Thoughtfully Penned by Joseph Ostrander
As the blog’s moderator and topical provocateur, I want to proffer another glimpse into my personal, and some might say, multifarious theological points-of-reference…
Disclaimer: What I am going to disclose is not the final word, or ‘gospel’, as it pertains to theological considerations. As a disciple-in-process I do believe the foundational tenets of the Christian faith can be simple enough for a child to comprehend, and yet bottomless in depth when mature saints contemplate the deeper implications of those very same kingdom principles…
These are simply my theological points-of-reference that have been personally accepted, reviewed, rejected, re-reviewed, expanded upon, incorporated, modified, and also contains remnants of some considerations merely relegated to the enlarging recycle bin labeled ‘mystery’…
I hold these perspectives loosely. I have no soapbox to erect; no agenda to promote. I do not wish to defend these considerations as an ardent apologist. I do not wish to convince anyone else of their validity, or their inherent ‘rightness’. They are simply signposts and milestones I have encountered along the spiritual path I continue to wander/wonder down as a disciple of the One who offered me the invitation to follow Him on a momentous day in the month of October, 1974…
- In the Beginning: I hold to an Old Earth understanding, and a greater appreciation for the eons and eons of creative fashioning that the Master Craftsman took in forming the physical universe that is studied by scientists and also mesmerizes children in their innocent wonder. I simply like the idea of God taking His Time (not ours) putting things in place/order; He was not rushed, nor did He resort to magically making it all appear in a very compressed timeline. Yes, such theological viewpoints do differ. I get this. However, it is not the Mt. Ararat I choose to defend as a pre-gospel qualification, nor a doctrinal hill I wish to die upon, and I don’t measure other saint’s orthodoxy by this one perspective…
- Evolution: I do not have any reservations regarding the concept of ‘crafted’ evolution. The entire concept violates the very principle of entropy. And what could be a better indicator of an Unmoved mover that Aristotle conceived of? Life develops from simple to more complex organisms in contradiction to the second law of thermodynamics. There is an elegance to the complex process understood as evolutionary progression. Life itself consists of intricate organic compounds that God designed to support what we understand as life. For me, evolution = creation; these concepts are not mutually exclusive and not worth the artificial brouhaha some well-known Creationist organizations make it out to be…
- The Nature of Man: I do not subscribe to the Augustinian concept of Original Sin and the total depravity of mankind that has been extrapolated to the nth degree by what I term uber-Calvinism. The interrelated concepts of what is called The Fall, along with its supposed consequences, do not adequately explain for me how the current condition of mankind transpired. I lean more toward the Eastern Orthodox view of sin that is more conditional (like a disease), than a fixed state (total depravity). Mankind is spiritually diseased, which can be ascribed to the sin of Adam and Eve, but I believe there is no guilt associated with it. All mankind is endowed with the Imago Dei (image of God), although it is distorted by the effects of sin. And while on the topic of Adam and Eve, I do not need to view them as the literal/historical first couple. As with the general mythos of the early Genesis accounts, I can accept they represent the appearance of modern humans (collectively) along the evolutionary timeline and the definitive separation from our proto-human ancestors (that were not imbued with self-awareness and moral cognition)…
Okay, I think that’s enough for now. Is there any real practical application that corresponds to these concepts and how they relate to what has been addressed during service these past 2 Sundays???
Well, it could be my personal theological understandings just might run counter to yours. In fact, I can guarantee we will have differing views about some theological points-of-view. You could then choose to label me more as Samaritan than orthodox Christian. And that decision might then constrain the level of neighborliness afforded to me next Sunday when we meet…
Think about it…
Amen.