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John's Christianity Page
Here is my collection of religious writings and notes (some of them
illustrated with illuminated texts (produced by Gareth McCaughan and
myself for the songbook of the Ichthyan Singers, a small Christian
choir we were in at the time).
- What I desire is mercy, not
sacrifice
- One Bible passage to which I return again and again is ``For I
desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather
than burnt offerings''
[Hosea
6:6] and I think this verse deserves a web page of its own.
- Blessed be the Lord...
- One of my favourite passages that is used liturgically
- Beliefs
- I think my religious beliefs are fairly conventional Christian
ones; I believe in one God, who is three equal persons... I
have also made some notes about belief,
doubt, and trust, and how they relate.
- Being made in the image of God
- I believe that we are made in the image of God -- but what do I
mean by this?
- Prayer
- I believe that the people of God are called by God to be in
two-way communication with him, and that this happens through prayer
and prophecy (as well as by other means).
- Christianity, Introversion and the church
- Preachers often talk in a way that amounts to emotional
blackmail to "be nice", "be together", "be chummy", "build
bridges, not walls". How do people who need walls fit into this?
- Returning and rest
- The on-going activity (sometimes a struggle, sometimes a joy) is to
turn again and again to Christ, to return to Him, the Way, the Truth
and the Life, after each of our many failings... and as we
return to Him, we find peace in Him.
- Vocation and charism
- God calls us each to be and to do specific things, and gives us
each differing gifts, some `natural' (such as intelligence) and some
`spiritual' (such as prophecy). I am also thinking about the
yoke we take on at conversion -- we
are told it is light... For me, vocation as I understand it has
included becoming a Franciscan
Tertiary, following Christ in the tradition started by the
example of St. Francis, and
following a Rule of Life as a guide and
a guard against backsliding.
- Christian Cognitive Therapy
- I have started to make some notes on the use of Scripture in a
Cognitive approach to depression and neurosis.
- Sayings
- Here are some Christian sayings that are often in my mind. Some of
these are paraphrased, as I cannot remember them all exactly.
- Testimony
- Like many of my friends, I became a Christian in several
stages... and I see this as a walk which is continuing, and will
continue for the rest of my life. And yet I can say that I had a
conversion experience... but would rather say that the conversion
experience is a continuing one.
- The Bible
- Some years I read right through the Bible, a few chapters
each day... I have now completed my first systematic reading right
through it, and have now started on my second... this time, in
Martin Luther's German. (Here's a lectionary for spreading your Bible
reading throughout the year.) Sometimes I take a short passage to think on
repeatedly (perhaps for several months) to absorb its meaning
more deeply. I have made several selections of Bible readings
and notes, of various lengths, breadths and depths; they are:
- The Bible story, and mine
- A summary of Christianity as seen by me
- The glorious 8 o'clock
- The eucharist with focus on God, not on us!
- Iconography
- Visual aids for meditation.
- Computer programming
and spirituality
- Are there any connections?
- God's second-class citizens?
- Sometimes the mentally handicapped (or ``learning disabled'')
are described as ``God's special people''. Where does that
leave the rest of us?
- Commentaries on the Book of Common Prayer
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- Here I stand
- Where I stand on various issues discussed in the church
today, presented in simple tabular form.
This is probably the quickest place to look if you want
to work out whether I'm sound or heretical from the view of
some particular minority in the church.
- Organized religion
- I've thought at times about the question ``If it's organized,
is it religion?'', and eventually decided ``Yes''... and in
fact I am a member of some Church organizations.
- Links
- Here are some links to religion-related pages, arranged by subject.
I have started to produce a BibTex file of
my religious reading. I've put it on the web in case it turns out
to be useful for anyone other than myself -- no point in hoarding
information!
Some other files in this area are:
Here's someone else's blog.
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Contact me
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The files in this directory are listed in this
index, and the starting point for this section of my web tree is
here.
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Last modified: Wed Jul 25 23:12:54 IST 2007
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