Sunday nights

Interesting interview on Sunday Nights with John Cleary and John Bodycome on the ABC.



Cleary described Bodycome as the 'Australian' equivalent of Jack Spong. Which I think after listening to the interview I thought was a fair description.

Some thoughts

::After listening to this stuff I don't really know what to believe.
::I'm thankful that for the Uniting Church that people can have the freedom to think differently about Christian faith.
:: Liked Bodycome's answer of how he thought that Jesus was the way for him, yet didn't discount other faiths
:: Disagreed with his answer on why the Uniting Church was in decline. I think you can have a 'progressive' theology with a contemporary service. It seems to me that the Uniting Churches I've been in have a 'progressive' theology with a service which is very old and caters for its aging congregation.
:: Will try to get hold of his book...


You can listen to the interview here

Inclusive Christianity

One of the things that I can't stand especially with Christianity is from the pulpit or some other manner. An exclusive understanding of theology and Christianity.

For me I've come to the opinion that I actually enjoy a variety of understandings of theology on different topics. I don't believe that it Jesus was exclusive in the way humanity understood things or he wouldn't have spoken in parables. I think you can have a variety of opinions and still be a Christian.

Some blog reading and pod casts which reveal an openness to different expressions within Christianity I've been reading are::

Mark Connors has written a series on his blog on the end times.

Over the years there has been a variety of approaches to interpreting the book of Revelation. There are three broad categories of how people have interpreted this book through the centuries:

What I liked about Mark's approach is that he gives each position positive and negatives yet leaving it up to the reader to make up there own mind.

Sunday Nights with John Cleary on the ABC

He recently put on a program on Genesis. Looking at if there is a conflict with science.

The panel looked nice and varied, yet it was a disappointment. They seemed to just end up agreeing with one another.

The only controversy was when senator Barnaby Joyce turned up. Said some things about Genesis and ended up trying to score some political points. It ended up leaving the program right off track. (I would have respected the guy a lot more if he just spoke to the topic.)

Lastly the journey of 'The naked pastor' and his look at the bible and the journey he has taken in understanding it.

For me, the bible used to be The Truth. Then, the bible became truth. Then, the bible became something that contained the truth. These are all deficient. Now I see that the bible points to the Truth. Actually, this is quite Barthian. He compared the bible to John the Baptist who pointed to the Light.

Reading the naked pastor has been interesting because in many ways. I've come to similar conclusions but through different paths...