Rarely but wonderfully on FB an atheist is willing to engage me in dialogue. I gave up on Christian evangelicals long ago. The guy with the T shirt intrigues me; if I was there I’d risk asking him how he prays. His courtesy suggests he might be an open minded person.
That kind of thing always baffles me, when people so desperately want you to have the same religion as them. I've had that experience with people who follow A Course in Miracles.
I've also had people say "they're worried about my immortal soul" to which I reply "I don't worry about my immortal soul, and if I don't worry about it, you shouldn't either."
The afterlife is a mystery, and we can believe whatever we like. But imposing our beliefs on others is just not OK. It's very colonialist.
From personal experience a long time ago, it felt more secure with just the electrons. Perhaps this is Bruce's kind of spiritual protection? There is a lot of stuff 'out there' or is it 'in there'? Miracles seem more commonplace for me in my later years, but its hard to draw conclusions.
What do we sacrifice when we close ourselves off to possibilities?
Thanks for this excellent piece, Mark. How did you feel after your gym encounter with "Peggy Sue"?
There's a gentleman who walks his golden retriever around the harbor everyday. He wears a t-shirt that says "Can I pray for you?" He's very friendly, yet never intrusive. We see him nearly every day and always exchange "Good morning" greetings. But he never initiates further engagement. He simply makes himself available if people ask.
I have an uncommonly open belief - I do -> "consider that there might be some divine mystery out there that we just don’t understand". In fact, I have my own personal story related to how I ended up with my husband of 35 years. I don't doubt there was something going on that brought us together after I had "challenged" God - "if there were the perfect person for me, I'd marry again". He even came with an unmistakable sign that only I would understand but one that I've never doubted.
Thank you all for your support and feedback. Unfortunately, as of 1pm CST I'm unable to "reply" to any comments directly. If any author with substack has encountered this issue before, please let me know how you solved it.
Mark, thank you for this open-hearted, open-minded piece! Re Heather’s question “what do we sacrifice when we close ourselves off to possibilities”, as a Unitarian, our church embraces all possibilities. Our only creed is freedom of belief, and social responsibility. In our services there is so much spirituality and beauty of thought, and so much reverence for life and for whatever the source of life is, and we have as many different beliefs as there are people in the pews. I realize that’s not nourishing for some, that lack of certainty. We’re mostly just questioning honestly, with reverence for this whole world and creation, and most Unitarians don’t proselytize because we have more questions than answers ourselves.
I grew up in the heydays of the Charistnatic 90's; Pentacostal was too mild for my church. I remember all the sermons and the visitng pastors who would remark on how, if you left the grocery store without witnessing to at least 5 people and leading 1 to Christ, you were a horrible Christian. (But seriously: what overworked and exhausted cashier wants a windbag holding up her line?) There is this thought mentality, in many churches, that evangelism = answered prayers. If you are not actively witnessing and looking right, then God isn't interested in your prayers. Or, if you ignore a sign, then He will deliberately block the answer.
The logic would be as follows: He rememberd my name, which meant the first time we met, I was supposed to speak into his life, and failed. Now he is coming into my life again, and again, so God is practically stamping this sign on my brain. He says he is praying for my dad, but we all have different ideas about prayer, so God has placed him here so I can help him understand true prayer. The Holy Spirit is leading him to me, without him even knowing it, and I cannot screw this up. God has formed this connection and I have an obligation.
This creates, as you found out, an overbearing and domineering situation. I saw myself, and far too many other people, in her speech, before unlearning man made traditions and interpretations. I am not defending her actions, and clearly she was wrong, but honestly? I am not sure she could have stopped, even if she wanted to. Some denominations teach you how to hound people to heaven; they got results in the good ole days when escape was much harder because of technology, and societies expectations.
Far too big a question for the likes of me. And, I venture to say, definitely too big for a Substack comment. But I sure do appreciate your last paragraph, Mark. It's a good question.
Rarely but wonderfully on FB an atheist is willing to engage me in dialogue. I gave up on Christian evangelicals long ago. The guy with the T shirt intrigues me; if I was there I’d risk asking him how he prays. His courtesy suggests he might be an open minded person.
That kind of thing always baffles me, when people so desperately want you to have the same religion as them. I've had that experience with people who follow A Course in Miracles.
I've also had people say "they're worried about my immortal soul" to which I reply "I don't worry about my immortal soul, and if I don't worry about it, you shouldn't either."
The afterlife is a mystery, and we can believe whatever we like. But imposing our beliefs on others is just not OK. It's very colonialist.
From personal experience a long time ago, it felt more secure with just the electrons. Perhaps this is Bruce's kind of spiritual protection? There is a lot of stuff 'out there' or is it 'in there'? Miracles seem more commonplace for me in my later years, but its hard to draw conclusions.
What do we sacrifice when we close ourselves off to possibilities?
Thanks for this excellent piece, Mark. How did you feel after your gym encounter with "Peggy Sue"?
There's a gentleman who walks his golden retriever around the harbor everyday. He wears a t-shirt that says "Can I pray for you?" He's very friendly, yet never intrusive. We see him nearly every day and always exchange "Good morning" greetings. But he never initiates further engagement. He simply makes himself available if people ask.
I have an uncommonly open belief - I do -> "consider that there might be some divine mystery out there that we just don’t understand". In fact, I have my own personal story related to how I ended up with my husband of 35 years. I don't doubt there was something going on that brought us together after I had "challenged" God - "if there were the perfect person for me, I'd marry again". He even came with an unmistakable sign that only I would understand but one that I've never doubted.
Very good reading to put these two stories together. It’s good to know you are sowing mustard seeds in so many places.
Thank you all for your support and feedback. Unfortunately, as of 1pm CST I'm unable to "reply" to any comments directly. If any author with substack has encountered this issue before, please let me know how you solved it.
Mark, thank you for this open-hearted, open-minded piece! Re Heather’s question “what do we sacrifice when we close ourselves off to possibilities”, as a Unitarian, our church embraces all possibilities. Our only creed is freedom of belief, and social responsibility. In our services there is so much spirituality and beauty of thought, and so much reverence for life and for whatever the source of life is, and we have as many different beliefs as there are people in the pews. I realize that’s not nourishing for some, that lack of certainty. We’re mostly just questioning honestly, with reverence for this whole world and creation, and most Unitarians don’t proselytize because we have more questions than answers ourselves.
I grew up in the heydays of the Charistnatic 90's; Pentacostal was too mild for my church. I remember all the sermons and the visitng pastors who would remark on how, if you left the grocery store without witnessing to at least 5 people and leading 1 to Christ, you were a horrible Christian. (But seriously: what overworked and exhausted cashier wants a windbag holding up her line?) There is this thought mentality, in many churches, that evangelism = answered prayers. If you are not actively witnessing and looking right, then God isn't interested in your prayers. Or, if you ignore a sign, then He will deliberately block the answer.
The logic would be as follows: He rememberd my name, which meant the first time we met, I was supposed to speak into his life, and failed. Now he is coming into my life again, and again, so God is practically stamping this sign on my brain. He says he is praying for my dad, but we all have different ideas about prayer, so God has placed him here so I can help him understand true prayer. The Holy Spirit is leading him to me, without him even knowing it, and I cannot screw this up. God has formed this connection and I have an obligation.
This creates, as you found out, an overbearing and domineering situation. I saw myself, and far too many other people, in her speech, before unlearning man made traditions and interpretations. I am not defending her actions, and clearly she was wrong, but honestly? I am not sure she could have stopped, even if she wanted to. Some denominations teach you how to hound people to heaven; they got results in the good ole days when escape was much harder because of technology, and societies expectations.
Far too big a question for the likes of me. And, I venture to say, definitely too big for a Substack comment. But I sure do appreciate your last paragraph, Mark. It's a good question.
Did you hear about the Unitarian chapter of the Ku Klux Klan? They burn a question mark on their own lawn.