About the Author: Rick Herrick
Why did God make it so difficult? There is no answer to this question. In the book of Job, God inflicts pain and suffering but refuses to explain why. God is a profound mystery, transcendent, beyond human comprehension. So what does God give us? Instead of the big experience described by Paul, we get brief glimpses into a reality of goodness and love.
Have you ever spent time watching dog owners in action? They only notice goodness. They ignore or forgive most, if not all, of their dog’s annoying behavior.
The issues I’ve uncovered are not the same. They are more subtle, but the result is the same. These defensive parts of my ego cloud my awareness with self-centered concerns.
The central focus of Jesus’ message was to announce the imminent coming of the kingdom of God. This is what he was sent to do. (Luke 4: 43-44) This kingdom would be on earth for the people of Israel. (Matthew 10: 5-8) Although Jesus gives few details on how this kingdom would operate.
The church of the future must change to help its members develop further along their own spiritual journeys. Seminarians should spend less time studying the Bible, Church history, and Christian theology. Instead, the focus of their training should stress positive child-rearing strategies, meditation in its many forms, and psychological therapy.
A Christian Approach to Political Decision-Making: Introducing Whisper Ethics presents a new way of thinking about religion and politics.
The Bible is a very human book with differing positions on who Jesus was and what he said. The result is you can find a passage in the Bible to support any political position you choose to take.
There is no question that the voices of marginalized people are found in the Bible if you look carefully. The New Testament also presents a picture of a beautiful man who talked about a God of love and forgiveness and who urged his followers to create communities that practiced nonviolence, inclusion, and the pursuit of social and economic justice.
The novel takes us through the racial struggles of the sixties, the horrible plague decimating gay men with AIDS in San Francisco in the ‘80s, and the devastating consequences of a Roman Catholic priest preying on a young boy.
It is now possible to answer the question of why Christians should engage in politics. The answer is simple: God is calling on them to do so with the whisper thoughts that float through their awareness
The rise of Christian nationalism is a worldwide problem. In the United States, it begins with the idea that God chose America, that we as a nation are especially blessed.
New discoveries leading to new products are coming at a rapid rate of speed. This new approach to processing and integrating data is becoming interwoven into all aspects of life.
The Bible is a very human book with differing positions on who Jesus was and what he said. The result is you can find a passage in the Bible to support any political position you choose to take.
When I look at the writers who examine the relation between religion and politics, most take their cues from the Bible. There are two problems with this approach.
A Book Review
Honest to God: Christianity at the Convergence of Tradition, Reason and Mystery by John Speers is a fascinating analysis of the current challenges facing the Christian church.
Whisper ethics comes from process theology, the work of Alfred North Whitehead and several prominent Christian theologians.
Abraham Lincoln was a progressive Christian. While being raised in a small fundamentalist Baptist church, Lincoln rejected the Christianity of his parents.
The central argument of the book is that we must shift the focus of our religion away from biblical belief to a sense of the deep, transforming love that comes from knowing God.
The Road to Character by David Brooks, A Review by Rick Herrick How do we become a moral
One must always act with a sense of humility and respect for the views of others which may be different. Our hope is that, over time, in the words of Martin Luther King “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” If Dr. King is correct, the sensations of love and goodness from God will win out in the long run.
The time has come to recognize an inconvenient truth. Christianity for many has become a political ideology with no connection to the love and goodness that comes from God.
The place to begin is to admit a hard truth for many Christians: the Bible will not tell you so. The Christian scriptures have nothing to say about abortion.
If Jesus were here, he would say it is all about economic justice. That is what so many of his teachings in the New Testament are all about. The prophets echo his plea.
In The New Matrix, he describes the modern world just like it is, and then he reflects on how a religion that is 2,000 years old fits into the matrix of the twenty-first century.