Inner Space

When I was younger, I watched this movie called Inner Space. It was about a spaceship that was reduced to microscopic size, and then inserted in the human body. It was like instead of moving outside of ourselves we needed to move inside of ourselves.

Oddly, this is reminicent of my adventures lately. Although I have been busy, I have also been immersed in thought and in my own inner space. In part this has to do with some things that I have been reading. In part this has to do with circumstances in life. In part it is just something I need to do with my personality to be the best of who I am.

First, I just read "The Last Word, and the Word after that." It is "creative nonfiction" about a person who struggles with the concept of hell and eternal punishment. I don't go as far as the person in this book, but I do have to resonate with many of his questions, and to a certain extent enjoyed his narrative that did a lot of paraphrasing of Elaine Pagel's "The Orgin of Hell". It made we think about some things....some questions I will also pose to you:

Do you believe in a place called Hell?

What is it like. Is all the fire imagery metaphorical or literal?

In what ways are things people believe about hell influence their behavior?

How do you deal with the fact that you may be "partying in the living room" (heaven) while your friends are "being tortured in the basement" (hell)?

What does God's justice look like?

Do you think God cares more about ideas or action? If action....then dont you endorse more of works righteousness? If ideas, is all existence just a series of passwords. Isnt asking someone to pray the sinners prayer to be "saved" and pray the right prayer just an extension of the tyranny of ideas over and above action..the heresy of gnosticism?

What do you all think?

What do I think? I am not saying yet. I want to hear you first, including all you silent readers.

Also, I am thinking a lot about what Dallas Willard says about the abuse of withdrawl. He says withdrawl can be just as abusive in relationships and in community as aggression. To some extent I believe he is right here.

Think of childcare and child rearing. I remember reading "The Lost Child" by David Pelzer. What was shocking about the story in parts was the active neglect and withdrawl of parental love. ABANDONMENT is a form of child abuse, and is even grounds for dissolving a marriage. Yet somehow we seem to tolerate this abandonment or withdrawl in community and in relationships, even when it is abusive.

This also makes me think about my struggles in being a pastor, and why I still do what I do. Why? Because to reject the church, with all its ugliness and faults is to abandon the "sheep" or "children" I am called to love on his behalf. And that makes me as wrong as the people who use the church to push their agendas in an agressively forcing their way around. I dont pretend to be the savior of any church, but I am not about to pretend like I am powerless to make a difference either.

Alright....enough of my inner space ramblings....more of the normal fare to come.