Sav on Saturday

I think if I were a bit less stubborn, I could stop posting here without guilt! lol Anyways, I think this will be pretty short tonight because I'm tired.

I'm reading through this biblically-based book by Henry Cloud and John Townsend called "Boundaries." One thing I've been learning is that we are responsible TO others and FOR ourselves. Boundaries define what is and is not me, giving me freedom to fully be myself. I cannot feel or act for others, I can only think and behave for myself.

2 Corinthians 9:7 bids us to not give to others "reluctantly or under compulsion." If you passively comply with a "should," you will resent it and not be of the right heart. I personally despise the word "should" as it implies limits set by others that we are expected to take for ourselves. We are given by God freedom to make our own boundaries and create our own lives. No matter how we feel, we have control over our choices.

A problem arises when we do not respect the boundaries of others or ourselves. We can become compliant by melting into the demands and needs of other people. We lose the ability to guard our hearts. On the other hand, aggressive controllers look for others to carry their burdens for them - they are often verbal or abusive. Manipulative controllers have the same goal in mind, but they tend to use guilt and cohersion. However, we cannot terrorize or make others feel guilty AND be loved by them at the same time. It's important to remember that while we are not responsible for others' emotions, we are responsible for how we treat them.

In summary, we are to love one another, not BE one another. I cannot feel, think, or behave for you. Setting limits and boundaries in life helps me to define who I am. Part of setting boundaries is taking responsbility for knowing what is and is not my job.

I hope some of that made sense. It's very hard to put into practice as I tend to be a combination of a compliant manipulator, but I'm working at it. Sometimes I think boundaries are important, but sometimes the rebel in me says that boundaries are meant to be pushed and stretched. But is that very respectful of others? How can I love truly if I do not love myself first by respecting myself?

Anyways, not much new is going on in my life. Still working at Borders. Sold my second Kobo e-Reader a few days ago. :) A little confused about some boundaries in my life, but nothing unmanageable. Hope you all are enjoying the last few weeks of freedom. :)

Sav on Saturday

I'm going to try to explain a little more about the book “A History of God” this week. Last week was just crazy because I was in Wisconsin and had poor internet service and no time! But now I'm back in Michigan. In fact, my cousins from Tennessee have been visiting this week. They are going back home on Sunday. Then, my mom and I are going to a little bed and breakfast (probably in Toledo) Monday and Tuesday night to have some mother-daughter time. :) Work is going well. I love it! I'm going to miss working when school starts. I'm a little crazy in that regard! Oh, - and I just sold my first Kobo e-Reader today!!!!! (which are way better than Kindles or Nooks, just ask me why :P )

Anyways, so I'm half way through my huge book, and it's going rather slowly just because each sentence has so much information packed into it. I found the chapter on the Christian trinity to be especially fascinating. To make things short, the idea of the trinity was not original to the Christian movement. Two different camps were in conflict on whether Jesus was God by nature or divine by selection. The first went with the idea of original sin that humans need divine intervention to be saved. The second went with the more optimistic view that humans can attain divinity and perfection through obedience to God.

The Greek church solved this tension with a rather brilliant theological proposal. They made a distinction between God's essence and God's manifestations. We see God as three in one, but God's eternal essence is in unity. There is one divine self-consciousness, but when God lets humans glimpse him, he has three different faces.

In contrast with Eastern Christianity (Greek), the West has tended to take the Trinity very literally. The original purpose of the trinity was to understand how Jesus could be divine and how to describe the Holy Spirit. It was not meant to be a literal description of God, rather it was meant to help us retain a sense of the mystery and incomprehensibility surrounding God. The idea of the trinity was hard to understand on purpose! The Greek Christians believed strongly that one cannot describe God or theology, and any attempts to do so are purely symbolic and meant to instill awe in the worshippers.

In fact, throughout Christian history, people have viewed God in different lights. Some viewed God as personal, some as impersonal. Some saw God as highly involved in human life, others saw God as too high above to notice humans. Some saw God as the ground of all being, some saw God as a supernatural being himself. Some believe God can be described, many believe that to try to describe God will only cause us to create a God in our own image. Anthropomorphism is a very real threat. I love finding out that there have been many diverse views held by Christians. It is comforting to know that what one group defines as heresy, another defines as truth. There has never been a unified Christianity, nor will there ever be one.

Additionally, some (religious philosophers) believed that God could be understood and proven to exist rationally through logic exercises. Others, the mystics, believed that while logic was important, the religious experience was more central to the person's development. They saw God as quite beyond our knowledge, and thus only a transcendental kind of experience can connect us with the divine. I think a balance of both viewpoints is important. We should be able to ask questions and think logically, but we should also realize that few answers exist and that God is beyond our comprehension. I think understanding this creates a healthy tension.

Sav on Saturday

This is going to be much shorter than normal because I feel silly exerting myself when no one seems to read it anyways! lol

So, I've been reading this book by Karen Armstrong called "A History of God." It follows the development of the three major monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam.

The historical insights provided by this book are priceless. I never read the Old Testament with such attention to the different backgrounds of the names of God and Jewish practices. I did not know that many of the Jewish practices and myths had their foundations in the pagan religions of that era. For example, it is unlikely that Abraham believed in only one God. He might have only worshipped one particular god, El Shaddai, (El of the Mountain, one of the common names for the Canaanite god) but that is not the same thing as monotheism, which is believing in only one god.

Abraham had faith in one god, which was a very pragmatic faith, a faith that brought him success, not a faith based on theological suppositions about only one God existing. This God has his beginnings as a tribal deity that murders other peoples and is brutally partial towards the Jews. Only later does he develop a compassionate front towards others.

I really could go on and on about this book, but it's almost overwhelming how much information is packed into its pages! Plus, I'm rather tired and growing somewhat delirious right now. ;)

I hope you all are doing well and enjoying this last month of summer! (I'm in Wisconsin right now, visiting my great-grandmother since I had a few days off work. Next week my cousins are coming up from Tennessee, so that should be fun.)