Lost Souls, Blind guides and not me mate

The best thing about good radio ( and Thursday 10-11 am was very good conversational radio) is that we , the audience get to make up our own minds about a whole lot of things,,, by listening - we must have been made for conversation!
774 Thursday CH was good. We learnt a lot of really personal stuff about the guests partly because they were talking
-through the ongoing challenge of linking ideas and action; and partly
- what religion does and what it doesn't do .
-you challenged them with good questions
It was fascinating also because men without their normal clothes on ( mostly) were having to interact with a range of people ( the normal uncontrolled conversation Cf media controlled ones ) about things that they are still personally passionate about - even if they don't think conventional churches have much to offer .
The problem seems to be, if you look where they all came from. IS , ---Who else though is talking values, but the churches? . Where else do you start anyway , even if you don't finish there ? And aren't we all in one church of some kind anyway
All very well to feel high and mighty by saying "not me " (Rev Stubbs) when such professionally identified projection is clearly risking denial of a very serious kind . How many ABC journos have a connection - even if they think they switched it off.... all by themselves ? Well done Jon .

Next question for conversation hour maybe? ( assuming that passions are really important to discuss) " The virus books ; is religion really a disease, or is it an outdated relic of our intellectual past " .
Is religion something that needs exorcising OR IS the institution of religion and values within them one big danger" - even Bernard Shaw would be happier with the later but ) though he would quickly qualify the need for church and passion too .
Noone who gives any seriuos thought to this complex theory and praxis paradox ( rather than the shallow reactive predjudices of the moment) would be happy to kill passion at this point ( the ultimate consequence of dealing only with the clear and presennt danger)
Bernard would probably help with the remaining dilemma –(knowing his equally passionate conversational heretic friend) .Passionate people are very dangerous-- if they can threaten the existing order !! The power of the pen and the impotence of the mere tactician . If only we had more passionate men and less tacticians and their lumbering logic and woosiness!

Whatever you decide, it would help if only because YOU ALL mention so many good men on the program that day ( Mandela . Tutu ), not to shoot the messenger - even Jesus had some of his harshest words for the institutions and prejudice itself ( as Dodson so well identified!) .

Where Spong is wrong is to join/ start a reactionary movement that predictably focuses on institutions, people groups ....and more importantly to knock the key ingredient in a vital church -- passion.Building up church numbers is simple if you just get rid of the difficult bits of belief - so Spongy is not brilliant juts predictable about some dying churches growth scenarios . I don't think The South deserved the hiding he gave it- pity Dodson didn't pick up on the possible racism and poor targeting . Besides, "it not all about you = not their problem mate! " (Heard at a foot ball match recently) ......implying .Making the entry conditions simpler may work well with other faiths but the option isnt available with Jesus Christ.

Such easy targeting of evil won't answer the hidden dilemma for the Christian church of all ages . - "why can't we make your message more popular and inclusive?" ( we would have so many more members - well done Jon for raising the challenge )


Back to the " So why was't the other lost soul NOT there that day ?". .Mr Lane as key high priest of boring old predictable reactionary doctrines of anti church should have been there!. Mr Lane may have had somewhere else to go to ? It would not surprise us however , if Terry had no where else to go- on the platform that is!

Surely the trouble with reactionaries is that , when someone else tries the same trick as them , they have no where to go - except back to the centre or back to the passions that light fires . Big dangerous tongue lashing fires that threaten the comfortable with changes that tell the truth and ultimately do good for the world .
Lets have no more talk of softly softly, woosy woosy. We know passionate people are dangerous -- we are them.
Are we to give up our very souls when the cost to soundly based catharsis and prejudice breaking is often a costly and hotly contested conversation that goes deeper than normal ABC church.