Tag: faith

9-11, America, Anger, Bible, Christian Nationalism, Christianity, Citizenship, Culture, death, fear, Grief, Politics, Story, Tragedy2 Comments

Reaping the Whirlwind

Gary Furr

Waiting out the firestorm while America goes for its kerosene cans and lighters. Some random thoughts: It is striking to see the overwhelming need to comment about a senseless murder. We’ve all become content providers and there are no consumers left to think about each others’ thoughts. The one thing about tragic and unexpected loss is that the more you say to the sufferer the worse you make it. The less you say, the wiser you appear. If you are silent, you are kept from stupidity. If you post your opinions about it your foolishness can live eternally. Much is … Continue reading Reaping the Whirlwind

Story

A Reading List

Gary Furr

A friend asked me for some suggestions for a book club of friends who want to gather regularly and study some substantial issues together. Without disclosing that conversation, I simply share this list for anyone who wants it. I like reading lists of books others have read. I included some descriptions for most. See if anything invites you for a closer look. I have read these and they gave me important things to think about. Not all are recent. We are too accustomed to racing out to the latest latest thing. There is vastly more I could write about much … Continue reading A Reading List

Bible, Christianity, Faith, hope, Jesus, Love, reconciliation, Selfishness, Spirituality, Teachings, Theology2 Comments

Love Your Neighbor–part 3

Gary Furr

In our previous time together, I examined the mystery of how love of God, neighbor, and even ourselves, is so askew. And this lives out so differently in men and women, the well-located and the dislocated, the rich and the poor, but there are common roots to it all. We concluded with this observation of the matter–When we love our neighbor this way, forgetting ourselves in love for another, we connect with the powerful love that is at the heart of all things.  It is life-giving.  It is also impossible unless God helps us to love.  And yet we know, … Continue reading Love Your Neighbor–part 3

Bible, Christianity, humanity, Jesus, Love, Selfishness, spirituality, Teachings, Theology and Life

Love One Another– part 2

Gary Furr

So today, let’s pick up where we were last time. In the New Testament, there are two injunctions. As I mentioned previously, we are to love God and love our neighbor. Romans 13.8 states, let no debt remain outstanding except the outstanding debt to love one another for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. But what about self-love? We’ve become bogged down in modern life by being sure that we love ourselves enough and have subtly reversed the emphasis of this commandment. Many people struggle with finding a sense of purpose and worth. The modern secular profession of counseling … Continue reading Love One Another– part 2

Story1 Comment

Love Your Neighbor–part 1

Gary Furr

The phrase “love your neighbor as yourself,” which appears in nearly all religions as what we often call the “Golden Rule,” is the rule of reciprocity—love as you wish to be loved, treat others as you wish to be treated. Now this seems almost imbecilically obvious except that we are living through a ghastly moment of stupidity in our public life. “Strength” is exalted across the world by rightward mobs in reactionary anxiety of cultural and societal erosion. These changes, in my view, are mostly our own creations due to endless speeding up of life, isolation by our technologies of … Continue reading Love Your Neighbor–part 1