Heresy Watch-Minneapolis Star Tribune
This is quite a display of Heresy as found in Last Saturday's Minneapolis Star Tribune. My Comments are in Bold.
Found at http://www.startribune.com/stories/614/5786815.html
Faith+Values forum: Santa and the Other Big Question
W e don't have believers at our house anymore. My youngest son expressed doubts about Santa Claus a few years ago.
Judith E. Budreau, Special To The Star Tribune
Last update: December 16, 2005 at 12:40 PM
Faith + Values
Singing some of the unsung
W e don't have believers at our house anymore. My youngest son expressed doubts about Santa Claus a few years ago.
"Tell me why you think Santa isn't real," I said over a quiet snack, hoping to generate the kind of parent-child discussion we'd both remember warmly for years to come.
He hemmed and hawed and then described a playground conversation about the tooth fairy, in which kids were pretty evenly divided over real vs. not. An older and wiser kid asked them about Santa. John had figured out the tooth fairy deal the year before when he grabbed for the cash-filled hand disturbing his pillow. We'd been waiting for the Santa question ever since.
I played up the magic part, conceded that Mom and Dad were Santa's helpers, talked about the spirit of giving. I tried to explain that we need magic and enchantment and faith; we need to believe in things we can't see.
"If there's no magic, how do the stars light up at night?" said I.
"Mom, that's not magic. It's science." True enough.
His dad and his older siblings all confirmed their belief in Santa's magic, even if we have to make it ourselves. We read "Yes, Virginia." We decorated the tree, reminiscing with him about his younger years, before he was in on the secret. It turned out fine, as these things usually do.
So what do I say when his next question is about baby Jesus? And, Mom, how could Mary be a virgin and be pregnant and be engaged to Joseph and have a baby before they were married? Isn't that backwards?
We have three teenagers at our house, so John is no stranger to discussions about sexuality and sexual mores. He understands the mechanics of conception and birth -- which actually raises more questions than it answers.
We'll read the Gospels and Isaiah, and I'll explain that this is the story enough people agreed on that it got written down and passed to us. I'll tell him that different parts of the Christian church disagree about what the Bible says. I'll say it may not even matter what's fact and what's fable. I'll remind myself that if the symbols and metaphors in religion and art and literature mean something else, then maybe the confusing reality in front of me means something else, too. Maybe there's some hope.
1. It is true that there was a human process in which the Biblical Canon was assembled, no serious scholarship would deny that. But at the same time, Christians believe the Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit as I talk about here http://emerti.blogspot.com/2005/07/authority-of-bible.html. Jesus certainly talks of the Bible as being inspired. As J.Gresham Machen's classic The Virgin Birth of Christ talks about their really isn't any dispute found on Historical Record in the Early Church as to the Historicity of the Virgin Birth.
It is true Different parts of the Christian Church disagree about what the Bible means, the major differences I worry about isn't between denomiations it is between Rationalists, and Confessionalists/Evangelicals and these difference center back towards the Authority of the Bible themself.
To say it doesn't matter if it's fact or fiction as to the Virgin Birth-means the Deity of Christ is of little importance. I really don't think this women has any intrest in the Christology laid out in scripture (John 1:1, John 8:24, Romans 10:9, Colossians 2:9) or the Council of Chalcedon. As I'll talk about in my Christmas Sermon this does have a lot to do with Christ's redemption work that Christ is God in Human Flesh.
So, John, here's what I believe and here's what I have questions about. Let's go to church again this week. Let's talk about this some more. Religion is ritual, and repetition; grace is finding the new, the relevant in the ancient. There is comfort in both.
It's sad when you here someone define Religion in this way.
Judith E. Budreau is a freelance writer living in Excelsior. She and her husband have four children, who are learning to appreciate metaphor.
It's great that they decided to have a freelance writer attack one of the Central Doctrines of the Christian Faith, I hope they have someone respond to this.
Found at http://www.startribune.com/stories/614/5786815.html
Faith+Values forum: Santa and the Other Big Question
W e don't have believers at our house anymore. My youngest son expressed doubts about Santa Claus a few years ago.
Judith E. Budreau, Special To The Star Tribune
Last update: December 16, 2005 at 12:40 PM
Faith + Values
Singing some of the unsung
W e don't have believers at our house anymore. My youngest son expressed doubts about Santa Claus a few years ago.
"Tell me why you think Santa isn't real," I said over a quiet snack, hoping to generate the kind of parent-child discussion we'd both remember warmly for years to come.
He hemmed and hawed and then described a playground conversation about the tooth fairy, in which kids were pretty evenly divided over real vs. not. An older and wiser kid asked them about Santa. John had figured out the tooth fairy deal the year before when he grabbed for the cash-filled hand disturbing his pillow. We'd been waiting for the Santa question ever since.
I played up the magic part, conceded that Mom and Dad were Santa's helpers, talked about the spirit of giving. I tried to explain that we need magic and enchantment and faith; we need to believe in things we can't see.
"If there's no magic, how do the stars light up at night?" said I.
"Mom, that's not magic. It's science." True enough.
His dad and his older siblings all confirmed their belief in Santa's magic, even if we have to make it ourselves. We read "Yes, Virginia." We decorated the tree, reminiscing with him about his younger years, before he was in on the secret. It turned out fine, as these things usually do.
So what do I say when his next question is about baby Jesus? And, Mom, how could Mary be a virgin and be pregnant and be engaged to Joseph and have a baby before they were married? Isn't that backwards?
We have three teenagers at our house, so John is no stranger to discussions about sexuality and sexual mores. He understands the mechanics of conception and birth -- which actually raises more questions than it answers.
We'll read the Gospels and Isaiah, and I'll explain that this is the story enough people agreed on that it got written down and passed to us. I'll tell him that different parts of the Christian church disagree about what the Bible says. I'll say it may not even matter what's fact and what's fable. I'll remind myself that if the symbols and metaphors in religion and art and literature mean something else, then maybe the confusing reality in front of me means something else, too. Maybe there's some hope.
1. It is true that there was a human process in which the Biblical Canon was assembled, no serious scholarship would deny that. But at the same time, Christians believe the Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit as I talk about here http://emerti.blogspot.com/2005/07/authority-of-bible.html. Jesus certainly talks of the Bible as being inspired. As J.Gresham Machen's classic The Virgin Birth of Christ talks about their really isn't any dispute found on Historical Record in the Early Church as to the Historicity of the Virgin Birth.
It is true Different parts of the Christian Church disagree about what the Bible means, the major differences I worry about isn't between denomiations it is between Rationalists, and Confessionalists/Evangelicals and these difference center back towards the Authority of the Bible themself.
To say it doesn't matter if it's fact or fiction as to the Virgin Birth-means the Deity of Christ is of little importance. I really don't think this women has any intrest in the Christology laid out in scripture (John 1:1, John 8:24, Romans 10:9, Colossians 2:9) or the Council of Chalcedon. As I'll talk about in my Christmas Sermon this does have a lot to do with Christ's redemption work that Christ is God in Human Flesh.
So, John, here's what I believe and here's what I have questions about. Let's go to church again this week. Let's talk about this some more. Religion is ritual, and repetition; grace is finding the new, the relevant in the ancient. There is comfort in both.
It's sad when you here someone define Religion in this way.
What will I say when my son asks the hard questions? First, I'll try to be grateful that he asks. Then, I'll tell him we find our faith by asking questions, and by searching long and hard and far for the answers. I'll tell him the God I believe in may give us extra points if we listen to other people's questions about our beliefs, and about theirs.
The God she believes in, is one of her own iminigation not one of the Bible. The point is not about be willing to answer questions, I'm more than willing to do that. The point is what is your standard of truth is the Bible, or is your rationalistic theories.
And I'll say that religion and art and literature are the power of the universe, distilled by human imagination.
Believe, John, believe.
Judith E. Budreau is a freelance writer living in Excelsior. She and her husband have four children, who are learning to appreciate metaphor.
It's great that they decided to have a freelance writer attack one of the Central Doctrines of the Christian Faith, I hope they have someone respond to this.
posted by Stew at 5:24 PM
1 Comments:
This lady's viewpoint isn't so very different from the doctrine of the Bible they teach at Luther: i.e., "it doesn't matter if it really happened or not...".
Argh...buffet-style-only religion...It doesn't work! Nobody ever eats any vegetables that way!
Post a Comment
<< Home