RevTom

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Posts posted by RevTom

  1. It was my misunderstanding of your question: The only certification I have from ULC is the Certificate of Ordination. The degrees I mentioned earlier are from Candler School of Theology at Emory in Atlanta, Ga, and correspondence work I had to take as a student minister at University of West Georgia. The degree from Candler of course allowed me to be an ordained minister of UMC, and the Certificate of Ordination from ULC allows me to legally perform the sacraments.

  2. On 7/7/2017 at 1:46 PM, Jonathan H. B. Lobl said:

     

    I never said that it was an accomplishment at all.  Only an ordeal and a torment.  If I had it to do all over again, I would pursue my education at the Public Library.  It would have been so much less expensive -- and a lot more enjoyable.  

     

    In point of fact, my school (C.C.N.Y.)  wanted to know what I had done with my B.A. in Jewish Studies  (1977) --  so that they could write up my bio for the 40th anniversary reunion of my class.  I reported my U.L.C. ordination (1978); and my U.L.C. honorary D.D. (1996).

     

    Such is the value I place on my B.A.  At the time, it was important to me.  What was I thinking?  How could I have been so stupid?

    I think you are being a bit harsh on yourself. The degree, if taken in perspective represents a certain dedication to effort and perseverance. On the other hand, if it is not applied or thought to be of any value, it is worth no more than a piece of paper.

    :sigh2:

     

  3. I did in fact serve as pastor for a circuit of rural churches in the West Georgia area while attending college, and as Associate Pastor for the church I grew up in, not far from my home. I went through a period of doubt and aimlessness, during which I left the church and let my license lapse. I have been sporadically active in the past few years, giving talks and motivational speeches to small groups. I am now wanting to get back into active ministry, and deciding on whether to start an online ministry, or a physical church. What did I put into my degree? in addition to the required course work, I believe to fully apply your degree and enhance it, you must put yourself into environments that will allow you to use what you have learned, and apply it on a practical basis. One of the most poignant experiences I have had is as a student minister, in the charge of churches I  mentioned above. A man wandered up to the parsonage I lived in, and started asking me about faith and God's will. I talked with him and gave him my views and answers to his questions, and it calmed him and eased his torment. Being a pastor is so much more than standing in a pulpit on Sunday and delivering a sermon. It is responding to the needs of the congregation and the community.

  4. I was trying to respond to Rev Dave's post, "Angels Unaware", but there were no options to do so. I think it is a very good, thought provoking article, and it brought to mind a social media post a while back having to do with a pastor who disguised himself as a homeless man. It turns out the social media post was not factual, but based on a real life event (you can read the entire article in Snopes; homeless pastor). There are several pastors who have in fact disguised themselves as homeless people to see how their congregations would react, among them Rev Willie Lyle, who was then the newly appointed pastor of Santiago United Methodist Church. He spent 5 days as a homeless man, and was for the most part ignored and even shunned by his congregation. The point I am getting at is we do not know who we are dealing with as we approach people and they approach us in our daily lives. We should treat all people with courtesy and respect and help who we encounter to the extent we are able to do so. These are the things that will determine our spiritual growth. 

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  5. I think the degrees are what you put into them. I was an ordained minister in the UMC years ago, yet let my license lapse. I went back into the ministry in the UMC, and my past ordination counted for nothing. They wanted me to "take a refresher course" at one of their Schools of Theology, undergo the mentoring process again, and be voted on by the district conference. I went through years of seminary already, and have kept up my studies not only in Methodist doctrine, but also many other spiritual walks. All that being said, the degrees are worth zilch if they have no meaning in your heart and if you do not know how to apply what you have studied. Like it was said, a degree is worth what the user puts into and gets out of the study.

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  6. It amazes me that many in each spiritual walk discount any other belief system as invalid. Each has its own dogma, own set of beliefs and traditions. These tenets tend to mold one's perceptions of the world, including their receptivity to others. There is a Hindu saying that "There are many paths up the mountain..." People oftentimes get focused on one path and discount others. In seeking proofs for one's chosen path, there are no absolutes, no concrete pillars to show. That is why it is called a belief. Christians have a whole library of work called apologetics, which I find offensive (the term, not the study). When giving reasons for my christian beliefs, I do not adhere to the term "apologetics" but do use the studies to help give reasons why I hold the beliefs I do.

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  7. I hope I am posting this in the right place. I am just learning my way around here again after being gone for many months- maybe a year or so. I will be mostly observing as I get back to the ebb and flow of discourse, and hopefully will be meeting new friends and exchanging ideas. Most of those I conversed with, were friends with, and exchanged ideas with seem to be gone, but there also seem to be new opportunities for healthy discussion now. 

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  8. what is is, regardless of our perceptions of them. God is, for whatever we perceive God to be, whether we understand it or perceive it. All the rationale, all the philosophical debates or meanderings, will not change this truth. It is only our quest for understanding that fuels these discussions, and through them, hopefully our understanding increases.

  9. ...just wondered how your situation turned out, Lordie; Also I am sad to say I just now saw this post. One of the greatest inspirations to me was a woman preacher (UMC). She had an awesome spirit, and was a joy to all who knew her. Although I am not of the Christian faith any longer, (Eclectic Wiccan) at the time I went to her and told her the same problem - my faith and sense of purpose was waning. Her words will remain with me forever: "Talk the talk, live your words, and you will walk the walk". I have gone on to another spiritual path, but practice those words in my spiritual journey.

  10. I still can't figure out how to download my pics here...can someone help? for Fawzo: The altar and tools are steeped in tradition and serve the purpose of drawing energy (psychic and spiritual, not electric...) to the ceremonies and rituals. I am Celtic, and am also an initiate in Correllian Wicca. I clicked on image, and suppose I have to have a URL from the pics on my computer????

  11. Is that serated blade on the left of your altar for when sarifices are too large for the altar and you need to trim off an apendage or two :)

    bloody inconvenient for them not to stay scrunched up so I don't have to do all that extra work!!!...actually it is for making altar and/opr ceremonial tools. It cannot be used to draw blood or anything that would be spiritually or ritually impure.

  12. Maybe that's the problem? If a person isn't hooking any fish, maybe its time to change the bait.

    I found a lovely girlfriend by simply making a few personal adjustments, everything was going great

    until the wife found out :)

    ...hate it when that happens...JUST KIDDING...I am really a one woman man...any time I see one woman, I want to be her man...JUST KIDDING AGAIN!!!...Honey, if you read this you know I am a jokester (trying to butter her up so she won't kick my tail).

  13. To be honest, I never use the law as benchmark for right or wrong. just legal or illegal.

    ...and there lies the conundrum: We are required to obey the legal definition in whatever state and/or country we live in. The laws may or may not be arbitrary, but they are the laws, as dictated by a vote of the majority whether realistic or not. Thus, there are those who are fully capable of making sound, rational decisions long before the legal age, while there are others who may never acquire that state.

    I thought perhaps at my age..63 - I may have acquired that ability, but sometimes...

  14. I pray for a boyfriend .

    But no man seems to be the one for me

    Or i get weirdos or they dont understand how i can be a reverand or they wanna make me some one i am not

    But i still continue to pray

    So, in what ways have you looked, or in what arenas do you travel? What are your interests? Those are the areas where your friends and boyfriends, lovers, soulmates, etc. are found. One of the most interesting and worthwhile people I have ever known was a lady preacher (United Methodist Church). While she and I were not boyfriend/ girlfriend material...she is a devout Christian and I am Eclectic (now Correllian) Wiccan and she can't come to terms with my spiritual path, she is a great person and friend.

  15. I've been trying to come here more often and I enjoy reading the different posts and points of view. As I've said before, I truly value being able to question something that seems illogical (especially when I realize I'm not the only one) in order to get feedback and input from people from all walks, without being branded as threatening or insightful.

    As I was reading Dan's post about who controls the weather, and one of Fawzo's responses, it mirrored something I'd written down in a super-rough draft just days ago while reading something in preparation for a funeral.

    I could have responded to Fawzo on Dan's thread, but out of respect, I really don't want to take things off-topic, so as a refresher:

    This was something I wrote just days ago, in response to what I'd wanted to say to some Christians who had ticked me off, but I knew it'd turn into an argument, and as long as what they believe doesn't interfere with what I do, I stay out of other people's beliefs. Although I make a living doing public speaking and teaching Rational Hedonism, this isn't even well thought out and sloppily written. So, I'm apologizing in advance, it was really just the way my mind was trying to work out the things they had said and never was meant to be seen unless it had been worked out better.

    Anyway, after my super long intro, this was what I wrote before the topic was raised here and I'm glad I'm not the only one who has trouble with it.

    I’m having trouble with sin.

    Even the Bible says, after god created the world and all that was in it, it was good. When he finished creating man, he said it was very good. He was happy with it. Even with man and woman.

    So just because he said, all this I give you, but whatever you do, don’t eat from that pomegranate tree. And the bottom line was, they did. Not sure if the whole sin was because they’d used their free, independent nature he’d given them to do something he said not to, or that they’d eaten to have their eyes opened and become like him. So he curses them – not only just them, that did the “bad thing”, not just their children and grandchildren.

    Everybody.

    Forever.

    Why didn’t he just squash the two of them like bugs right then and start over?

    There is also the story that Adam had another woman before Eve, and she hadn’t worked out, so if that was true, he didn’t have trouble reworking things. Squash them like bus and start over.

    Why punish their descendants thousands of years later?

    It’s not like it’s a punishment anymore – we’re too far removed, and many don’t even connect with an Adam and Eve story anyway.

    And then, he “floods the earth” and kills everyone (supposedly), including all of the animals that weren’t on his ship – which was a good 99.99% of them – because the people had gotten so bad, so wicked that … he kills them.

    Now why didn’t he do that when they first screwed up? Why wait until so many years later when kids’ kids have great grandkids? If you know the future, know Adam and Eve messed it up, that you were going to have to destroy the world with a flood, and now, kill thousands and more instead of just two?

    All of that, based on the “sin” of two people. People who’d just been popped into existence, and easy to unpop. Just next time when you put Adam to sleep, instead of removing a rib, keep him asleep. It wouldn’t have had to be painful.

    So if there hadn’t been that sin, if there WAS that sin, there’d be no need for a Savior, a Redeemer from sins and the never-ending punishment no one even remembers from what. What if Jesus had come with all his wisdom and heavenly understanding and kindness, and not had the expectation of a Messiah, had not become the whole sun/son which all the religions that followed orbited, had not been the reason for conquering in his name and the name of his church, had not seen thousands martyred or slaughtered in holy wars, pogroms, holocausts, Inquisitions because of his name.

    What if he’d just been a nice guy like Buddha or Baha’i, Gandhi or the Dalai Lama?

    Think of all the dead who’d never been killed, their descendants who lived.

    The Peace.

    I don't think there would ever be a universe or state of being where humankind will remain stagnant and satisfied to gaze upon the distant hill without wanting to venture there. This is one of the facets where I differ from mainstream Christianity in thought. An unquenchable hunger to go beyond the normal trodden paths is an indelible part of the human psyche. It is what has produced miraculous discoveries and inventions, and is what has spurred us on to new frontiers. To deny this yearning would be to snuff a very large part of our nature. I don't believe a rational Spiritual Path will seek to quench this yearning. The only thing we must remember is that for each course of action there is a consequence; not one of punishment, not one of retribution, but the way that all nature, mankind, and the universe interweaves and affects each part. We are all part of that tapestry...

  16. This here was pretty good advice!

    All the other posts as well.

    I just absolutely love how we have a community here that we can depend on for support and fellowship.

    Honestly, lordie, I'm in the same situation. However, I've let it go. I mean, why force it? I've learned that things like that just happen.

    Also, I have come across the understanding that my worth isn't measured in another person. Before I wanted a romantic relationship to fill a void I had because I lacked the love and support from my folks and didn't have a lot of friends.

    I would find something to keep you busy. A goal or a dream to pursue. And by doing this you're not giving up on the hope to find a significant other. No, you're not. What you're doing is giving your life purpose so that you will be able to be a full partner in the next relationship.

    And by not feeling 100% your best, you won't be able to give a 100% to your partner.

    That and I don't want to be an emotional wreck when I enter a relationship. That just means you let them have control over your emotions and they have to babysit you in turn. That's kind of close to codependency, I think.

    Don't give up! Go ahead and keep trying our advice and see what happens. If another problem comes up, don't hesitate to ask! That's what we're here for. <3

    Be yourself...let those worthwhile come to you and please be careful in your selection/choices. I like Freyja Worship/ Gwydion's response...