Subject – Spiritualism Lesson 1 I am a seasoned healthcare professional who has always been deeply spiritual. I am a feeling, intuitive, analytical ,logical, rational person who has always been receptive to spiritual ideas. As a healthcare professional I have always been guided by scientific principles and evidence based practice models. I have a great love for science and logical , rational thought . so the universe decided to gift me with a profound curiosity about mysticism and spirituality. I am very empathic so much so that I can sense other people's emotions. At times I have literally felt other people's emotions wash over me in torrents. I have had dreams and visions and kept a journal to try to make some sort of sense or find meaning in my visions . Sixteen years ago I attended a seminary in Florida that was associated with ULC and became an ordained minister. The people I minister to are colleagues in the healthcare field and patients I attend to in the hospital. This past week I observed the Nurses and Doctors who are my colleagues for the most part being "mind driven people" . They would logically analyze a patient's situation and quickly execute a rational plan of care. I listened to my colleague's comments and noticed that not once did I hear a doctor or nurse comment on how they felt or how the patient felt about an emotional situation on any given day. Although the physical care given to the patients was excellent…….the spiritual care was nonexistent. The patients I attended to however did tell me how they felt when I asked them. In some cases, with some patients in addition to listening ,I simply held their hand while they talked and let them know it was okay to cry and feel sorrow. In other cases , with some patients and their families, I hugged them and listened to them and let them know it was okay to laugh and feel joy. Spiritualism from my perspective is all about acknowledging that all beings have feelings, that if positive , can bring joy to the soul, if negative, can be debilitating to the spirit. I came to the conclusion that on any given day, in any given situation, humans have the capacity to be both mind driven and heart driven . In human societies those who are more mind driven than heart driven usually, from my observation have obtained more physically tangible resources. That is to say they have the bigger house, the finer car etc.etc to display to the world. Whereas those humans who are more heart driven than mind driven have fewer physical objects to display to the world and they laugh & smile more often than mind driven people. Respectfully submitted by Rev. Susan K. Bowers |
Monday, March 11, 2013
Spiritualism Lesson 1
Monday, March 4, 2013
Lesson 10 ~ Christian Ethics ~ God, Sin and Christian Character Part 1 & 2 ~ Essay
Lesson 10 ~ Christian Ethics ~ God, Sin and Christian Character Part 1 & 2 ~ Essay
By: Rev. Trent Murman
List ten (10) assumptions that indicate why not all "good men" are Christians.
1. The universe is self-existent and self-contained, within which man has evolved to the position of the highest form of animal life.
2. Man has intelligence and the capacity for social adjustment and control, but is essentially a part of nature.
3. There is no purpose in the universe except that which man gives it.
4. Right and wrong have no objective validation beyond group standards.
5. The good life is that which is expedient for happiness and the satisfaction of man's desires.
6. Evil and maladjustment exist, but sin is an outmoded concept.
7. All improvement comes through education and the application of various forms of social pressure, psychological, economic, or political.
8. Man has no source of support, for either the good life or the conquest of suffering, except the resources in himself and his group.
9. Each man's personal existence ends with his biological death.
10. Jesus has no special significance except as an influential historical figure around whom the church, as a social institution and phase of culture, has been organized.
Briefly explain why a person cannot hold these assumptions as his basic convictions and still be a Christian. . One who holds them as his basic convictions may be a respectable, law-abiding, and even altruistic person, but he is not a Christian.
Briefly state two (2) erroneous positions regarding fractionalism and moralism as indicated in Lesson IX. One is to draw up a list of Christian virtues — honesty, generosity, courtesy, veracity, and the like — and define a Christian by their possession. The other is to define being a Christian in terms extraneous to moral qualities, as by right beliefs or church membership or faithful observance of the sacraments or some metaphysical change assumed to be wrought by conversion.
State the nine (9) affirmations mentioned in Matthew's Gospel which draws a clear picture of Christian character.
1. The universe is self-existent and self-contained, within which man has evolved to the position of the highest form of animal life.
2. Man has intelligence and the capacity for social adjustment and control, but is essentially a part of nature.
3. There is no purpose in the universe except that which man gives it.
4. Right and wrong have no objective validation beyond group standards.
5. The good life is that which is expedient for happiness and the satisfaction of man's desires.
6. Evil and maladjustment exist, but sin is an outmoded concept.
7. All improvement comes through education and the application of various forms of social pressure, psychological, economic, or political.
8. Man has no source of support, for either the good life or the conquest of suffering, except the resources in himself and his group.
9. Each man's personal existence ends with his biological death.
10. Jesus has no special significance except as an influential historical figure around whom the church, as a social institution and phase of culture, has been organized.
List the nine (9) words describing Christian Virtues in Paul's letter to the Galatians. The fruit of the Spirit, says Paul in Gal. 5:22, is "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control."
Briefly state three (3) points beyond the words themselves must be noted.
First, these virtues are not the product simply of human cultivation; they are the "fruit of the Spirit," the result of the indwelling presence of God as he comes to us in Christ.
Second, the verb is "is" and not "are"; they make a constellation of personality, not a collection of nine traits joined at random.
And third, Paul disclaims legalism, as we must, when he adds after this inclusive picture of the Christian life, "against such there is no law."
Give examples of two (2) places in the New Testament where portrayals of Christian virtues can be found as indicated in Lesson IX. Rom. 12, as a whole, is devoted to this portrayal, as is I Cor. 13. Doubtless the reason why the twenty-third psalm and the Corinthian ode to love, with the Lord's Prayer, are the most familiar passages in the Bible is that they gather up so perfectly the faith and love which lie at the base of Christian character.
Briefly state Calvin's "definition" of original sin. Original sin, therefore, appears to be an hereditary depravity and corruption of our nature, diffused through all the parts of the soul. . . . And therefore infants themselves, . . . though they have not yet produced the fruits of their iniquity, yet they have the seed of it within them; even their whole nature is as it were a seed of sin, and therefore cannot but be odious and abominable to God.
List three (3) questions that commonly confront Christians in daily life.
Is it right ever for a Christian to kill his fellow men?
Ought a Christian ever to lie, or steal, or cheat?
What of the sins of the flesh?
As indicated in Lesson X, what is the message of Good Friday and of Easter and of our total Christian faith? God's victory over sin. Sin and judgment are never God's last words, for "God so loved the world" that he gave his Son for our redemption. This is the message of Good Friday and of Easter, and of our total Christian faith.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
God, his son and you, Rev Van Onyeaka
Monday, February 25, 2013
Spiritual Leadership ~ Unit 2 It’s all about Love Part 1 ~ Essay ~ Lesson 9
Lesson 9 ~ Spiritual Leadership ~ Unit 2 It's all about Love Part 1 ~ Essay
By: Rev. Trent Murman
Do you truly know that our Creator prays for us? I don't believe anyone truly knows if God, Almighty and creator of heaven and earth prays for us. However, I am a great believer that He wouldn't have created us or the heavens to let us fade away into nothing. I believe he embraces every one of us not only in our hour of need, but in his own way showing Love with the birth of a child. This is His way of reminding us he does care for us and prays for us that we will continue on with His work. Remembering, we the clergy shouldn't judge or otherwise make people believe or change their specific feelings or beliefs to ours. I think it is possible that He prays for us to continue with the strength we gather through the experiences we tackle in our everyday life and dealings with others. Do you pray for your Creator? Do I pray for our creator, no not as one might expect a prayer to be. I believe most people that "talk to God" are asking Him for something. Either guidance, help or some type of a sign to get them through a difficult time in their lives. I believe most clergy pray to Him for people they are ministering to and do ask Him for help, but as to specifically pray for Him, I truly don't feel we do this. What would that look like: What do I think He looks like? I personally imagine God to be this colossal being with his arms spread wide in a circle fashion like He is enveloping the whole universe as He is looking down on His creations in the most caring way any father could look at his children. Then again, who is to say God is not a female all caring and just as concerned with Her creations. Just my opinion.
Go In PeaceTuesday, February 19, 2013
Lesson 8 ~ Christian Ethics ~ Ethical Perspectives of the Early Church Part 2 ~ Essay
Lesson 8 ~ Christian Ethics ~ Ethical Perspectives of the Early Church Part 2 ~ Essay
By: Rev. Trent Murman
LESSONS VII & VIII Homework
Please state the three (3) closely interrelated issues looked at in lessons 7 and 8. 1. The law and the gospel. 2. The Kingdom and the Christian community. 3. The gospel and social institutions.
The problem of the relations of the law and the gospel is essentially that of two kinds of authority. Please name them. Code morality or externally given or authoritarian morality versus the loving, faith-filled response of the Christian to the grace of God in Christ.
Related to these two kinds of authority are two major issues. Please name them. The relation of Christianity to the moral obligations resting upon Israel, and the more difficult and important problem of the relation of the gospel of salvation through Christ to the law of love.
Generally speaking, when did Jesus feel that it was ok to disregard ceremonial Jewish law? . The moral law of Israel, as obedience to the will of the God who required of men justice, mercy, and faith, Jesus never set aside, though by his acts and his words he put deeper and wider content into these terms than any before him had done. The ceremonial law, as a good Jew, he apparently retained except where it conflicted with service to human need, and this was often. Then he did not hesitate to disregard it.
Please briefly explain "philia" love. Philia means close friendship or brotherly love in Greek. It is one of the four types of love in the Bible.
Please briefly explain "eros" love. Eros is the physical, sensual love between a husband and wife.
Which of the three (3) "loves" mentioned in these lessons, is a divine command in the Bible? Agape is unmotivated love is a divine demand
As stated in Lesson 7, only one law is either adequate or mandatory? Please briefly state it. 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'" (Gal. 5:14).
Please briefly state three (3) reasons why it is important to relate the gospel to the "orders" of earthly society. The first point to note is that the gospel never works in a vacuum, and because of the surrounding environment with its traditionalism, emotional ties, and social pressures, neither an individual nor a group is ever completely transformed. The second observation is that the slowness of men to respond to Christ is no excuse for lethargy, or vacillation, or inactivity on our part. The third is the commonplace but essential observation that there can be no legitimate cleavage between an individual and a social gospel.
Please briefly state three (3) points/observations that we can deduce in which both conservatism and revolutionary challenge can be seen being sanctioned by the gospel. In the first place, we who are Christians today, like those of the early Church, must live in two worlds at once. These worlds, traditionally referred to as the "order of creation" and the "order of redemption," converge at the point of trying to be a Christian within the daily demands of the family, the job, the community around us, and the larger community of the state and the world of nations. A second reason for looking at the fruits of the gospel in New Testament society has both a positive and a negative side. The more obvious answer is, of course, that life in Eastern Mediterranean occupied territory, in a simple, leisurely, prescientific age, among a small minority having no political power, was very different from the conditions of today. A third factor, both as asset and liability, stems from the preceding. There is much that is of permanent validity, not only in the words of Jesus but in the rest of the New Testament, as to how a Christian should act in relation to other men.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Christian Ethics ~ Lesson 6 The Ethics of Jesus ~ Part1&2 Essay
Lesson 6 ~ Christian Ethics ~ The Ethics of Jesus Part 2 ~ Essay
By: Rev. Trent Murman
LESSONS V & VI
Test 3
I. For whom, did Jesus come as a gift for? All mankind from God.
II. State five (5) things that Jesus taught. a) Jesus taught an ethic completely integrated with his religion. b) Jesus laid primary stress on ethical and spiritual inwardness. c) Jesus set forth a clear pattern of the demands of the God-centered life. d) Jesus had a realistic knowledge both of human sin and of the possibilities of the redeemed life. e) Jesus declared the supreme worth of every person to God.
III. Regarding ceremonial acts or correct outward behavior for humble obedience to God and loving one's neighbor, what was Jesus completely opposed to? Jesus was completely opposed to the substitution of either ceremonial acts or correct outward behavior for humble obedience to God and loving concern for one's neighbor.
IV. Did Jesus condemn ceremonial tithing or making clean the "outside of the cup" as illustrated in Matthew 23:23, 25-26? Note that he does not condemn ceremonial tithing or making clean the "outside of the cup"; what he condemns is the substitution of these for something more basic. In gentler tones this is also the burden of the Sermon on the Mount where, without any abrogating of the Ten Commandments, the emphasis is shifted away from legalism to those inner attitudes that determine the nature of a man, and hence his acts.
V. What are the two (2) primary qualities found in the Beatitudes? To put it simply….they guide and they point.
VI. In the Synoptic Gospels, did Jesus, like Paul, look upon sin as an enveloping state of evil resulting from Adam's fall and corrupting man's whole being? They saw sin within a spiritual domain rather than a biological one.
VII. What are the four (4) requirements for sin's conquest? And for sin, repentance, forgiveness, faith, and obedience in love were the answer.
VIII. State three (3) matters most directly related to the practical requirements of the Christian life.
It is motivated by love.
It is progressive.
It is accordance with God's revealed will.
It is set forth in His divinely inspired Word.
IX Define "Eschatology." Eschatology is the doctrine of the "last things." The eschaton means the end, and eschatology has to do with what happens at the end of human history and beyond it.
X. According to Jesus, why did Moses permit divorce? Yes.
Monday, February 4, 2013
Comparative Religion Lesson 6
Research the following:
Roman Catholic: The Catholic Church is believed to have been founded by Jesus Christ himself, when he when gathered the twelve apostles, and is believed to be the original Christian church. Yes, Jesus was an esotericist.
Lutheran: Martin Luther founded the Lutheran Church, in 1522. Yes Martin Luther was an esotericist.
The Mormon: In the spring of 1820, a 14-year-old boy named Joseph Smith went into a grove of trees near his home in Palmyra, New York.
Evangelical: Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement that began in the 17th century and became an organized movement with the emergence around 1730 of the Methodists in England and the Pietists among Lutherans in Germany and Scandinavia. The movement became even more significant in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th centuries, where it drew far more members than in Europe. It continues to draw adherents globally in the 21st century, especially in the developing world. Evangelicalism de-emphasizes ritual and emphasizes the piety of the individual, believing that God works certain changes in the individual