Beyond Belief -- Diana Butler Bass

Bestselling author and sociologist of religion Diana Butler Bass wonders whether the Church has put too much emphasis on "right beliefs." Whether the topic be Hell or Jesus, the old understandings have got to go:

"And I think the shift from having faith in Jesus to having beliefs about Jesus was a negative thing for the Church. And to have a person's orthodoxy, a person's right relationship with God tested on the nature of what we believe about something is deeply troubling to me. And it's troubling to me as a Christian; it's troubling to me as a post-modern person; and I just don't think it works anymore. I think that we are coming to a different place in our understandings of Jesus and that believing about Jesus is beginning to be replaced by having an experience of Jesus. And I hope that that shift continues. It's time to leave beliefs about Christianity, in the past."

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[TheJmcon28]

that sacred ground is a place we can rest in the peace of communion.

[TheJmcon28]

diana butler bass is an elegant speaker. i think she has it about. she is telling a simple truth. christianity is a verb it is a lifestyle. christianity is about loving each other even when we mess up. it has never been about the building. christianity is about what happens inside the building. the instructing of children about our shared faith, we worship our God, we devoutly say thank you for another day. when we step into our church we know we are standing on sacred ground.