To believe is human, to doubt divine

"To believe is human, to doubt divine" is the subtitle of Peter Rollins' new book called Insurrection. In this book Peter Rollins argues that the Christian faith is not primarily concerned with questions regarding life after death but with the possibility of life before death.

I post two quotations as tasters of the book which I want to read...

"The claim I believe in God is nothing but a lie if it is not manifest in our lives, because one only believes in God in so far as one loves. "


"In the crucifixion we lose the idea of God as the one who justifies our loving engagement with the world by approving of it, but in resurrection we continue to affirm God as we love the world regardless. This is the move that some of the Christain mystics spoke of, a move from the idolotry of doing good for some reason (to get to heaven, to please God, get approval from others), to the act of doing good for no external reward. The former can be described as works based, in that it involves some economic exchange. In the latter we lay down all desire for reward and in doing so experience how love is its own reward. In the very experience of being forsaken by God (crucifixion) we find God in the very affirmation of Life itself (resurrection).
In this new state, the world is affirmed in the deepest and most radical way, not because everything that happens in it is good (indeed, all too often the very opposite is true), but because, in love, we experience creation, in all its brokenness, as wonderful."

Civilisation

Quote of the day:

"We've bought into the idea that education is about training and 'success', defined monetarily rather than learning to think critically and to challenge.We should not forget that the true purpose of education is to make minds, not careers. A culture that does not grasp the vital interplay between morality and power, which mistakes management techniques for wisdom, which fails to understand that the measure of a civilisation is its compassion, not its speed nor its ability to consume, condemns itself to death."   Chris Hedges

Thinking ahead

Today many people are focused entirely on the present moment. This is not necessarily a good thing - look for example of the person who checks their smart phone every few minutes to make sure that they have not received a life changing email in the minutes since they last checked. The technology available makes us expect all that we want to be available immediately and the idea of waiting is treated with scorn. Many people when they want something want it right now and if it is not there then they don't want it at all.

But today I have been thinking ahead as I have ordered seeds for planting in the garden. These will be for vegetables that we will hopefully enjoy next autumn and winter. That is the timescale at which they grow and nothing can be done to speed up the process.

All I have are the photos in the on line seed catalogue and the memory of things eaten in the past. So I live in hope, knowing that I can do much to influence the outcome by tending and nurturing the young plants but there is very little I can do to change the speed at which I will get to pick the results of my labours.

Perhaps the world would live at a more reasonable pace and people would learn patience if we all had the opportunity for gardening!