Materialism vs. Spiritualism, or, Gnosticism and the Eternal Soul: A Confession.

For quite some time i've been wrestling between two opposing views, trying to desperately reconcile them with each other and with the hodgepodge collection of views i refer to as my "faith." In one corner of the ring is Materialism (i.e. philosophical idea that all that exists is material, that is it can be observed in some way, energy is included), in the other, Spiritualism, or the worldview that includes the...well, the spiritual side of things.

One area that has been the focus of most of this inner debate is the concept of the Human soul. This is where Gnosticism enters into things. In a nutshell, Gnosticism is the dualistic belief that says the physical is bad, the spiritual is good. And, it's no wonder this belief has so thoroughly insinuated itself into Christianity, with passages in the Bible talking about "my spirit is willing, but my flesh is weak" and so forth. I don't like Gnosticism. I think it has done more damage to Christianity than almost any other outside influence. It has led to the "sins of the flesh" being treated with far more hate and ruthlessness than the more subtle and often more damaging inner sins such as pride and greed.

But, i'm getting sidetracked here, and a little to preachy.

So, back to the Human soul. I believe that, all along, God intended us to physical beings, and not to just later decide that the Spirit that was breathed into us was suddenly more important than our bodies. So this idea that our bodies are just holding this back, and that this world is not our home, to me is anti-biblical. God created the world as a physical place, and created us to inhabit it.

Here's the confession part: I don't believe in the "eternal soul." At least, not in this dualistic, Gnostic, idea that our true selves are just housed temporarily in these fleshbags waiting to be liberated by death. I believe my consciousness is my soul, and it is as dependent on my body for life as my body is dependent on it.

My good friend/cousin recently sent me this link, and the author does a much better job of expressing himself than i do. Check it out if you've read this far and still care to hear more on this subject. http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.ca/2007/03/preparing-for-cartesian-storm-guide-to.html

The Neverending Story and the Power of Names

Two days ago i started reading Michael Ende's The Neverending Story and already it has proven to be much more profound a story than the movie adaptation. It certainly appeals to the fantasy-lover in me, and the book-lover as well.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the premise, the land of Fantastica (Phantásien in the orignal German) is being slowly obliterated by The Nothing (which is precisely what it sounds like) and the Childlike Empress (who is the ruler, and sustaining force that keeps the land in existence) is suffering from some unknown illness. She sends a young boy from a hunter-gatherer type clan to find the source of her illness and the way to repel The Nothing and restore Fantastica. In the course of Atreyu's (the hunter boy, not the lame metalcore band) "Great Quest" he is sent to speak with the Southern Oracle, a being that exists as pure sound. Atreyu asks the Southern Oracle what will cure the Childlike Empress, and she tells him that what the Empress needs is a new name. Atreyu then asks who can give the Empress a new name, and here is an excerpt from the Southern Oracle's response:

"...Born of the Word, the children of man,
Or humans, as they're sometimes called,
Have had the gift of giving names
Ever since our worlds began,
...For wondrous new names have the power to save."

While my theological beliefs may colour the line "Born of the Word" with a certain Christian significance. Whether that was the authour's intention or not, we humans certainly do have power when it comes to giving things names. It was the above quote that inspired this post.

According to the second creation account in the Bible (in Genesis 2) one of the first things God had the newly created Man do was to name all the creatures of the earth, and we humans have continued to do so ever since. Unfortunately, the names we are most ready to give out are often not of the "wondrous" variety that "...have the power to save."

Too often we use names (or labels, to use a more "grown-up" term) to distance ourselves from some individual, or group, we don't want to associate ourselves with. We use names to limit, dehumanize, devalue, or simply distance ourselves from, others that we deem as irreconcilably "different" from us. We all do it. Sometimes it's obvious and despicable, using names like "f-ggot" or "r-tard" or "n-gger" (forgive my spelling, it makes me uncomfortable writing those words even in this context). Other times it's a lot more subtle or nuanced. It's this latter kind that is more dangerous, insofar as it's much more acceptable.

While i would never say that we should abandon our individual indentities and work towards turning humanity into a borg-like hivemind, i also think that we too often use the positive labels that we give ourselves pridefully to distance ourselves from others. We must strive for that almost paradoxical balance of maintaining out individuality while embracing the fact that we are all members of the human family. Our salvation as a species is bound up with each other.

God and Gender: Brief Thoughts on a Broad Topic.

First off, i will obviously not do justice to this topic, i simply want to express my half-baked thoughts. Forgive me for the disjointed mess that is to follow.

The inspiration for this post comes from the discussion we had this morning at the house church i attend in Steinbach. We talked about our gender-bias towards God and the Bible. It was a great discussion and very thought-provoking for me.

Over the past few years i've moved from the implicit complementarianism (both genders are equal, but have different roles in the Church, i.e. women cannot/should not lead) that i grew up with to a more egalitarian veiw (both genders are equal and can serve the Church in the same capacity). I recently came to the place where if God the Father is primarily masculine, than God the Holy Spirit is primarily feminine. I don't think that's necessarily where i'm going to stop, however, since i belive God trancends or human notion of gender.

During the discussion today i had the following thought: If God truly is 3-in-1, why not refer to God with the plural pronoun "they"?

I believe this topic is of extreme importance to the Church, and that we have a long, long, way to go in our understanding of it. I also believe that the patriachy that has sculpted Christianity since its inception has caused us to miss out of many truths that are to be found in femininity and womanhood.

For too long we have operated on a misunderstanding of scripture and forced women to be silent in the Church. This needs to end.

For the Times They are A-Changin'...

A new blog for a new era. The times definitely are changing, and i've felt like rebooting my blog for some time now. So, i figured, what with all the changes coming in my life, now was as good a time as any. I'll keep my old blog up, because i'm too lazy to transfer all my old posts to this one and i don't want to lose them.

I'm not yet sure what i want this blog to be...It could be me reviewing all the low-budget horror films that i love so much. Or, it could be my incoherant and rambling musings on life, the universe, and everything (wink). Or it'll be like my last blog, and the one before, and just eventually peter off as i lose interest. Maybe this will be the only thing i post. Maybe not. 

Here goes nothing.