Month: June 2015

25.5.15

– Semi-pro

– A non-messianic Soteriology?!

– “Salwa Judum”

– “Pushing the envelope”

– Algorithms & serendipity
Randomize!

– The power of search engines!

– Spiritual stimulation

– Anhedonia
Vs.
Will-power

– Does your life feel like a treadmill?

– Philosophy
Vs.
Psychology

26.5.15

– Breaking silos

– “Dheepan”

– memes

– Is it possible to be a humanist without becoming anthropocentric?
Is it possible to be an individualist without becoming a narcissist?
Is it possible to be successful without also being famous?

– welfarism

– depredations

– Redeeming the self/flesh, instead of sacrificing it!

28.5.15

– I keep Your laws, & You do wonders for me!
Okay?
Help me walk in Your ways, & I will proclaim your miracles!
Okay?

– “Please keep me from lying to myself…”

– The New Age Bible
Salvation
Vs.
Enlightenment

– If GOD is so great, then he definitely will not be keeping an account of (our) sins!

– “If a man dies, will he live again?”
If not, then what’s the point (of faith)??

– “I will never again destroy all living things.”

– Remember the covenant!

– Trying to (fully) become who I (really) am.

– The goal (what) for the sake of the path (how), instead of the other way around!

– Offroad faith:
“Essential for mature religion is the constant willingness to shift gears, to integrate new insights, to revise our positions.” – Henri Nouwen

– Experiences, understandings & expressions

– Spirited Exchanges
The Complex Christ

– The Bruce Lee martial arts non-style – The art of fighting without fighting!

– “Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” – Elisha

– Jesus – marginal ~ Jewish ~ Halakic

– Halakha

– Distinguish:
rescind
&
prescind

– Autonomy & correlation

– The righteous/just are those who live because of Jesus’ faithfulness.
What does that mean??

– Aesthetic evaluation & judgment

– To transform, by defining!

– Rationality
Vs.
Creativity

– bowdlerization

– Male ~ sacrifice
Female ~ surrender

– Tragic heroism
Is Jesus just another failed messiah or is he a revolutionary anti-messiah?

– Distinguish:
Villain
&
Anti-hero

29.5.15

– Literature:
Imaginative
&
Expository

30.5.15

– Daily quiet time (1 hour):
1. 15 min. preparation
2. 15 min. mindfulness meditation
3. 15 min. journaling
4. 15 min. Scripture reading
Study is done at another time.

– “Each of them will know me, says the LORD, because all their sins will be forgiven.”

– All their (long & random) conversations are just recountings of personal feelings & experiences.
Nothing more!
No reflection, or insights, or plans, or values/opinions, or anything else. Just plain words that fall out of their mouths, with neither mind nor heart……
So exhaustively boring!
How can the consideration of the larger picture (the common human/natural condition) & even the deeper/spiritual dimensions of our existence be completely lacking in these casual expressions??

– How does a Liberal (like me) make value judgments??
Weighing merit

– “After those days, I will (make a new covenant with them)…”

– The New Covenant is actually the move from morality (outside-in) to spirituality (inside-out)!

– ‘Differance’

– No perseverance/endurance, no maturity/wisdom!

– “He will never rebuke you for asking (in faith).”
Helping without condescending or patronising

– Commitment is nothing but coming to terms with the fact that saying yes to one thing often means saying no to everything else (in the same league/category)!

31.5.15

– Money – artificial Grace!
“…it breathes in the air, it shines in the light;
It streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,
And sweetly distills in the dew & the rain.”
What a (hellish) world have we created, out of what He has given so freely?!

– “Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous,
Praise befits the upright.”

– What is the rationale behind the periodic transfer of pastors in the mainline churches?

– “Nothing has the power to save, but your name!”

– “The earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD.”
Really??
Hmmm… Maybe that’s why the heavens have not (yet) caved in on us all!

– “The LORD looks upon the sons of men,
He who fashions the hearts of them all.”

– Are there any ulterior motives behind the clergy’s emphasis on the close association between the “blessings of the Lord” and the “sanctuary of the Lord”?

– First love –> tree of life!

– Good deeds without true love…

– Upsetting the Lord

– The One whose name is “Amen”!

– Sometimes, to stretch yourself, you must first let yourself be broken & then mend!

– “How long will you be silent?” – man to GOD
“How long will you be lukewarm?” – GOD to man

– Self-satisfied ~ wretched!
Complacency is nothing but the external expression of inward conceit.

– When you say “I am a Christian”, what do you mean exactly by this label? Can you explain it briefly, honestly, & in your own words?

– Those who think they have no problems themselves become the biggest problems!

– Spiritual blindness = the absence of awareness of one’s own blindness.
Is it any better to be sincerely wrong than to be a malicious hypocrite? Are these 2 types mutually exclusive?!

– Trying to establish your own righteousness, apart from GOD’s righteousness.
Am I??

– GOD – almighty, righteous & merciful

– At least now, listen to the Word so that you might see!

– ‘Pure black’

– Justification is the guarantee of glorification, which is nothing but perfect sanctification!

– Bastard Christians!
The duty/challenge to holy blasphemy!

– Christ knocking on the Church’s door (from outside or inside?)!

– Orphaning yourself, so that you can adopt the entire world!

– Overcoming BY being overcome!

– Check your pulse.

– An orthodox/conservative reading of the subversive/radical Word……!

– Is Harry Emerson Fosdick an Evangelical?

– Those who are poor in soul & things do not (usually) mistake themselves to be rich!

– ‘Journey mercies’
Aren’t we always…??

– Movies:
“Utthama Villain” (Tamil)
What are the myths of Mrityunjayan & Narasimhan, & how are they related?
The creator, the sponsor & the popularizer
Immortality Vs. Reincarnation Vs. Resurrection
The artist is immortal!
The mentor as Saviour.
The king locks himself inside the cage, to protect himself from death/suffering, & lets the tiger out into the palace to hunt down Utthaman, who plays the chasing game with it. Who is fully alive??
Because he does not believe in his own gift, he is a coward, & when she tells him to act as if he has it, that is faith!
It takes as much guts to fall in love with a woman, as it does to face a tiger alone!
What is the joy of salvation, but the laugh of a mortal?!
The glory of being human is to discover the secret power of finitude……
Link the last scene of the constellation with the short film Vesper.

– The church within the church, & the church outside the church

– http://spiritualprogressives.org/newsite/

– Magazines to be dialogue partners for “Transform World”:
– http://www.tikkun.org/nextgen/
– https://www.worldmag.com/mobile/
– http://www.yesmagazine.org/