Walking the Christ path into the mystery of God - Bishop Spong

My relationship to Christianity keeps running through my mind. When I listen to dharma talks, I find so much value in the approach to life and how to deal with so much of what we encounter. I am somewhat amazed at how much I agree with. I also find that it does not contradict my understanding of the Christian life. I appreciate the many encouraging voices that say "stick with your tradition," from the Dali Lama to a women I met at a Buddhist Mediation session who has been attending for a long time but is clear that she is still in the Christian tradition.

I appreciate encouraging voices from progressive Christianity that remind us about the truths of Christianity that are obscured by the cultural practices that cling to Christian practice and belief.

Try as I might, I cannot wrap my brain around the doctrine of the Trinity. I must confess to you that I’ve actually stopped trying to reconcile myself to this ancient doctrine. Any doctrine or notion about the nature of the creator that is set up as an absolute requires a kind of fundamentalism that I don’t have the stomach for. I cannot tell you, nor can I believe that anyone can tell you what God is. But I can tell you that when people start insisting that they know what God is, you should begin to worry. And when someone insists that if you don’t believe what they believe about the nature of God that you are dammed to “perish eternally”, well that’s precisely the kind of fundamentalism that I believe Jesus warned us against.

 If the doctrine of the Trinity helps you to understand or articulate some of the aspects of God that you have experienced, then by all means celebrate the doctrine of the Trinity. But if the doctrine of the Trinity gets in the way, then move beyond it. If the doctrine of the Trinity causes you to damn a fellow creature or to look upon someone who is seeking wisdom by another way, then take another look. 

Re-think your notions about God and do so without fear. For if I’ve learned anything about the nature of God it is that our God is beyond our abilities to describe. Our attempts at describing God are only as good as the effect they have on the way we live in communion with God and with all that God loves.

From The Athanasian Creed and an Unholy Trinity – A sermon for Trinity Sunday by Dawn Hutchings

Bishop Spong has a similar way of showing us how to not throw out the baby (Jesus!) with the bath water in an interview on a recent State of Belief podcast.

I have been wanting to write a blog post about this for quite awhile. Both of these helped my thoughts come together today though this has been a theme many times such as here, here, here, here, here, here and here (just a few of the most recent).

I also find the explanation of how people equate 'faith' with 'belief' helpful.