Ambiguity

[aspen]

Fundamentalism values certainty and resists change, at all costs. Reality is all about embracing change and learning to love through all of it. Faith - resisting our knee-jerk opinion (often negative opinion, offered as a vain incantation to ward off change) is the key to embracing life's inevitable changes. Jesus teaches us the correct response to dealing with ambiguity - faith (experiencing change without judgment and sitting with the anxiety it causes within us) and love (acceptance of all circumstances and responding with a positive, encouraging, and accepting attitude towards all people around us). This does not mean we are supposed to pretend we love the circumstances or even the changes in our environment - it means that we must acknowledge the change and root ourselves in the Goodness of God - which allows us to love all the people involved despite any evil or pain that might occur.

Ambiguity and change are apart of life - burying our heads in the sand keeps us prisoners in it - faith gives us freedom to overcome.

 

[Prentis]

Yes! Rejoice in all things... It's an act of faith! :)

 

[Arnie Manitoba]

I agree aspen .... but as usual i am going to put my own twist on my perception of being a fundamentalist. I will use the topic of children as an example.

Let us say I have a newborn child and I decide to take the narrow minded fundamental route .... and strive to bring up the child in the most proper christian way. Not saying I am going to succeed , but I consciously chose to be a fundamentalist parent.

That is not really a good explanation of being "fundamental" ...... until I define "Liberal and changing" (non-fundamental) .

Lets say I have the opportunity to have a child but go against traditional values and decide to use contraception . It is the modern thing to do .

Then I might go further and decide I really like my freedom and never want kids at all.

Then if there was an accidental pregnancy .... for my own personal convenience I would schedule an abortion to solve that problem. It is the modern thing to do.

To hell with the old fashioned narrow minded fundamental Christians anyway.

They are old and stubborn and never want to change.

We should get rid of them completely.

hey .... I hear there is a new euthanize clinic opening soon. Put down the useless old-timers who are a drain on society. It is the modern thing to do. We must change with the times. Fundamentalism is dead.

======================

ps:
I just made up an extreme example above .... but I remember the 1960's when the birth control pill first came out .... the fundamental old school catholic church was dead set against it.

I am not catholic .... but they were right .... and we should have listened to them

By the way everybody ... there really are plans for euthenization clinics .... coming soon to a city near you.

No kidding.

I am not really a fundamentalist .... but now i wish I had been.

The catholic church is about the only ones still against birth control ... witness the legal actions in the USA with Obama-Care requiring Catholics to go against their fundamental values.

the rest of us just sit around bashing Catholics.

Its the modern thing to do.

 

[Episkopos]

Just what are you getting at Aspen2??? ;)