If you're wondering what happened to yesterday's post...yes, I deleted it.
I re-read it several times, and realized that, while the sentiment is exactly how I feel--that there are indeed addle-brained, delusional "false prophets" and little as well as big fools who, frighteningly, will believe them--its tone was inappropriate for this particular blog.
It's true, though, that I am a theologian--I majored in Religion and Biblical Lit, and achieved highest honors for my thesis work in the subject. Even before my formal theological study, I spent many years in the company of eminent theologians (thru employment as a financial manager at a non-profit no less). I learned as much from them as I did in my formal studies. In total, I have spent over 11 years in theology...with side trips into the fringe worlds of spirituality and transpersonal healing via the recovery and new age movements during the same time.
Faith is indeed a strong component of my life--yet the ability to express, in our modern society, a faith that has a balance of reason with an understanding of mysticism is a daunting task. When I use the words "faith" and "religion" there is an immediate distrust from others. I risk being branded an intolerant bible-thumper because that is how many people nowdays express faith--thru misinterpretation of Scripture and hyper-emotionalism. Vitriol, like that spewed in the "prophcies" of people like Kim Clement, become the voices of faith when they are really the voices of the delusional. Charisma goes a long way in a celebrety-oriented society--and, right now, eclipses much meaningful discussion of faith.
So, because I really wasn't serving this blog, myself, or my own faith by spewing about Ambra Nykola's ignorance and Kim Clement's scary-assed intolerance, I felt the entry was best deleted.
When I figure out exactly how to say what I believe without sounding like a scary-assed, hyper-emotional, bible-thumping "true believer," I'll post about faith...until then I'll not try to fight the crazy folks by being just as nuts.
I re-read it several times, and realized that, while the sentiment is exactly how I feel--that there are indeed addle-brained, delusional "false prophets" and little as well as big fools who, frighteningly, will believe them--its tone was inappropriate for this particular blog.
It's true, though, that I am a theologian--I majored in Religion and Biblical Lit, and achieved highest honors for my thesis work in the subject. Even before my formal theological study, I spent many years in the company of eminent theologians (thru employment as a financial manager at a non-profit no less). I learned as much from them as I did in my formal studies. In total, I have spent over 11 years in theology...with side trips into the fringe worlds of spirituality and transpersonal healing via the recovery and new age movements during the same time.
Faith is indeed a strong component of my life--yet the ability to express, in our modern society, a faith that has a balance of reason with an understanding of mysticism is a daunting task. When I use the words "faith" and "religion" there is an immediate distrust from others. I risk being branded an intolerant bible-thumper because that is how many people nowdays express faith--thru misinterpretation of Scripture and hyper-emotionalism. Vitriol, like that spewed in the "prophcies" of people like Kim Clement, become the voices of faith when they are really the voices of the delusional. Charisma goes a long way in a celebrety-oriented society--and, right now, eclipses much meaningful discussion of faith.
So, because I really wasn't serving this blog, myself, or my own faith by spewing about Ambra Nykola's ignorance and Kim Clement's scary-assed intolerance, I felt the entry was best deleted.
When I figure out exactly how to say what I believe without sounding like a scary-assed, hyper-emotional, bible-thumping "true believer," I'll post about faith...until then I'll not try to fight the crazy folks by being just as nuts.
posted by Tish Grier at 9:20 AM
2 Comments:
Shalom Tish,
For what it's worth, the post read fine to me.
B'shalom,
Jeff
Thanks Jeff....
I have the post saved, and can always re-print it.
I get so annoyed with people who are not just anti-intellectual, but anti-reason. If I might use the term 'God given,' I think reason is a God given human faculty that should never be abandoned even when one is experiencing raw emotion. Maybe I'm just different, but IMO, learning to balance both reason *and* emotion, esp. in a time of crisis, is what being a fully actualized adult human being is all about.
I am always stunned how so many people want to throw reason completely out the window and give in to hyper-emotional, knee-jerk, penticostal/fundamentalist christianity as it is interpreted by some charismatic crackpot. I am both saddened and frightened by them because they lack the capacity to reason and therefor could never be reasond with.
as you can see, I'm still fuming about it...
T.
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