False Prophet

We have been warned for generations to be on the lookout for false prophets who will lead astray. While the world has been on the lookout for one individual, a team of false prophets has led us away from the promised land.

I am a spiritual person. My relationship with God is one of the many things I am very content with, though if you know me you wouldn't figure that is the case. As a spiritual person I am befuddled by the tennis match being played in American politics with spirituality and religion. Last week, the President spoke at the commencement of a religious college (he asked the college if he could speak there) and was met with a diverse faculty that disagrees with his use of Christianity for his own political ends. It was refreshing to see some of these Christians stand up and say that this President doesn't represent all of us.

The Presidents commencement speach went off without much ado, but the message was put out there for a little while, at least, that one political party does not have a monopoly on God. But do you think that Frist and Co. will get the message?

I just saw a political ad in the paper by the Focus on the Family PAC which was directed against Ken Salazar and his stance on the whole filibuster issue. Focus on the Family has some good people working there (I've known a few), but am I the only one that feels that such direct political campaigns by a religious organization sullies the reputation of that institution? You expect religious organizations to be above the fray, staying out of politics and guiding their flock through spiritual counseling, not legislative maneuvering.

You also expect the government to keep a distance from religious inclusion so as not to alienate those who do not share their religious zeal. Granted, the Bush administration owes the election of 2004 to their Christian base, but as a Christian do you really want to be associated with any politician?

Religion should go beyond politics, and should deal with the soul. If your message is so weak that you must have a PAC which "lobbies" an agenda, how strong is your faith, in the end?

The Newsweek Scandal: I'm Not Buying It

This week, the May 9 story in Newsweek has erupted into quite a scandal. After reading Newsweeks response to the scandal, I am forced to read between the lines. Regarding the allegation of flushing the Qu'ran down the toilet, "...their information came from a knowledgeable U.S. government source, and before deciding whether to publish it we approached two separate Defense Department officials for comment. One declined to give us a response; the other challenged another aspect of the story but did not dispute the Qur'an charge." Which basically means that the officials confirmed the allegations by their silence. Then, after the firestorm, "Our original source later said he couldn't be certain about reading of the alleged Qur'an incident in the report we cited, and said it might have been in other investigative documents or drafts. " Convenient that the original source changed his story after the White House began to apply pressure.

Gnostic Deism

For many years now I have have been struggling with my "label". What am I? What word or words define my set of beliefs? For a long time I've been content to stay away from labels as I believed them to be to readily "closed". Not closed-minded, but as soon as you label yourself with something you also paint a picture in the mind of others as to what that means.For example, if I were to say I were a Christian each of us would immediately have an impression as to what "I am", fairly or unfairly depending on your perception. If I state that I do not have a label of my beliefs, this would also provide an impression of what "I am" But now, I feel that a closed label would not inappropriate as long as the underlying beliefs are open. I've come up with a term I like, though I'm not sure if my defintion jives with traditional defintions.

Gnostic Deism is something that seems suitable. Gnostic is used to explain my undersanding that every religious text and spiritual teaching is more than the literal explanation, and that these works and traditions were/are intended to teach us something deeper about ourselves as people, as about ourselves individually. Gnosis in my view, is the "search" for an experiential knowledge of truth, which requires study, meditation, and calm. Deism is used to explain my understanding of the universe. Pantheism could apply as well, but looking at the two models there is a grey line that I skip over constantly. In Deism, you revere the tangible and the empiracle, but you also pay attention to the intangible and intuition and feeling...to a point. In fact, Deism for me is the belief that you must strive for a balance between reason and spirituality in yourself, less you be dominated by one over the other. I like Gnostic Deism for now. Next week we'll see if I feel the same...