Reflections

5.3.14

Personalism vs. Idealism

Physical resurrection vs. Immortality of the soul

What is passion without sacrifice/suffering?
Nothing!
Suffering – voluntary (sacrifice, discipline, etc.) & involuntary (persecution, sickness, loss, etc.)

Condemning (private) immorality >> fighting (public) injustice
Condemning idolatry (religious) >> fighting (spiritual) ignorance

Potholes & pitfalls; bumps & hurdles; by-lanes & mazes

Moving the emphasis from (sexual) chastity to (character) integrity

Hypocrisy, self-righteousness/judgmentalism & cowardice always go together!

Only the weak are aggressive!

“Strength is life, weakness is death.” – Swami Vivekananda

The root of wickedness (moral corruption) is ignorance (spiritual unconsciousness) & weakness (personality defects).
So is foolishness nothing more than ignorance? Lack of knowledge (active processing) is more than just lack of information (passive reception)!

The theology of Spiritual Disciplines
&
The spiritual discipline of Theology

Abelraj & “Zoaetic”

Unrealized, unconscious, unawakened

Noesis & Metanoia
Know, understand, believe & respond!

Endurance (passive) & perseverance (active) – the 2 sides of the same coin of decision/commitment/determination.
But isn’t knowing when to give up (let go & move on), a sign of wisdom??

Eternal destruction ~ bottomless pit ~ second death ~ hellish existence

“According to GOD”

Lover of immortality & religious fanatic
Fanaticism – isn’t all intense devotion a kind of slavery?!

Are Abraham, Isaac & Jacob all alive now?
But if so, then how do we choose between immortality of the soul & physical resurrection as the right view of the afterlife??
Moral equivocation, theological ambiguity & metaphysical ambivalence in the Bible…

Spiritual ~ metaphysical ~ ontological ~ theological

Faith = theory + practice + experience

Rebirth, regeneration & resurrection ~ reformation, renewal & revival

Compare & contrast:
Jesus & the Hebrew Bible (Palestinian Judaism)
&
Paul & the Apocrypha (Hellenic Judaism)
Is Christianity the outcome of the interplay between the Hebraic & Greco-Roman faith-traditions/cultures?

Soul ~ person ~ life ~ being

O.T >> Apocrypha (Septuagint) >> N.T

Egyptian & Mesopotamian elements in the ancient Hebrew religion/philosophy

“GOD bless you!” >> “Let us bless GOD!”

Jewish religion + Greek philosophy = Christian theology
Roman governance & ecclesiastical politics

Inspired reflection on personal experience & contextual developments => oral tradition => Scripture => interpretive schools & devotional/liturgical/doxological works…

What is the significance of the geographical context (in biblical interpretation)?

Patristics (Orthodox – Greek), Medieval (Roman Catholic – Latin), Reformation (Evangelical Protestant – German) & contemporary – modern/postmodern (Progressive/Emergent – English) theology

Death + resurrection = transformation
…Immortality is Hell!

The soul, as an actual thing, is an invented concept!

The possession of eternal life (present) and the promise of resurrection (future).
Eschatology = apocalypse!

The philosophy of Theology
&
The theology of Philosophy
Which is your dominant position?

“Theramine trees”