Q:You agree with Spong that neither Heaven nor Hell don't exist...I sympathise with a lot of your concerns, but honestly..

returningtheticket

I do not believe in a place where people are tortured for their sins forever. I do believe in what could be called “heaven.” It is not the pearly white gated place that is popular in modern depictions. I didn’t think Spong said there was no heaven and hell. I took it as the idea of using heaven VS hell as a carrot/stick for the uneducated masses was a human invention (which I can agree with).

My favorite heavenly allegory is “The Great Divorce” by C.S. Lewis. It is pretty perfect. Rob Bell’s “Love Wins” is also pretty good.

I also believe in deep ecumenism. I believe that all religions are lead by the holy spirit. I believe that they are all roads to God, they just have different starting points. I believe there are things that religions can teach each other (like the conversations between Merton and Suzuki). I believe that each religion is a cultures way of grasping at that which cannot be grasped. I was raised Catholic and have experienced many other religions. I feel that it’s prophetic vision and mysticism as shown in Eckhart and Merton fit me perfectly.

I also agree with Christian Wiman when he said, “I am convinced that the same God that might call me to sing of God at one time might call me at another to sing of godlessness. Sometimes when I think of all of this energy that’s going on, all of these different people trying to find some way of naming and sharing their belief, I think it may be the case that God calls some people to unbelief in order that faith can take new forms.”

I try not to get too terribly personal on this blog because it represents a group I’m a part of. These beliefs are strictly my own and not what CJC’s mission is about. I am thinking about trying to write about this stuff on my personal blog, YourBeardedBrother. Most of this metaphysical stuff is really hard for me to put into words, maybe forcing myself to write about it will help.

Thanks for the question. I hope this helped a bit. Let me know if you need me to explain anything else a bit more.

Have a great weekend!

Catholic school employee fired...for being a victim of domestic abuse?

“We’ve heard recently of Catholic school employees being fired from their positions for various reasons (being in a same-sex relationship, or getting pregnant through IVF), which are usually accompanied by explanations about how behaviors are in conflict with official church teaching. That doesn’t seem to be the case for San Diego second-grade teacher Carie Charlesworth, who was told she would not receive a teaching agreement for next year.

After an incident in which Charlesworth’s abusive ex-husband appeared at the school where she taught and where their four children attend, the school decided that in the interest of safety, it could not allow her to continue teaching there, or any other diocesan school.”

This is REALLY messed up. Of all the things the Church has done recently, I cannot believe this has happened.

It is utterly reprehensible.

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