The Center for Progressive Christianity

[Alex]

你完全不明白那篇研究報告的內容，只懂執住一句在胡言亂語，向全世界獻醜，卻不知道你所談及的那個問題，只是整篇研究報告的引言，餘下之篇幅就是以兩項實證調查解答那個問題。以下便是第一項調查的部分發現（並與美國全國性調查的結果一致）：

Religion, Culture, and the Personification of Non-Human Entities 
By Adam Cohen, Kathryn Johnson
Published 2009.05.27
Global Spiral
http://www.metanexus.net/magazine/tabid/68/id/10797/Default.aspx

...Study 1...an exploratory survey was administered to approximately 650 culturally diverse college students...we found that Mormons were the most likely group to personify God, followed by Christians and Catholics.  Those who reported religious affiliation as being Mainline Protestant, Jewish, and broadly "holistic" were less likely to think of God as a person.  Finally, Muslims, agnostics, and atheist were the least likely to personify God.  These results mirror the results of national surveys in the U.S. (Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life).  ...

[mfb]

你以為這文章巳解答了這疑問(或hypothesis)嗎？
這文章並未能解答這疑問，
research paper 的質素決定它的結論是否可信，
atheist 是不信有神的，又怎會認為angel 是person 呢？
這sampling error 巳是這paper 的致命錯誤。
這paper 所以難登大雅之堂，不為有名的journal 接受，
為什麼你總是喜歡quote impact factor 等於0 的paper 呢？

[Alex]

該研究報告提出的問題：
"Are human relationships limited to same species interactions, or are humans likely to have social, moral, and emotional interactions with other kinds of entities?  Do animals, plants, objects, or heavenly bodies count as "others"?  Can non-human entities be persons?"

研究結果已正面解答了以上的問題：
"In at least two separate surveys of over 1,000 college students, we have shown that God, animals, ancestors, or robots may also be thought of as 'persons' by certain cultural or religious groups."

其中 Study 1..."found that Mormons were the most likely group to personify God, followed by Christians and Catholics...these results mirror the results of national surveys in the U.S. (Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life)."

此研究比較不同文化及信念組別有多傾向將不同事物看成是 person。其中信念組別包括「摩門教」徒、基督新教徒、天主教徒等等，也包括無神論者，絕不是 sampling error。此研究之發現與美國全國性調查的結果一致，不信此研究，美國全國性調查也可補足可信性。

[mfb]

有讀聖經的人就會知道神is described as a person in bible. 所以Mormons, Christians and Catholics etc認為神是person.
不信有神的及沒有讀聖經的人好像Muslims, atheist, agnostics 不會 認為神是person.
這樣的道理不是很明顯嗎?
Adam Cohen, Kathryn Johnson  是不是犯了Ex post facto hypothesizing的錯誤?

[mfb]

[Sol was not the spirit of the sun, as if there were a separation between the two. Sol was a sacred name for that seemingly eternal, life-giving source of heat and light—and occasionally life-taking source in times of desperate drought. By saying “Sol,” “Helios,” or some other proper name, our ancestors experienced that reality as a “Thou” to be related to.]

你可否用簡單易明的方法說明你的觀點？
你問十個歐美人士什麼是Sol, 什麼是Helios?
十個歐美人士也不知道Sol及Helios是什麼。

我覺得Michael Dowd是用了{國王的新衣}式的圈套叫人上當，這方法是自由派常用的圈套。

[Alex]

你這種亂來的說話，已不再值得回應。

[mfb]

原來你不懂Ex post facto hypothesizing是什麼!雖然自由派中或有自大無知之徒認為你巳向全世界獻醜，但是你卻不用自卑，大部份有識之士都不會因此取笑你的。又有誰能懂得一切的事呢。謙卑的人必成大器。

關於Ex post facto hypothesizing可在以以下web site 找到資料
http://sociology.camden.rutgers.edu/jfm/tutorial/errors.htm

可是對於經常引用research paper 的人不應該不懂research worker 常犯的錯誤，否則就很容易就會被人誤導。

Adam Cohen, Kathryn Johnson 的data(Mormons, Christians and Catholics etc認為神是person; Muslims, atheist, agnostics 不 認為神是person).
 在是否statistically significant上，亦未交代。

[Alex]

Better Than Believing: Christianity for skeptics, agnostics, and atheists
by Rev James Rowe Adams
Founder, The Center for Progressive Christianity
http://tcpc.org/library/article.cfm?library_id=1071





Alex's comment:  Rev Adams has just passed away.  

[Alex]

God Talk
by Rev James Rowe Adams
Founder, The Center for Progressive Christianity
http://tcpc.org/library/article.cfm?library_id=62





Alex's comment:  Rev Adams has just passed away.  

[Alex]

Do We Need Jesus?
By Lloyd Geering
http://www.tcpc.org/library/article.cfm?library_id=1106

[Alex]

The Inevitability of the Rise of Progressive Christianity
By John Shore
http://www.tcpc.org/library/article.cfm?library_id=1111

[Alex]

http://spafer.org

Welcome to the website for SPAFER - the South Points Association for Exploring Religion.  

SPAFER is a forum for religious and spiritual exploration.

SPAFER is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that was formed in 2000 by Ken Forbes, Burdett Wantland, and several others from Birmingham who, following informal conversations at a Jesus Seminar, felt the need to have a forum in the Mid-South to discuss and explore religious questions and issues that orthodoxy does not seem to address.  

SPAFER is composed of a group of individuals in the Mid-South area who enjoy meeting periodically and discussing religious issues in a free and respectful atmosphere.

[Alex]

Evolving Statements of Faith
http://progressivechristianity.org/evolving-statements-of-faith

Faith communities are searching for new language and new ways to express their faith and their beliefs. As an organization we feel we are called to support them in this journey.

Over the years we have aimed at offering a New Christianity for a New World.  With our readership and authors we have long since moved past deconstructing Christian theology and into reconstructing our theology.

We have addressed those tough “who are we?” and “what do we believe?” questions.

Through our website scholars, theologians, pastors, authors, artists, and musicians have been able to share their incredible creations with the world. And because of this growing global network of Progressive Christians, we are co-creating and evolving together. We are putting our minds, our hearts, and our faiths together to come up with language that is relevant and meaningful in the 21st century.

We are so pleased that we are able to provide a holding space for such exciting resources such as liturgies, books, study guides, inspiring videos, music, hymns, prayers, articles, our children’s curriculum, and more- all of which come out of this co-creation.

People from all over the world have contributed to this page on New Creeds, sharing their new language and their evolving faiths. And now we are thrilled to share that with you.

This page is the co-creation of many and will continue to evolve just like these statements of faiths will. These statements and thoughts come from a wide variety of theological leanings.

Blessings on your journey.

[Alex]

To Whom Shall We Go to Say Thank-you After We Move Beyond Personifying God?
Thanksgiving Sunday Sermons
by Rev. Dawn Hutchings
November 7, 2017
http://progressivechristianity.org/resources/to-whom-shall-we-go-to-say-thank-you-after-we-move-beyond-personifying-god

//As we continue to live into our full humanity, we will continue to learn to notice, and name our blessings, and we will learn new ways of expressing and embodying our gratitude as the LOVE that is the source of our blessings continues to flow through all things. The One we seek to offer our thanks and praise, the One who is the source of all our blessings is the one we call God.

The ancient Greek noun for God, is theos; we get our word theology from it…theology means words or ideas about God. The ancient Greek noun theos, was derived from the Greek verb theo, which means to flow. Our ancestors, described God as the Light that flows through all things. Jesus taught us that God is Love. As followers of Jesus, surely we can begin to understand God as the LOVE that flows through all things. Let our Thanksgiving celebrations open us to the realities of our many blessings and let those blessings flow through us.

May our God who is LOVE, flow in, with, through, and beyond us so that everyone may know the One who in whom we live and breathe and have our being, by our love. Let us remember that LOVE flows both ways. Just as surely as our blessings flow through us, so too, the pain of our sisters and brothers flows. Let us remember that we are intimately connected one to another. Even though the LOVE that lies at the very heart of our existence is beyond our ability to imagine, it can be embodied in the love that flows in, with, and through us. Let that LOVE who is the ONE to whom we offer our thanks and praise, flow through us.

We have been richly blessed. Can we say “Thank-you”? Absolutely, we can say thank-you by continuing to learn what it means to be LOVE in the world. Let us enjoy our Thanksgiving celebrations, by pausing from our regular routines to take some time to count our blessings, let the LOVE flow as we embrace family and friends, and then as the knowledge of our many blessings washes over us, let us act out of the abundance we share, so that the LOVE, the ONE who IS, Was, and Evermore shall be the source of our blessings might flow. Let our gratitude take on flesh and live among us, so that all may know the LOVE who is God. Let our gratitude live and breathe in, with, through, and beyond us. Let LOVE flow from each one to each one.//

[Alex]

You Are God: The True Teachings of Jesus
by Brandon West
3 December 2017
http://progressivechristianity.org/resources/you-are-god-the-true-teachings-of-jesus

"He who abides in love abides in God, and God in him." (1 John 4:16)

"Is it not written in your Law, "I have said 'you are gods'"?" (John 10:34)

"The Kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:21)

[Alex]

UU Christian Fellowship
http://uuchristian.org/bookstore/god-is-love-tee-tee

[Alex]

Who is God?
by John C. Robinson, Ph.D., D.Min. on April 24, 2018
http://progressivechristianity.org/resources/who-is-god

In my soul, God not only gives birth to me as His son, He gives birth to me as Himself,
and Himself as me…Our truest I is God.
Meister Eckhart

I am the fiery life of the essence of God.
Hildegard of Bingen

Whoever drinks from my mouth will become like me; I myself shall become that person, and the hidden things will be revealed to that person.
Jesus

Our external, superficial self is not eternal, not spiritual. Far from it. This self is doomed to disappear as completely as smoke from a chimney…So it is with one who has vanished into God by pure contemplation. God alone is left. He is the “I” who acts there. He is the one Who loves and knows and rejoices.
Thomas Merton

I believe these statements. I take them very seriously. And I have collected scores of similar testaments to our divinity from mystics across time and religious tradition. As a result, I think we have the wrong understanding of God.

For eons, humans have viewed God as a huge, external, and all-knowing human-like figure who rewards some, punishes others, and ignores many, and whose actions in the world often seem mysterious and inexplicable. This is the projection model of God: we humans unconsciously created the figure of God in our own image and projected this image “out there.” Worse, this belief assigns the responsibility for change onto a fictional character to whom we keep praying, hoping that this “God” will someday hear us, or do what we ask, or show us why things are the way they are, or something.

But the mystics have been telling us from the beginning that the universe is conscious and alive, everywhere saturated with the divine Presence, and that individual human consciousness is part of that Presence. In other words, we are already imbued with God’s consciousness. How could it be otherwise? As Eckhart says, “Everything that is in God is God.” So, as a teaspoon of salt can say, “I am salt,” and the cup of sugar can say, “I am sugar,” I can say, “I am God.” It doesn’t mean I am all of God or you’re not, but it does mean that in my essence I am what God is and I know that now.

What’s the moral here? We are what God is. We are the answer to our prayers. We are the love we have been searching for. When we get out of the way, when we quiet the chattering mind, the consciousness that remains, and the love that flows through it, is God, and in this consciousness the world shines sacred once again as Eden. Our work as individuals is to learn how to experience divine consciousness within ourselves. Our work as Sacred Activists is to bring this consciousness into the world.

John C. Robinson is a clinical psychologist with a second doctorate in ministry (studying with Matthew Fox), an ordained interfaith minister, the author of nine books and numerous articles on the psychology, spirituality and mysticism of the New Aging, and a frequent speaker at Conscious Aging Conferences across the country. His latest book, The Divine Human: The Final Transformation of Sacred Aging, presents a new model of God. You can learn more about John’s work at www.johnrobinson.org

[Alex]

進思基督教的任務是找回經典隱喻的本來面目：激發美麗敘事的修辭手法。

[Alex]