sometimes you have to

The Forty Day Rule

Remember the scene in the movie the secret where they were explaining why things don’t manifest immediately when you think them; it was an elephant in the room and the aftermath of what that may have meant….big smile. I have come to realize that there is a specific time lag in the manifestation of intentions. It is the six weeks rule or more accurately the forty-day rule. Why forty days you ask? Well we can find that forty days is an important period of time in the bible. After all, Jesus went into the desert to fast for forty days after receiving the Holy Spirit. It essentially took forty days before he returned to manifest his spiritual power.

Think about it; it is said that it takes between thirty and forty days to create a habit, and personally, I intuitively go with the idea that it takes forty days. In fact, I would encourage you to test out this theory. Anything that you can put your attention towards for forty days will begin to manifest. Often, when it appears that the law of attraction is not working for people they tend to give up rather quickly and I know that I have been guilty of this myself. How often do we put our attention toward any kind of an affirmation for forty days straight? There are ancient calendars that have the years broken into forty day segments.

You can find this explanation at creation-answers.com “A quite exact cross-reference between the cycle of the solar day and the cycle of the solar year can thus be recognized in the rate of a 40-day cycle--where the rate of 1 day in 40 days is equal to 2.5 percent of time and the rate of 3205 days in 9 years is equal to 97.5 percent of time. (The combination of these two rates of days--when extended perpetually throughout time--can be used to effectively account for 100 percent of the passage of each annual annual circle on the average).”

There are other sources that speak of forty days and you can find out about it at the creation-answers website. Numerology and the cycle of nine relates nicely to the forty day period.

I would like to have a group of people test this theory. If you would sincerely concentrate and focus on affirmations for forty days, and give me feedback it would be greatly appreciated. You can give me the feedback at joe@rijenterprises.com. Here is what I propose you do. Mark the calendar and begin to concentrate with your full intention for forty days. I would appreciate a detailed report of your findings. You should develop affirmations for the forty-day period. You should concentrate, meditate and put your full present intention on this for forty days. I am believing that you will be amazed with the results and will be able to give positive feed back.

Remember. Email me with the results in forty days.

Freeing Your Mind by Roy Heeley; A book review

I recently read an e-book written by Roy Heeley entitled Freeing Your Mind. It is an excellent read that will help you evaluate your thinking and provide you specific steps to alter your thinking which in turn will help you have a more positive outlook which will bring more positive outcomes in your life. Roy writes about “life sentences” which, is a play on words meaning that we often speak and think things that become self fulfilling prophecies that act like “life sentences” to us. These “life sentences” keep us bound in deleterious thought patterns that continue to manifest things that are not in our best interest and, end up causing us trouble in life.

Here is Roy’s own words about life sentences: “So what are these Life Sentences that I am talking about and affect our lives so significantly? Well as you can imagine from the name, just like a lifetime jail sentence, it’s something that that places you in bondage, holds you captive and controls your life. It’s every bit as confining and limiting as a jail cell but, resides in the confines of the mind, the sub-concious.”

He goes on to provide details that are very helpful in understanding this phenomenon. He helps you identify some of the “life sentences” that may be operating in your mind. Things that people say when you are a child often form these things very deeply. You may have been told that you cannot carry a tune, or you’re no good at math; they can be sentences that adults say to you that keep being repeated until they become a belief that your subconscious mind believes and acts upon.

He also offers techniques that will help to free you from these life sentences ergo, the title Freeing Your Mind. The method that he recommends and uses as a life and motivational coach is EFT by Larry Craig. If you are inclined to look at books like the Secret, The Power of Now and A New Earth, you will do yourself a favor by reading Freeing Your Mind. You can find it here and you can check out Roy’s blog and website. Thanks Roy!