The Great Blasphemy?
Here's my beloved, Connie, in front of the world-famous "fish-within-a-fish" fossil at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History. We visited this amazing museum, part of Fort Hays State University, in Fort Hays, Kansas, a few days ago on our drive from Durango, Colorado to New York.
When I'm at a world-class museum like Sternberg, I can't help wondering if future generations will look back at our time and judge it as the period of "The Great Blasphemy." To "blaspheme" is to treat something sacred as profane, in word or deed. It is behaving disrespectfully or harmfully toward someone or something that is, in fact, worthy of deepest honor, respect, even reverence.
When I suggest that our time in history may come to be known as "The Great Blasphemy", what I'm pointing to is the fact that hundreds of millions of religious believers around the world not only are unable to see the entire 14-billion-year history of the Universe as holy—indeed, as the primary revelation of God—but many even consider evolution "demonic." I know this because I, too, was once such a blasphemer, proclaiming evolution was "of the devil." Many people, of course, have never been exposed to religiously inspiring views of evolution, so this should not be surprising. And the fact that many theists and atheists alike hold trivialized notions of the divine—i.e., they think of God as an otherworldly entity whose main business is engaging in unnatural acts (i.e., supernatural interventions)—also contributes to this condition.
Non-evolutionary views of God are by their very nature unsubstantial and inconsequential. The fact that Richard Dawkins' book The God Delusion, was an overnight bestseller is compelling evidence of this. No one would buy a book titled, The Life Delusion, or The Universe Delusion. Why? Because 'Life' and 'the Universe' are not trivial concepts—they are undeniably real. "Do you believe in water?" is an absurd question precisely because water is real, not imaginary. It simply doesn't matter whether we 'believe in' water or not. We are each 50-70% water. Without water we wouldn't exist, whether we believe in it or not.
Tradtional "flat-earth" views of God (understandings that emerged when people thought the world was flat) must be believed in or not. Evolutionary understandings of God transcend belief. Indeed, any "God" that can be believed in or not is precisely what I'm not talking about. The reason I spend two chapters in my book discussing this is because, to my mind, nothing is more important than un-trivializing God and redeeming God talk. Philip K. Dick has written: "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." It is precisely this reality—this undeniable reality (and nothing less than this)—that I'm pointing to when I use the word "God." And when we truly get this, it becomes obvious that facts are God's native tongue.
Only when the evolutionary history of the Universe is articulated in a way that conservative religious believers feel in their bones is holy, and in a way that liberal believers are passionately proud of, will evolution be widely and wholeheartedly embraced. Fortunately, that time, is now—not 2,000 years ago, not 200 years ago, and not even 20 years ago. Now is when we are awakening to the reality that evolution is divine and that we've been blaspheming God to say otherwise. Now is when we can see that our faith can be enhanced and enriched by a deep-time view of cosmic history. And now is when we can fully appreciate that God did not stop communicating truth vital to human wellbeing back when scripture was still recorded on animal skins and preserved for posterity in clay pots. To my mind, this truly is Great News.
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Hi Rev. Michael: It was a
Hi Rev. Michael:
It was a pleasure meeting you at Asilomar in August.
Great website.
I celebrate your heart and consciousness in all you do.
Namaste,
Rev. John Poleski
Senior Minister
San Diego Center for Spiritual Living
1249 F Street
San Diego, CA 92101
619-491-3087
Great Website! Bravo on all
Great Website!
Bravo on all the excitement around your book -- I'm looking so forward to reading it! We're getting excited in Fayetteville, AR about your and Connie's January 9th, 2008 visit. You both are doing such beautiful work in the world -- very inspiring.
Keep up the great work and see you soon in January.
Leigh
Fayetteville, AR
p.s. We're pre-ordering books to avoid the rush!
Evolution goes upwards not downwards.
Elizabeth Hensleylhensley@webkraft-hs.net "We are the body of Christ and individually members of It." 1 Corinthians 12:27 Rather speaking the Truth in Love we are to grow up in ALL WAYS into the Head, into Christ." Ephesians 4:15 "He who descended is also He who ascended far above the Heavens that He might fill all things." In other words, (day language) we evolve into God.Survival of the fittest favors becoming more intelligent, more self aware, not less. So God is very, very, VERY self aware and can interact with Humans on a personal level. That is not "night language." That is the simple fact God evolved. He didn't de-evolve. We are conscious and self aware and God is MORE of this not less because He is where our evolution is headed. Evolution is not going backwards towards a vague, cosmic force. God is VERY self aware and aware of us to, as well as everything else. Survival of the fittest favors that.Time and space curve, bent by the gravitational mass of the Universe. (General Relativity). The Future is the past.So for perfectly scientific reasons a thinking, self aware God already exists.How cute you named the continents, Nora, etc. But a continent is not self aware. You can't have a personal relationship with an expanse of land, however large, as you can with the living, thinking, self aware Omega Point. Yes Nora is beautiful, but she doesn't know you like the living, self aware God knows you and wants you to know Him.Heaven is a literal place because We, the Body of Christ, actually, literally build it and upload Human operating systems to it. We are NOT in Heaven right now anymore than I'm in New York City. But Heaven and New York City exist in a point in space and time.We built the Nautilus, the Moon ship Columbia, the International Space station, communication satellites, robots rolling around on Mars and vacuuming carpets on Earth. All these things started off as dreams, as science fiction stories. But we really built them because we wanted to! We want to live forever. Every Doctor is working towards eternal life. Every Scientist is building Heaven. We build Heaven just as we built these other things that started off as science fiction "night tales." Why would future science not be used to build something as beautiful and useful as the 1500 mile cube described in the last two chapters of Revelation? The Nautilus, the Moon ship Columbia and the ISS started off as night language, but they became day language because we wanted them. So too with John's Cube. Everyone deserves an afterlife. It would not be fair to give some eternal self awareness and not others. But what is The fully evolved Christ supposed to do with those who would do such things as write virus's, and do other deliberate acts of self destruction that work against the building of Heaven, not for it? So yes, a physical very real Hell must be constructed also. Primitive tribes, including the ancient Hebrews had to have the death penalty for almost every infraction because they had no choice in their possible ways to protect society from those who would harm it. Modern society and the Christ's very real Kingdom (day language), have more resources. Do people stay there forever? The Bible says Christ led captives out of Hell and that the good news was preached to the dead. So maybe not. But don't bet your eternal operating system and those of your friend's and loved one's on a second chance! The Galilee Carpenter is the Head, the Christ because we WANT Him to be. His operating system is just as uploadable as any one else's. We can tell from reading both their words that the Galilee Carpenter wants a Kingdom and the only other possible candidate, Buddha does not.Ask Christ in to debug you so you are fit to join the network of Heaven. All it takes is one little flaw to corrupt any network. That is why we install antivirus software and antispyware. Invite Jesus in to install Himself in you. That is not merely night language, but what must be done to make one fit to live in John's cube. Jesus Christ we thank you for your sacrifice.Come live inside my busy restless mind.Forgive my faults and fix the flaws that sadden you.Help me forgive the ones who did not treat me kind.(Can be sung to Danny Boy).