Religious traditions, rituals. customs, and understandings Archives

Sin, Sinned, Sinning, Sinner

Sin 1. a) the breaking of religious law or a moral principal, especially through a willful act b) a state of habitual violation of such principals 2. any offense, misdemeanor, or fault – sinned, sinning 1. to break a religious law or moral principal; commit a sin. 2. to commit an offense or fault of any kind: do wrong.

   I don’t remember if I had used these exact words in my weekly “released-time” class at the nearest Catholic church, but I certainly got the idea right and could communicate it very well. I had to!
   I was being prepared for first Holy Communion and that meant I had to learn about Sin and sins and be ready to accuse myself to the priest at my first Confession, which of course preceded first Communion!
   (I was then six going on seven years old!)
   Naturally I had been taught about Moses and the Ten Commandments
—and all the very many and diverse ways associated with not obeying them well enough: Sin!
   My most common sins had to do with acts of disobedience to my parents or, later, things like accidentally swallowing some water when brushing my teeth on Sunday before going to Communion (breaking the Eucharistic fast).
   The sixth commandment was hard to understand, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” but, as I got a little older, I learned that it was about bad thoughts, bad desires, and bad actions, alone or with others!
   It was a tricky business trying to discover and not forget to confess all my weekly sins.
   I still remember one Saturday afternoon when I couldn’t recall any sins to tell the priest in confession.
   So, I did what the Nuns had taught me, and told the priest that I couldn’t remember any new sins to tell, but that I was heartily sorry for all my past sins.

   “You get out of here, kneel down, and pray—and then come back here and confess,” the priest roared!
   (I was so scared that I never made a confession like that again—ever!)
   This is only a childhood memory, but it is a reminder of how things were in those days—and of the sort of obsession with sin that characterized them in some, if not many, parts of the world!
   The emphasis on sin, repentance, and confession had its merits and value amid all the problems of growing up and living a good adult life, but it dominated my early formation and the understanding of God and his commandments.
   It was a tough struggle in adult years, to come to terms with what the sixth commandment was really all about. It always had seemed that somehow it was the “sexth” commandment, in practice!
   One thing is for sure, I grew up with a keen consciousness of “sin” in dozens of small ways and relatively less awareness of the forgiveness and love of God, ever a cause for joy and rejoicing!
   Deo gratias! (Thanks be to God) is somehow more important or life-giving than Confiteor Deo omnipotenti… (I confess to almighty God…), though both have their distinct place and use.
   One of the things that people marveled at in the life of Jesus was how he fraternized with sinners. He didn’t behave like them, but he treated each and every one of them with compassion, forgiveness, and love.
   We know about the sins that we sinners are all capable of and worse. Don’t let that make you forget to rejoice with Jesus over your repentances and his pardons!

10 September 2023

Does Winning or Losing Deserve More Attention?

If you’ve ever visited a gambling casino, you know that whenever someone has a big win on one of the machines there are often flashing lights and a kind of music to celebrate it.
   Of course, there’s no celebrating a loss, big or little—it makes sense—you can hardly entice someone to keep playing and betting if you blast out the news of their losing to everybody within sight and earshot.
   It’s really odd, but when it comes to our religious practice and faith, we sort of do the opposite. We make a bigger fuss about failures than successes.
   What’s the first thing a child learns about, the first thing that gets a lot of attention? Why, it’s failure, reprimand, and perhaps punishment.
   From early childhood most of us were made aware, sometimes vividly, of our failures, of our sins! And we were taught how to go to church and confess our sins and seek forgiveness.
   There was rarely any special fussing about good things and successes—they didn’t send us to the priest to speak about that but to speak about the bad things, the sins!
   If you were being coached in preparation for the Olympics, the whole emphasis would have been on getting things right, not reminding you that you got them wrong.
   Why do we attach so much importance to defects and sinning? Why do we give so much more recognition to failure compared to the attention that success should get?
   A child almost learns inverted values, getting more recognition and attention through failing than through succeeding!
   Sure, God punishes, but, most important of all, he forgives! We seem to forget that and that we are celebrating his love and forgiveness in receiving communion.
   Were a special music playing and everyone applauding what we did, we might feel a lot better about our religious behavior!

   Much of the Bible dwells on failures and losing and their consequences—but also on heroism, good deeds, and successes.
   It’s sad if our childhood memories are mostly of our failures and weaknesses and not of successes and unexpected blessings.
   In our contemporary society, there’s a much greater tolerance for certain behaviors, for certain “sins,” than there used to be—and often it’s about something not to be unthinkingly dismissed.
   To be brutely honest, we have to admit that sometimes sin gets far more, and better, attention than goodness! And, sadly, there are children who get more attention and recognition over their misbehaviors than their virtues.
   Remember the story of the good thief and the bad at the crucifixion of Jesus. The focus wasn’t just on the track record of each but on the present and actual attitude and behavior of each. And, as we know so well, Jesus promised Paradise to one of them—the one, who, in spite of his past record, repented, sought, and received forgiveness and mercy from the dying Lord!
   It’s important to believe in the mercy of God, and it’s important to believe in the repentance of sinners—Godlike you might consider it!
   The mercy of God and the repentance of sinners can both be very surprising to us, and both should be welcomed for what they are—even though there’s no flashing lights and a kind of music to celebrate each of them!
   Stop giving more attention and recognition to losing than winning. After all, it’s God’s mercy and love that deserves drums and trumpets, not your failures!

27 August 2023

Dayzziness

The number of days in a week has not always been the same. The Roman Empire, for example, used to have an eight-day week which gradually became a seven-day week during the first, second, and third Christian centuries. (As the empire gradually became more Christian, it adopted a seven-day week like the Hebrew calendar.)
   The names we use for the weekdays are derived from a variety of traditions.
   For example, the first day of the week has been known for centuries in English as the day of the Sun (following the ancient Roman tradition), although now, in contemporary Romance languages, it’s known as the day of the Lord (e.g. in Spanish, Domingo).
   (Also, in English we often refer to Sunday as the Lord’s Day, a familiar religious custom since Biblical times).
   The second day of the week is known in English as the day of the Moon. (It’s similar in other languages, too. The Latin word for moon is Luna, from which we derive, e.g., Lunes in Spanish.)
   The Roman Empire continued following this Greco-Roman tradition of naming the days of the week after planetary spheres (which were named after pagan gods). The third day of the week was named after Mars, the fourth, after Mercury (Hermes), the fifth, after Jove (Jupiter), the sixth after Venus (Aphrodite), and the seventh after Saturn (Kronos).
   Romance languages generally follow the Roman way of naming the days. Further north in Europe the Norse or Germanic tribes had different divinities and used different names for the days.
   English follows the Germanic usage for the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth weekdays which were named after Tiw (Tuesday), Woden (Wednesday), Thor (Thursday), and Frige (Friday).
   Our names for the days of the week have complicated roots!

   I guess a practical question today about all this is, “So, what?” If you like studying about where words came from and what they originally meant, it may be interesting—otherwise, probably not!
   In Abrahamic religions, the seventh day (Sabbath) is when God rested after six days of creation. It’s also the day of the week commanded by God to be observed as a holy day, a day of rest. Religious Jews strictly observe this.
   Christians, on the other hand, began to celebrate the first day of the week as their holy day, the day of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
   Curiously our modern “Weekend” celebrates the seventh and first days of the week together as days of rest and recreation, regardless of whether or not one day or the other or both are considered holy!
   Of course, way back when each day of the week was associated with a different divinity, a different god, (which varied from country to country and region from region) you might say that every day was in some way a holy day!
   In fact, something like the ancient custom of assigning the days of the week to a remembrance of a particular divinity still exists in that we designate the days of the year for the remembrance of special deeds of God or of the lives of certain holy people (saints).
   This is a huge difference in our religious beliefs and practices in that we believe in only one God whom we celebrate in different ways on different days in addition to celebrating the huge number of outstanding and faithful servants he has had over the centuries.

16 July 2023

Powerful Symbols

A symbol is a mark, sign, or word(s) that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing something entirely different—an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different concepts and experiences. Symbols are needed for effective communication and are used to convey ideas and beliefs. [adopted from Wikipedia]
   Take, for example, the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
   The pledge, the commitment, is to the Republic—symbolized by the flag. That means that any lack of respect to the flag is construed as a lack of respect to the republic itself. Of course, the flag is just a colorful, cloth construct—but it is treated with the respect and reverence due to what it stands for and represents.
   The Jewish Passover ritual meal uses several symbols—for example, the bitter herbs that symbolized the bondage of the Jewish people in Egypt.
   The last supper of Jesus with his disciples the night before his death was a Passover meal to which he added some additional symbols and meanings—the wine and the broken bread symbolizing his crucifixion and death.
   His followers were challenged to remember and understand these symbols and to celebrate this ritual in the future—what we know as the Divine Liturgy, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
   As the centuries passed, some of the great Christian thinkers and philosophers began to consider whether the words of consecration of the Mass could be and should be taken very literally.

   We still venerate and study the brilliant ideas and explanations of St. Thomas Aquinas, utilizing the Aristotelian concepts of substance and accident.
   However sometimes so much attention was given to his detailed reflections concerning the Eucharist and the real presence that its symbolic aspect, rooted in the Passover ritual was overlooked and forgotten.
   [In the reformation era, a scornful mockery of this aspect of Thomistic theology was called Hocus-Pocus, referring to the words of consecration in the Latin Mass: “Hoc est enim corpus meum” (This is my body)].
   It helps to remember the symbolisms of the Passover meal and the symbolisms that Jesus invoked at the Last Supper. They shouldn’t be overlooked because of our religious heritage or our esteem for Aquinas.
   The consecration of the Tridentine Mass is:
   “Who the day before He suffered took bread into His holy and venerable hands, and with His eyes lifted up heaven, unto Thee, God, His almighty Father, giving thanks to Thee, He blessed, broke and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take and eat ye all of this, for this is My Body.
   “In like manner, after He had supped, taking also this excellent chalice into His holy and venerable hands, and giving thanks to Thee, He blessed and gave it to His disciples, saying: Take and drink ye all of this, for this is the Chalice of My Blood, of the new and eternal testament: the mystery of faith: which shall be shed for you and for many unto the remission of sins.
   “As often as you do these things, ye shall do them in in remembrance of Me.”
   Remember! Respect and reverence!

11 June 2023

Coronation and Ordination

6 May 2023 was the Coronation of Charles III as king of the United Kingdom of Britain and Northern Ireland and a sovereign venerated in many other places around the world.
   In the United States we’re English enough in our roots that the whole beautiful ceremony in London was televised in full by several TV stations.
   Watching, I couldn’t help but thinking that this ceremony, in church and being led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, was similar to what I’m familiar with as an ordination.
   An ordination ceremony is about receiving holy orders—that is to say, about being commissioned to a role of service and leadership in the Church, much like the assignment of officers in the military.
   The coronation didn’t make Charles king. That was a matter of lineage. He became king as soon as Queen Elizabeth II died. But the coronation was the celebration of his elevation to this special rank, office, and responsibilities in his land—and intercessory prayers to God to strengthen and guide him.
   The coronation, again referencing the military model, was a commissioning—about holy orders, about the king assuming responsibilities under God for the country and all its people.
   The ceremonies, though they didn’t make Charles king, celebrated his new role, under God, for the good and welfare of the people subject to his rule.
   English history has many a tale about great and good kings—and the opposite! (The same could be said about the English church leaders.)
   The days described in “A Man for All Seasons” and the tales about Henry VIII were entertaining. They probably were accurate enough. But they were about times of bitter divisions and violent competitions.
   Sanctity is not a requirement to be a king—but a commitment, a willingness to sacrifice for others, to serve is!

   We cannot demand perfection of a ruler or leader—perfection is a rare and special gift of God. It’s enough that each does his or her best to do what is right, seeking always what conforms to the will of God and willing to sacrifice themselves for others.
   Thanks be to God that there are people in positions of authority and leadership today willing to do just this, to sacrifice their lives in service to their people. Not necessarily saints, but nevertheless willing to serve God and country, no matter what the cost!
   I suppose in England there may be people who find fault with their new king. But, that could be the case with anyone, since we are all limited creatures of God.
   Thanks be to God, also, that in our day there is much better mutual understanding and respect. We live in a time when nobility is not just a word about class but a description of the service of modern queens and kings. We live in a time when there is no longer competition between Britain and Rome, but collaboration and mutual respect.
   Pope Francis sent a highly meaningful and valuable gift to the new king—a fragment of the true cross of Jesus, a powerful reminder of the price of leadership, collaboration, and responsibility.
   Also, there was an interesting innovation in King Charles’s coronation ceremony: prayers and blessings were offered for the king not only by the senior bishop of the Church of England but also by other religious leaders, even a Catholic cardinal!
   The ancient English royal coronation is still very religious and increasingly ecumenical in spite of the change of so many other things in our tangled and confused modern world..
   God save the king!

7 May 2023

Remembering at Passover and Easter

Passover is a divinely commanded remembrance ritual that celebrates the liberation from Egypt of the enslaved descendants of Jacob/Israel.
   The Bible describes the many, failed attempts to convince the Pharaoh to grant them freedom. Ten plagues or divine actions were meant to force his hand. He resisted nine, but with the tenth, the death of every firstborn son, he relented and allowed the Hebrews to leave Egypt.
   Through Moses and Aaron, God had instructed the Hebrew people what to do to safeguard their firstborn sons during this final, dreadful, and decisive plague.
   They had been told to sacrifice a lamb, to smear its blood on the doorposts and lintel of their dwellings as a sign to the angel of death to pass over them, and to make a meal of the sacrificed lamb.
   For many centuries the key element of the Passover ritual was an actual sacrificial offering, in the Jerusalem temple, of a lamb, followed by a sacrificial meal. But, with the destruction of the Jerusalem temple, it was no longer possible to have the sacrifice.
   Gradually, the meal, the remembrance ritual changed. The remembrance included that of the sacrificial lamb itself, and the meal, no longer actually sacrificial, became more symbolic, a reminder of the ancient salvific acts of God.
   The Passover ritual meal (the Seder) also includes various other symbols that remind the participants of details of what they are remembering of the past with thanksgiving and hope.
   Jesus’s death is tied to Passover; his last supper meal with his disciples before his death is usually identified as a Passover ritual—and anticipatory to the great sacrifice of Jesus’ life (as the lamb of God).
   For Christians, this ultimate sacrifice of Jesus is at the heart of their version (the Mass) of the ancient remembrance ritual.

   Just as on the evening of the tenth plague a lamb was sacrificed and its blood became salvific, so the first followers of Jesus viewed his death on the cross.
   Just as, in the Seder, the sparing of the firstborn of the Hebrews and their liberation is symbolically celebrated, so too, in the Mass, our being spared and liberated by the death of Jesus is remembered and symbolically celebrated.
   Jesus himself gave the remembrance symbols to his followers: the broken bread, shared by all at the table, this was his body, broken for their and our salvation, and the cup of wine, shared by all at table, this was his blood, shed for their and our salvation.
   “Do this in remembrance of me.” he said.
   This Christian remembrance ritual, rooted in the Passover and associated with the Resurrection, began to be enacted every Lord’s Day (Sunday), not just once a year at Passover (Easter) time. It even became a daily ritual for many.
   Because of centuries of theologizing and analyzing of the specifics of the ritual and the exact meaning of the Lord’s words, as well as great religious divisions about the matter, a great emphasis was placed on transubstantiation and real presence.
   An unintended consequence was less attention to the original significance of the remembrance ritual’s principal symbolic actions, the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the wine.
   Liturgical reforms in the last century were not so much refinements of complex ceremonials, elaborate vesture, and special architectural arrangements as a challenge to us to rebalance our understanding of this core remembrance ritual of our lives.

16 April 2023
(Adopted from a
21 March 2021 original)

I’m No Angel

What are angels? Some might turn the question around and ask, are there angels? And, should we aspire to be angels or at least angelic? Or, is that as strange, and as impossible, as a fish aspiring to be a bird?
   The word “angel” is rooted in the Greek word angelos, meaning a messenger.
   In the Jewish Scriptures, in several places—e.g., Genesis 18—a mysterious, apparently human visitor turns out to be not only a messenger from God but a manifestation, an appearance of God. In some other places—e.g., Daniel 10—an angel messenger from God is also described as distinct, powerful, functioning person.
   When talking about angels, we also speak of “fallen angels”—that is, about angels who fail to remain the servants of God that they were meant to be. In fact, we often make this our definition of devils: fallen, in the sense of failed, angels.
   Is “angel” a superior being of God’s creation, yet a superior being that is capable of sin, disobedience, and inordinate pride? Some of our religious traditions describe them this way.
   In common speech, we tend to think of angels as perfect beings. We even call a very good child or person an “angel”. But, who is without sin, perfect in every way and always? Only by the special grace of God is it possible.
   Anyway, even though we may say to a child that “you’re a little angel” or that “you’re a little devil”, we mean no more than “you’re very good” or “you’re very bad”.
   The best of angels, according to scripture and tradition, are the ones who serve as the direct messengers of God and the protectors of his chosen people.
   This is a pretty good description of what we often aspire to be: bespeaking God by our words and deeds and seeking to aid and protect others.

   I’m no angel. I mean in the sense that I unfailingly let all my words and deeds reflect and communicate the love and mercy of God.
   I do try, though, to be an angel in this sense—and probably you do, too! Do we succeed always, usually, sometimes, rarely, or never?
   The best that is attainable, short of a special intervention of God, is usually—and that probably needs a lot of support from God, too!
   I’m no devil, either. I mean in the sense that I unfailingly refuse to let my words and deeds reflect and communicate the love and mercy of God.
   Whether we’re devilishly clever or not, the whole trajectory of our lives is a constant struggle to be less devilish and more angelic.
   But, have no delusions! You are not, and never will be, perfect.
   Even so, the fundamental measure of your life, and mine, is how hard and how often we do successfully succeed in obeying the will of God and witnessing to it, letting God speak through our lives to others.
   I don’t want to be devilishly clever, but it’s awkward to say I want to be angelically clever. I just want to be good—that is, ever to strive to be what God intends me to be and to do what God wants, as best as I can understand it.
   I don’t aspire to be an angel—or a devil.
   I’m just one more imperfect, human being struggling always to discern who I am, what God asks of me, and how best to achieve it and to have the grace and courage to let my life, for better or for worse, bespeak the love and mercy of God.

22 January 2023

Believing in Santa Claus

Do you or don’t you?
   Presumably, your answer reflects whether you still have a naïve, sentimental attachment to a childish belief or whether you are a mature, educated adult.
   What are we talking about?
   First, there’s no dispute that historically there was a Nicholas who was bishop of Myra in Asia Minor in the days of the Eastern Roman Empire.
   Secondly, he was known for his holiness and generosity, so much so that many stories were told about his good deeds and miracles. He was known as Nicholas the Wonderworker and popular all over Eastern and Western Europe.
   Curiously, many of our popular modern notions about St. Nicholas (abbreviated as Saint or Santa Claus) are associated with the history of the Dutch colony, later taken over by the English, that became New York.
   Early books there about Santa Claus had him arriving from the North in a sleigh drawn by flying reindeer to reward good children and punish the bad.
   But, the definitive popular description of Santa Claus came with the publication of a long poem, known now as “The Night Before Christmas.” That helped paint our contemporary image of “A right jolly old elf . . . dressed all in fur . . . a bundle of toys . . . flung on his back.”
   The elf with the toys for the good children has become endeared by stores selling Christmas gifts—and many a make-believe Santa Claus is ensconced in a department store or mall as a promotion for purchases.
   As happens with so many customs with religious roots, we tend to elaborate and exaggerate the details to the point that we almost forget the origin of the custom.
   Bishop Nicholas was famous for helping the poor and needy, but the imaginative legends about him have focused on him as bringing gifts for good children.

   How did all the customs associated with St. Nicholas get entangled with Christmas, the nativity of Jesus?
   What may have contributed to the situation was the adoption of the newer Gregorian calendar by the Western Church, while the Eastern Churches generally continued to follow the older, Julian calendar.
   St. Nicholas’s feast day was traditionally December 6th. Since most of churches of the homeland of St. Nicholas did not adopt the updated, Gregorian calendar, it would seem to the Western churches that did that the day was on the 19th of December.
   Perhaps it was close enough to the Western date of the celebration of the Nativity to seem that the Orthodox churches were merely starting a little early to celebrate Christmas, while actually they were celebrating St. Nicholas day.
   In any case, clearly the two feasts have been somewhat entangled in popular observance with most of the St. Nicholas day traditions being associated with Christmas!
   Anyway, there’s no jolly old elf or St. Nicholas living near the North Pole, nor does he have an army of assistants, nor does he use a flying reindeer-drawn sled, nor does he come down chimneys.
   However, we do celebrate the generosity and love of St. Nicholas, inspired by the love of the child that was born in Bethlehem so long ago.
   Above all, we celebrate the almost incredible love, mercy, and sacrifice of the grown man that child later became that has saved us all and inspires and guides us still!
   We believe in him, every day, Christmas and always!

25 December 2022

The Theory of Neonatal Proclivity

First, a brief clarification of terms:
   Theory – from Late Latin theoria from the Greek theoria meaning a “a view”
   Neonatal – meaning of or relating to newborn children
   Proclivity – from the Latin proclivitas, a steep descent, steepness, sloping forward, meaning a natural or habitual inclination or tendency; propensity; predisposition.
   The theory of neonatal proclivity is usually associated with a quasi-genetic point of view about passing on inappropriate behaviors.
   Is there such a theory? I don’t know, but by using different words it challenges us to think about what we mean by the Doctrine of Original Sin.
   It holds, first, that the progenitors of the human race, although constitutionally well designed and innocent, fell victim to the temptations of an evil force and departed from their creator’s designs and will.
   And, secondly, it holds that their progeny inherited a tendency to the same deviation from their original design and passed it on to their descendants.
   According to this doctrine, children are born with “Original Sin”—in the sense, not that they are personally guilty of a sin but that they have inherited a proclivity to sin.
   It is the basis for a certain urgency that they receive the sacrament of Baptism, even though they are too young to be aware of it or understand what it is.
   (Originally Baptism was only for mature adults who accepted the teaching of Jesus and wanted to join his followers. They symbolically expressed this desire and choice by being ceremoniously washed and clothed in new garments.)
   The later custom of also baptizing infant children was an affirmation that they were cleansed from “Original Sin” and pledged by their parents to be raised as Christians. At a future date, hopefully they would personally endorse and reaffirm this symbolic decision.

   Adults who led a Christian life were presumed to be saved and ultimately in Heaven after death; those who did not were presumed to be damned and in Hell.
   Since unbaptized infant children could not fit into either category, a new concept was introduced to cover their situation: that they were poised, as it were, at the frontier of Heaven. This state of being, called Limbo, was identified as neither a punishment nor a reward, but a consequence of having been born and died with “Original Sin”.
   This point of view, popular for many centuries, now can seem flawed and unjust.
   A tendency or a propensity to do something wrong, to commit a sin, is not the same as actually doing it.
   Some of the greatest saints may have been tormented by temptations to sin which they successful resisted—or, as the case may be, they may have committed a sin and then repented their decision and atoned for it.
   To the contemporary mind, it seems implausible and a violation of logic and justice that someone be adjudged guilty of a temptation that he or she actually successfully resisted.
   Sin is a decision and cannot be inherited. However, the inclination to think otherwise is understandable, as one considers the many evils of ancient and modern societies and the so many bad choices of others.
   In biblical and early post-biblical times when adults accepted the teachings of Jesus and sought acceptance into the early Christian community (the Church), they repented past decisions and choices and resolved to follow a new life style.
   There was not yet a concern nor thought about neonatal proclivities!

18 December 2022

Methodology

When we’re talking or writing about something, we may be speaking literally or figuratively—and both are perfectly respectable, proper, and effective ways to communicate.
   Speaking figuratively is communicating in a non-literal, metaphorical way using images, figures, likenesses, symbols, and such.
   It’s not a lessor way of speaking than literal communication; actually, it often can be more effective and evocative—even poetic.
   Some things, some ideas, are so hard to communicate literally that we must recourse to speaking figuratively. Sometimes we even don’t use words at all—e.g., the maxim, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”
   When we’re trying to speak about things that are beyond our detailed and complete understanding we’re almost forced to speak figuratively.
   Sometimes we tend to think that science and scientific speech is better, truer, more accurate, and more effective than religion and religious speech. But, actually, it is often the other way round!
   Good Theology is just as important and vital as good Physics—and maybe more so. But, alas, just as a scientific experiment can be sloppily performed and its reported results untrustworthy, so, too, some theological ideas can be sloppily or naively put together and result in untrustworthy doctrines.
   However, scientific results and theological doctrines may well be accurate and true, even though the way they were arrived at had failings and weaknesses.
   Name notwithstanding, the “Scientific Method,” is a good way to think about all matters, including Science and Religion.
   It is a method of procedure consisting of systematic observation and research, formulation of theories and hypotheses, experimenting and testing them, and reporting conclusions.

   Critical thinking resembles the scientific method. Both involve conjectural insights that must be validated by lived experience. Both respect trial and error.
   Just as the accumulated body of scientific knowledge grows and is constantly revised and further extended, so too does the accumulated body of theological knowledge grow and is constantly revised and further extended.
   Some ideas and conjectures may have been astoundingly radical and controversial when first voiced and now are accepted and presumed as a matter of course.
   Some are articulated in what now may be rejected and out-of-date concepts but which may have been strikingly challenging and provocative when first used.
   There is always a danger that older theories and insights may be ignored or rejected because they use words or concepts that are different then current usage—the classic danger of “throwing out the baby with the bathwater.”
   Just because a theory, description, doctrine, or way of communicating seems hopelessly out-of-date doesn’t mean it lacks insight or value. It may still be a stepping-stone to something newer, greater, and even more insightful, useful, and significant.
   Clinging to older, out-of-date ideas, concepts, and values is understandable but not commendable. A good scientist or theologian, a good thinker or believer always is testing and experimenting with new or revised insights and theories.
   Don’t tire! The process never ends. We are limited in our understandings; only God is omniscient. Rejoice in having a rich heritage, but don’t store your fortune or squander it—use it well and make it grow!

6 November 2022