Part 539: Short, simple and jargon free.

 When I commenced this blog I decided on three rules:

*  Keep posts short.

* Keep the arguments simple (but not simplistic).  Avoid convoluted sentences.

* Minimal use of jargon, recognising that some jargon is convenient shorthand.

With occasional lapses I think I have stayed within the rules.

This is post 539 and I admit my writing has sometimes been poor, often inadequate, bereft of literary merit, occasionally quite good and, vary rarely, accorded accolades.   What I do hope is that my output has described changes in my theological ideas and expresses clearly my current thoughts.

So, what is my current position?  Deep breath.......

A very brief simplified summary:

God:  God is beyond our understanding, beyond our imagination.  I offer the opinion that God is the creator of the universe, is in all of us, and that we subjectively apply the concept of God is Love to our understanding of what God means to us.

Scripture:  My conclusion is that scripture is of human origin in its entirety.  It is not the objective word of God, the authors have not been inspired by an outside agency known as God, but by subjective thinking.  Needless to say church doctrine and dogma is entirely of human origin. However the value of scripture is recognised as recording ideas of our ancestors and as a guide to human behaviour.  This is the case particulary in respect of the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) in which the authors attribute concepts to the person we know as Jesus.  For those of us who seek to be inspired by and follow the teaching attributed to Jesus we place our emphasis on the two Great Commandments, to love God, in other words to love love, and to love our neigbour, ie. to show by our words and actions God's love for all creation.

I dislike labels for the simple reason they come with baggage.  I admit to numerous influences on my thinking. My current position is a melange, mixture, potpourri of existentialism, liberal, progressive and radical theologies, liberation theology, postmodernism. My understanding is influenced by my life experiences.  Faith, belief, do not exist in a vacuum sealed from the rest of the world.