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From: Bill
Category: Category 1
Date: 26/07/05
Time: 04:18:23
Remote Name: 210.246.38.50
Odd, for one who adopts no firm position, how those capitalisations not appearing in the original are inserted.
Christian worship is misrepresented in those quotes. The Church is not revered, but its founder, Christ. When Christianity becomes 'Churchianity', something is wrong. Neither need there be grovelling. Though God is reverenced as far above us, through Jesus we may come "boldly to the throne of grace".
Pantheism seems like a beautiful idea. There must be something deficient with one who can look at a clear night sky from a non-light-polluted area, or contemplate "the ways of the trees", and not be awe struck. Knowing no better it is easy to lean towards pantheism, as did I for many years. I was sincerely wrong.
Unless there is a continued existence, for which nature cannot account, nature will obliterate me, those I love and all loving memories of the departed. My transitory life will count for nothing in the big picture - however I benefited the world it was only for a perishing race - and thus the pantheist who becomes discouraged may easily turn to nihilism and despair. There is beauty and horror everywhere.
That the chaos of nature has produced the wonders accessible to our experience is beyond incredible; it is not credible. The heavens and nature in general declare the glory of God, whom the foolish in their hearts have denied. The "educated" world is so easily blinded to the meaning of this evidence -- a handicap less suffered by astute primitives more genuinely and directly in touch with nature, as is evinced by this recollection of missionary to India Lesslie Newbigin:
"I remember once spending a whole day with a man from a very, very primitive hill tribe, which has never been touched by what we would call Hinduism, or by Christianity. He was a cave dweller. I spent the whole day with him, following him through the jungle as he used his bow and arrow to shoot little rabbits and little animals. . . . I had a long talk with him, and one of the questions I put to him was, 'Who do you think made us?' Immediately he said Kadavul, which is one of the words for God, but it is a very basic word that is a combination of the verbal root kada, which means to go beyond, to transcend, and ul, which is the word for meaning or for being. . . . So Kadavul is 'The Transcendent Being.' It's a wonderful word for God."
We are privileged beyond measure to have in addition a record of how God has acted in history. It can not be discounted.
". . . untold versions of the Bible"? Not really - minor, inconsequential variations in Hebrew and Greek source texts, various translational approaches and many translations and revisions thereof.