What kind of wisdom tradition do you belong to?

[mdmc]

Noted American evangelist Tony Campolo tells of visiting an all night diner in Hawaii while suffering from jet lag and being unable to sleep. From his booth, he overheard a conversation among several "ladies of the night." On said that the next night would be her 39th birthday, and, sadly, she confessed that she had never in her life had a birthday party. Tony secretly arranged with the manager of the diner to throw a surprise party for the women. The next night, the woman and her friends were stunned and thrilled, and Tony led the group in prayer.
Later, the diner manager asked Tony, "What kind of church do you belong to?" He replied,"I belong to the kind of church that throws birthday parties for whores at three thirty in the morning." This was Jesus' kind of church.

Jimmy Carter - Living Faith page 198-199.

What kind of church (wisdom tradition) do you belong to?
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(as a Catholic I voted "my wisdom tradition just ain't as cool")

[vadawg]

1. a unique one, though religion is catholic, culture is very unknown...

[mdmc]

2. thanks for the reply

peace and low stress my friend..

[vadawg]

3. hometime for me, see you all on monday,

shift finished, survived another day...

[REP]

4. The kind that doesn't pray aloud on street corners to be seen of by men

[Sebastian Doyle]

5. The Reagan (not Christ) worshipping Baptist church I grew up in

would have taken the Pharisees approach, and took the woman outside the diner and thrown rocks at her. :evilfrown:

Their treatment of a pregnant teenager and forcing her to "confess her sins" in front of the entire congregation had a lot to do with why I walked away from that shit.

[mdmc]

6. my g/f grew up fundie

she cried when we watched the movie "Christ Camp". She was so mad that she was made to feel like a sinner at age 6.

[NashVegas]

7. That's a Lovely Story

But my wisdom tradition doesn't use words like "whore" for honest businesswomen.

[mdmc]

8. point taken

thanks for the reply..

[handmade34]

9. I am fortunate

I grew up with a dysfunctional fundamentalist Christian Mother who took me to Methodist services, pentacostal services and camp meeting, when I got a bit older I went to see Katherine Kuhlman, lived in an Ashram and sat for hours listening to Satsang. I lived in a downstairs apartment where Thom Hartmann lived upstairs. I read every spirit seeking book I could find and worked as a secretary for an awesome UCC minister. I listened to and profoundly believed Joseph Campbell. I went to Seminary (as a candidate for ordination in the Methodist Church) until I quit as my husband was making end of life plans. There are many traditions and faiths that I have experienced over the past 57+ years. My wisdom tradition is rich and varied and has taught me to be somewhat humble, shelter abused women, take in troubled kids, give money to people in need when I can, tread lightly on the earth, read to my kids and treat them with absolute respect, love bees, fight injustice and laugh at myself often.

I love your story!

[mdmc]

12. thanks for the reply

peace and low stress

[Odin2005]

10. The Enlightenment. Screw religion.

[handmade34]

11. 'religion' is not the problem

fundamentalism/dogma is the problem. Religion is only a set of beliefs; necessary for us mere humans.

[Odin2005]

13. Religion is dogmatic by definition.

Religion is BLIND faith, which is enforced with adherence to dogma.

[handmade34]

15. I don't understand it that way

We should not define religion in a narrow sense but I understand that many do. I do know many people that are religious and not dogmatic. I have known fine people that are Christian -Buddhist -Atheist -Muslim -Wicken -etc.... Here are some interesting quotes about religion.

"Religions are the great fairy tales of conscience." George Santayana

"any specific system of belief and worship, often involving a code of ethics and a philosophy." or "a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith." Websters

"An organized system of belief that generally seeks to understand purpose, meaning, goals, and methods of spiritual things. These spiritual things can be God, people in relation to God, salvation, after life, purpose of life, order of the cosmos, etc." The Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry

"...The sum total of answers given to explain humankind’s relationship with the universe" allaboutreligion

"To be religious is to have one's attention fixed on God and on one's neighbour in relation to God." C.S. Lewis

"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opiate of the people." Karl Marx

"The religious response is a response to experience and is coloured by the wish to provide a wider context for a fragile, short and turbulent life." Philip Rousseau, The Early Christian Centuries

[mdmc]

17. good quotes

[mdmc]

16. I felt that way for a long time

why religion when there was spirituality?
Why spirituality when you have science?
Why..

[handmade34]

18. my life was altered by one class I took at seminary

"The Transformative Power of Ritual" ...one of the texbooks was "Liberating Rites", Tom Driver You might find it to be a good read.

We are experiencing a liminal time and there is conflict and confusion because we have collectively lost many of our traditions and rituals. Quoting Joseph Campbell, "It is time to create a new story" and "God is a metaphor for that which trancends all levels of intellectual thought. It's as simple as that"

[mdmc]

20. thanks for the info and quote

peace and low stress

[OffWithTheirHeads]

14. The older I get, the better I was tradition.

[bemildred]

19. "I haven't got any special religion this morning."

"My God is the God of Walkers. If you walk hard enough, you probably don't need any other God." -– Bruce Chatwin "In Patagonia"

That is as cool as you are going to get. But I am OK with your example too.

[mdmc]

21. yes

:toast: