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Author Topic: Bishop John Spong
Blondin
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Babbler # 10464

posted 28 October 2005 02:55 PM      Profile for Blondin     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
CBC Tapestry's Mary Hynes interviewed Bishop Spong last Sunday. As a godless heathen I kinda like the guy. I just wonder what the average Christian thinks of him (or any other religious types for that matter)...
From: North Bay ON | Registered: Sep 2005  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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Babbler # 7791

posted 28 October 2005 02:59 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Spong's an interesting guy; we had a thread on excerpts from one of his books last summer.
From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
Blondin
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Babbler # 10464

posted 28 October 2005 03:31 PM      Profile for Blondin     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I wasn't around here then but I'll try to look it up.

It's funny, I never heard of the guy until a few months ago and now I'm seeing references to him all over.

Like this one over at The Two Percent Company.

I was brought up in a fairly staunch Catholic family and I find a lot of the stuff Spong says in this interview is exactly the kind of questions I used to ask.

I especially like the fact that he says he is perfectly willing to consider the possibility that he is delusional. I guess I just feel a little more strongly that all 'theists' are probably delusional but I am willing to consider the possibility that I could be wrong. You sometimes hear the argument that if they are wrong nothing will happen when they die, if I am wrong I could be in trouble when I 'move on'. I have never understood the logic of this. Will I still be allowed through the pearly gates as long as I pretend to believe or do I actually have to believe? How do you believe in something that you just don't believe in?

He almost addresses this at one point in the interview. I forget his wording but he says he finds it hard to accept that any God would reject a soul simply because they didn't worship his high holiness in life. It kind of reminds me of the old anecdote about Neils Bohr and the lucky horseshoe - fortunately it works whether you believe in it or not. So that's comforting...


From: North Bay ON | Registered: Sep 2005  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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posted 28 October 2005 05:44 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
You can find it here:

John Spong thread


From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
Sven
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posted 28 October 2005 05:46 PM      Profile for Sven     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Anyone who is seriously interested in Christian history and belief really should read Spong. Although I don't put myself in that category, I have read a fair bit of what he has written.

God, what a refreshing Xian voice.


From: Eleutherophobics of the World...Unite!!!!! | Registered: Jul 2005  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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posted 28 October 2005 05:46 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
and here...

Another thread with John Spong....


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belva
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posted 28 October 2005 05:51 PM      Profile for belva     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Blondin:
As a godless heathen I kinda like the guy. I just wonder what the average Christian thinks of him ...

As a practicing Lutheran & a lesbian, [maybe that combination does not make me "the average Christian? but my sense is is that real Christianity today in the U.S. has many more of us lesbian & gay folk than most curch leaders care to "confess" so to speak]I can say that I like the bishop a great deal. His writing makes good sense. I heard him speak in New Jersey a couple of years ago I think he is a great guy--he seems to understand people!


From: bliss | Registered: Feb 2005  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
Moderator
Babbler # 560

posted 28 October 2005 08:01 PM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Blondin:
I just wonder what the average Christian thinks of him

Heh. That really depends on the Christian. That's kind of talking about the average orchestra musical instrument.


From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged

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