some things to think about for a while

ill be in illinois for the next few weeks so ill leave with some things ive been wreastling with in my mind.

16While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.
I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.
32When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, "We want to hear you again on this subject." 33At that, Paul left the Council. 34A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius.

Dionysius was the first christian mystic. he came from a background of many different religous ideas and influences, spirituality was the popular discussion in greece at that time.
then

10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
11 None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.
13 In that He says, “A new covenant, ” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

one of the first principals that was made know to me when i began to study taichi with a daoist monk on a mountain in china was that he could not teach me anything, i must come to my own realizations. we practived 'self cultivaiton' in the mean time. he could not transfer in words his spiritual understanding, anything his words described would only come short and undermine the truth that he said to know. knowledge wasnt learned, it was experienced, thus internalized and made mine.

if you have ever studied or tried to fully grasp christian mysticism it will take alot of mind-power, it will only confuse you or lead you to a utterly rigid self disciplined and self-denyal, that is why paul wrote to collosians:

why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— 21 “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” 22 which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? 23 These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

there is lots more in collosians that deals with more self imposed religion which is idolotry and leads to bondage (through confusion), it will feel similay if you ever try to study dionesius.

and now from rob bell:
"This is not just the same old message with new methods," Rob says. "We're rediscovering Christianity as an Eastern religion, as a way of life. Legal metaphors for faith don't deliver a way of life. We grew up in churches where people knew the nine verses why we don't speak in tongues, but had never experienced the overwhelming presence of God."

The Bells started questioning their assumptions about the Bible itself—"discovering the Bible as a human product," as Rob puts it, rather than the product of divine fiat. "The Bible is still in the center for us," Rob says, "but it's a different kind of center. We want to embrace mystery, rather than conquer it."

. . . going to illinois to detassell corn with childhood best friend gray garmon (www.lifeisgray.blogspot.com). his lil sis told me hes wearing a full dress to work in, aparently its the best way to go. keeps ya cooler. let me know what i miss.