Selling the Story

Column by Rev. Gretta Vosper on 3 November 2016 36 Comments

Attila the None - The headlines are pretty clear. Both Pew Research Center and the Public Religion Research Institute have told us that people, especially young people, aren’t so much avoiding church as not even thinking it is relevant. In this American election year, those who identify as the Nones – people who state on census forms that they have no religious affiliation – have been declared the largest “religious” voting bloc in the country. Those seated in the pews of mainline, Protestant America can no longer assume they have the strong political voice they once did.

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Question

How do we know when God is speaking to us?

Answer

Dear Leif,

Someone once observed that "When I speak to God, it is called prayer. When God speaks to me it is called paranoia." That may be a bit jaundiced but it has a germ of truth in it.

When people say to me that God has spoken to them, I get nervous. God was said to have spoken through a dog to the one known as "The Son of Sam" and told him to kill women in New York City about two decades ago. God was said to have spoken to the terrorists and told them to kill Americans on September 11, 2001.

There is far too much subjectivity in such pious talk. But if God is conceived of after the analogy of Life, Love and Being then any actions which enhance life, increase love and expand being can be said to be a response to God. That is as far as I want to go.

~John Shelby Spong

 

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36 thoughts on “Selling the Story

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