Need for a fresh word from God... (Jesus Christ, gospel, beliefs)

[lunamoth]

I think God is alive and still speaking, and that the Holy Ghost is still at work in the world. You may indeed be one of those who hear His voice, AE, and tell eternal truths for us. God is still revealing his will to us and I think some of the social reform we see in the raising up of women and prohibition of slavery shows this. I think the full inclusion of homsexuals in the Church is the work of the Spirit and inevitable. I think there are many people writing the words of God...when they write of love, inclusion, peace, justice...but we have no way to canonize those words. Too many veils have dropped on us since Jesus walked with us. But, that's OK too, I think.

[Guitar's Cry]

Originally Posted by lunamoth

I think God is alive and still speaking, and that the Holy Ghost is still at work in the world.

I personally see the Holy Spirit as related to our artistic creativity and desires. I draw parallels between it and certain spirits talked about in other cultures, like the Druid's Awen, and the Muses of the Greeks, or the Spirit-that-moves-through-all-things of the Native Americans.

So in that way, God is still speaking.

[angellous_evangellous]

Originally Posted by 9-10ths_Penguin

But what specifically is it that you're looking for? Another Testament to the Bible? A Divine "performance review"? Just a knowing nod and a "how ya' doin'?" from the Almighty?

I'm not sure how specific I can be about this - this thread is essentially a random thought that has its basis in another proposition that has been rattling in my mind: If God is not speaking, then that God is not living. Only the dead do not speak, and only their memory exists in words on a page.

Protestantism is my heritage, and it seems to me that the Reformers unknowningly married the fate of their movement to Englightenment thinking which is now completely surpassed by existentialism. Indeed, the existentialist mindset is as far from enlightenment as the Enlightenment is from first century worldviews expressed in Scripture. This makes the modern hearer twice divorced from fundamentalist evangelicals who still hold to the Enlightenment ideals of the Reformers: two dramatic and mutually exclusive differences in thought must be overcome. The Reformers held to the idea that reason can guide faith, and reason has left faith behind.

In both academia and popular life, I see a long tradition of a longing for God to speak. Theologians like Barth, Bultmann, and many others - perhaps by accident - made a dramatic impact on theology because they were driven by a passionate desire to find modern meaning in the ancient text. These theologians I'm thinking about were deeply influenced by classicists who sought the same thing from other ancient texts.

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Originally Posted by angellous_evangellous

I'm not sure how specific I can be about this - this thread is essentially a random thought that has its basis in another proposition that has been rattling in my mind: If God is not speaking, then that God is not living. Only the dead do not speak, and only their memory exists in words on a page.

I'm not sure if that statement is valid generally; when I'm not speaking, I'm not dead, I'm simply not speaking.

Originally Posted by angellous_evangellous

Protestantism is my heritage, and it seems to me that the Reformers unknowningly married the fate of their movement to Englightenment thinking which is now completely surpassed by existentialism. Indeed, the existentialist mindset is as far from enlightenment as the Enlightenment is from first century worldviews expressed in Scripture. This makes the modern hearer twice divorced from fundamentalist evangelicals who still hold to the Enlightenment ideals of the Reformers: two dramatic and mutually exclusive differences in thought must be overcome. The Reformers held to the idea that reason can guide faith, and reason has left faith behind.

Like I alluded to before, the only Christian denomination that I have seen that has made a conscious effort to be receptive to change is the Quakers, and to a certain extent, the Mormons.

Christianity is rooted in the Bible for a large part, and as you mention, it's a product of a different age. If you stay rooted in the Bible, I think that you're limited to how far you can stray from the way of thinking that produced it; if you change beyond that, why should what you end up with be called "Christianity"?

Originally Posted by angellous_evangellous

In both academia and popular life, I see a long tradition of a longing for God to speak. Theologians like Barth, Bultmann, and many others - perhaps by accident - made a dramatic impact on theology because they were driven by a passionate desire to find modern meaning in the ancient text. These theologians I'm thinking about were deeply influenced by classicists who sought the same thing from other ancient texts.

But do the longings of humans for God to speak impose any sort of obligation on God?

[FFH]

I'm not sure how specific I can be about this - this thread is essentially a random thought that has its basis in another proposition that has been rattling in my mind: If God is not speaking, then that God is not living. Only the dead do not speak, and only their memory exists in words on a page.

God the Father and the Son are very much alive and in the midst of those who are gathered in the name of Jesus Christ...

"Where two are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst".

I went on a two day fast last year and it brought the spirit of God into my life so strongly, I felt Christ's presence touch my life to the point in which I wept uncontrollably. I'm not the crying type...

God is very much alive and he speaks through whomever he needs to, living or dead...

Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ speaks to these visionaries on a regular basis and gives a short very concise message each month on the 25th.

What more do we need???

Joseph Smith was told, by Christ, to speak nothing but repentance to this generation.

See this thread: Messages and Teachings of Mary, Revealed to Six Vissionaries in Medjugorje, Bosnia, 1981 - Present ( 1 2 3 ... Last Page)
FFH

[angellous_evangellous]

But do the longings of humans for God to speak impose any sort of obligation on God?

Absolutely not, but it definately could determine humanity's response to God. That is, if God is silent for a long time, evidentally ignoring the problems, concerns, and interests of humanity, we're prone I think to simply ignore a God who has been ignoring us.

[autonomous1one1]

Originally Posted by 9-10ths_Penguin

……Like I alluded to before, the only Christian denomination that I have seen that has made a conscious effort to be receptive to change is the Quakers, and to a certain extent, the Mormons.….

Greetings 9/10ths. I am just curious about how one makes a determination that Christian denominations are not receptive to change. I personally am not up to speed on that scale although I know that individuals have been receptive. Take Paul Tillich (mentioned above) as an example. He provided up-to-date definitions for many of the Christian symbols for modern humankind (1950s) and changed the focus to the goal of the New Being – a Being in whom the estrangement from God has been overcome. There is no separation from God. Tillich was Lutheran although his message is for all.

Originally Posted by 9-10ths_Penguin

……Christianity is rooted in the Bible for a large part, and as you mention, it's a product of a different age. If you stay rooted in the Bible, I think that you're limited to how far you can stray from the way of thinking that produced it; if you change beyond that, why should what you end up with be called "Christianity"?….

Christianity in my view is rooted in the Being ‘Jesus as Christ’ so a Christian remains rooted there. That Being (the New Being in Tillich terminology) is the message of Divine-human realization and is a product of that time but good for all time as well. With this as the essence of fresh words, ‘what one ends up with’ of course is Christianity because Christ is the source, the center and the goal. There is unlimited manner and depth of expression for this message.

[UltraViolet]

In the context of my own life
I am a prophet each and every day.
God speaks and moves through and in me,
and I move and speak through and in God,
in every single moment I am present in the eternal NOW.

We are partners in creation, love, and yes... even desire.

I love that,
"a fresh word"!
Life is always fresh...
and refreshing in God's Spirit!