I wonder one thing. Why do you hesitate to use the word God? Just because your definition changed doesn’t mean you can’t still use the term. If people object, you can tell them your definition and say, “See? isn’t the word “God” shorter?”

FROM YOUR SERMON: “In the almost two decades since I could have sung such a song of praise to god, my definition and experience of god has changed. Then it was a loving entity that cared for her children, today it is all that is and all that is not, the amorphous je ne sais quois that has no sentient quality unto itself but yet continually is creating expressions of life and expressions of beauty. Today my praise and thanksgiving is to life itself, to love eternal, to the creative interchange as the theologian Wieman would describe it.”

Sharon: Good point.

[ Thank you for asking additional important questions. The prophets in the Old Testament were very political in their questions of the day--Jeremiah, Micah offered some of the most challenging political questions that could have been asked of a nation. Yet they also shaped a religious response. None of these questions yours or mine have a right or wrong answer. They are not meant to, at least mine are not meant to, but they are meant to get us to think hard about who we are as a people. What do we really hold confidence in? What do our actions say about where we hold our faith? 'You will know them by their fruits.' So what are our fruits when we deny healthcare access to others. And to honor your question albeit paraphrased, what are our fruits when we encourage the abortion of the innocents? I am not sure the answer lies in the establishment of a benevolent theocracy as that implies the end of one of God's greatest gifts to us--free will. The questions I maintain are deeply and profoundly religious ones. Blessings,]

I agree completely and would add “What is our faith if we believe that war can be just when it shatters the interdependent web of all existence, destroys the worth and dignity of the people who we kill; and, by its very nature, is a renunciation of justice, equity, and compassion? What is our faith if we cannot agree to renounce all war?”

Just as we can be better to our own fellow citizens, we can also be better to our brothers and sisters around the world.

As we say in my faith perspective, “God grant you many years!” ♥

Thank you for publishing this. I enjoyed your talk, but it was so full of interesting history that I needed to read it at my own speed to start to retain it.

I enjoyed visiting and am planning to come back Sunday with my sister Celeste Thomas (Rob’s girlfriend). I’m sorry you won’t be speaking again, but I’m sure I’ll hear you another time.

I imagine that, especially in the South, that your members often find themselves being confronted by Evangelicals who insist that Hell must exist, often claiming that Jesus himself preached about it.

However, I would say you can make a very strong case, from the Gospels themselves, to say otherwise.

I’ve actually written an entire book on this topic–”Hell? No! Why You Can Be Certain There’s No Such Place As Hell,” (for anyone interested, you can get a free Ecopy of my book at my website: http://www.ricklannoye.com), but if I may, let me share just one of the many points I make in support of the concept that God, as a loving parent, could never torture anyone.

If one is willing to look, there’s substantial evidence contained in the gospels to show that Jesus opposed the idea of Hell. For example, in Luke 9:51-56, is a story about his great disappointment with his disciples when they actually suggested imploring God to rain FIRE on a village just because they had rejected him. His response: “You don’t know what spirit is inspiring this kind of talk!” Presumably, it was NOT the Holy Spirit. He went on, trying to explain how he had come to save, heal and relieve suffering, not be the CAUSE of it.

So it only stands to reason that this same Jesus, who was appalled at the very idea of burning a few people, for a few horrific minutes until they were dead, could never, ever burn BILLIONS of people for an ETERNITY!

True, there is a minority of statements that made their way into the gospels which place Hell on Jesus lips, but these adulterations came along many decades after his death, most likely due to the Church filling up with Greeks who imported their belief in Hades with them when they converted.