Month: July 2012

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The Didache

RJ Walters

Given the amount of weight that “correct” beliefs have with so many churches today it is hard to understand just how little weight the early church put on such things. In the early years Christianity Bibles weren’t available to local congregations because it would be several hundred years before it was formulated by a council of then current day church leaders. But there were several other important documents that were used used by local congregations. One of the most important was what is now called the Didache. You could consider it an instruction book to teach someone who wanted to join … Continue reading The Didache

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Colorado On-The-Road Day 3 Cortez Colorado

RJ Walters

Here we are settled in for the night at Cortez Colorado. We check in to the Mesa Verde National Park lodge tomorrow for our five-day R&R and spiritual regeneration. We spent today traversing the Rocky Mountains. It was an interesting trip down mainly two lane roads for over two hundred miles. We crossed the continental divide at Wolf’s Pass. It was 56 degrees there and 87 when we turned off I25 south of Pueblo. That was quite a shock to get out of the car with that temperature change. One of the things we encountered during this leg of the … Continue reading Colorado On-The-Road Day 3 Cortez Colorado

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On-The-Road Colorado Day 2

RJ Walters

We spent the last two days eating up blacktop. Traveled about 1200 miles and we are now in Pueblo Colorado.  We don’t usually like to travel via interstates but since we decided to get here as fast as possible that was the only way to do it.  I mentioned before that I have a new car for the first time in twenty years.  It is an American made Chevy Sonic, which is a new sub-compact for 2012. It proudly gave us very good mileage of around thirty-five miles per gallon for the trip so far. Since the trip here was … Continue reading On-The-Road Colorado Day 2

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On The Road Again…..

RJ Walters

Mesa Verde National Park Yes, starting today my wife and I are on the road again. This time we will be traveling by car to the great State of Colorado. The majority of our time will be spent at Mesa Verde National Park so expect many photos in the next few weeks. We will be staying at the park lodge for six days of R&R, casual exploring and photographing nature. Although they don’t, on purpose, provide any television they do have wi-fi in the lodge, but not the rooms, so I can send the daily posts as always. We will … Continue reading On The Road Again…..

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Hospitality….

RJ Walters

Hospitality was a very important thing to the early Christians. They put it above beliefs in their understanding of Jesus. I will use a quote from Diane Butler Bass’ book Christianity After Religionto illustrate this point: Not offering hospitality was a much greater failure than not believing that Jesus was truly God and truly human. Early Christians judged ethical failings as the most serious breach of community, even as they accepted a significant amount of theological diversity in their midst.  Hospitality to these early followers meant following Jesus’ command to love one another. But just what did they mean by … Continue reading Hospitality….

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Get Over It……

RJ Walters

Source:  Lew Says Republicans Should ’Get Over’ Health Law Debate – Businessweek In Massachusetts, where former Governor Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, implemented a similar law, just 1 percent of the population is subject to the penalty, Lew said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program. As the White House Chief of Staff says in this article the Republicans in Congress need to get over it as far as ACA (American Care Act) is concerned and move on to something that will actually do some good for the country. They fought tooth and nail to repeal Social Security, … Continue reading Get Over It……

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Stupidity

RJ Walters

I was looking at my blog title and realized that I have not posted anything about the current quote contained there. If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can’t it get us out – Will Rogers Most of the things that are going on around us now seem to fit this phrase and the proposed solutions seem to be more of the same. How did we get into this state. Stupidity I guess ;) And the cow sticking out his tongue below the title banner is related to the quote. Continue reading Stupidity

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Aside — A Glimmer of God….

RJ Walters

As I have said many times on this blog I am perfectly attuned to the Quaker concept of the “light of God in each of us”.  Everyone, including the most evil in history, has a glimmer of God in them. Some have covered it with a very dark and dreadful blanket but it is there none the less. Even those who absolutely deny the existence of God have it. I got to thinking the other day about how some people seem to think that they are fully attuned to God; they seem to think that it is therefore their duty … Continue reading Aside — A Glimmer of God….

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Success…..

RJ Walters

For that’s all there is to success is satisfaction. – July 29, 1928   Will Rogers It really is as simple as what Will says here. If you are satisfied with your life and what you do then you are a success. Some people equate success with how much money they earn. Some, especially those in Washington and corporate boardrooms equate it with how much power they have. Some say it is the number of Face book friends you have Most definitions of success are based on material goods. Having the right car, home, money in the bank is what … Continue reading Success…..

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Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due…

RJ Walters

Source: Bye, bye, GI: Deep impact for many Germans as US troops downsize – World News. Earlier this year, the Pentagon announced defense cuts of $487 billion over the next decade, as the United States seeks to move to a smaller, leaner and more agile force, putting a new strategic focus on the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region. The Defense Department in January said that it would remove two of the four U.S. combat brigades stationed in Europe as part of its military restructuring.  In this blog, especially in the past, I have spoken often about our bloated military budgets … Continue reading Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due…

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Early Church Growth….

RJ Walters

Lets look at just how much the Followers of the Way increased in membership during the Pre-Constantine years. Here is what Wikipedia says about that: Early Christianity spread from city to city throughout the Hellenized Roman Empire and beyond into East Africa and South Asia. The Christian Apostles, said to have dispersed from Jerusalem, traveled extensively and established communities in major cities and regions throughout the Empire. The original church communities were founded in northern Africa, Asia Minor, Armenia, Arabia, Greece, and other places by apostles (see Apostolic see) and other Christian soldiers, merchants, and preachers. Over forty were established by the year 100, many in Asia Minor, such … Continue reading Early Church Growth….

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Get Rid of It!!!

RJ Walters

It was 1965 when Medicare was enacted. I was just entering college so I still have some vivid memories of what went on around it.  I remember the conservatives in congress were saying such things as: We’ve got to repeal this law, it is bad for the country. Its Socialism. It takes away choice. It will bankrupt the country And the most typical comment that also goes with increasing the minimum wage Businesses will fail because of this law. Now almost a half a century later the same thing is being said about the Affordable Care Act that recently got … Continue reading Get Rid of It!!!

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Aiming Too Low….

RJ Walters

The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and miss it, but that it is too low and we hit it. – Michelangelo Michelangelo was certainly a guy who aimed high. He was so proficient in so many areas! Of course his most famous work today is probably the Sistine Chapel ceiling.  His quote here is as true today as it was in his days (1475 – 1564). My father, God rest his soul, just didn’t know how to aim high. He drifted from one low paying job to another. He just had … Continue reading Aiming Too Low….

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No…..

RJ Walters

I am thankful to all those who said NO to me. It’s because of them I did it myself.  –Albert Einstein After collecting a number of Einstein quotes he is becoming one of my favorites and this is one of the best ones. I know in my life I have always asked “Why is this like ….” I often get the equivalent of “no” as a reply or maybe more accurately “this is the way we have always done it…” or some such as that. Those refusals to take seriously my “why” has made me stronger over the years. It … Continue reading No…..

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Subverted Loyalty….

RJ Walters

In this post lets revisit one of the quotes from Robin Myers’ book entitled The Underground Church – Reclaiming the Subversive Way of Jesus. Empires seldom worry about religious beliefs that have no real effect on the loyalty of their subjects. But when that loyalty is subverted or replaced, those beliefs must be investigated and the believers crushed… It would take time  before People of the Way came up on the Roman radar screen. I think the Roman emperors thought that when the executed to primary leader of this rag-tag group that would drive them into oblivion but of course the opposite was actually true. … Continue reading Subverted Loyalty….

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A Catch 22…..

RJ Walters

Source: U.S. employers waiting and watching before hiring – USATODAY.com. Business has picked up. Yet American companies are too nervous to step up hiring.  The economy seems so gripped by uncertainties that many employers have decided to manage with the staff they have. They aren’t convinced their customer demand will keep growing. Or they worry that Europe’s festering debt crisis could infect the global economy. Or they aren’t sure what Congress will do, if anything, about taxes and spending in coming months. This kind of sounds like a catch-22 doesn’t it? Employers won’t hire until the economy comes back but consumers … Continue reading A Catch 22…..

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Just Ordinary People….

RJ Walters

For the month of July we will be studying just how the early Christians went about practicing their faith. As will be typical of many of my posts I will start them out with quotes from one of my many sources that got me to thinking about the current post.  This quote comes from a book by Robin Myers entitled The Underground Church – Reclaiming the Subversive Way of Jesus. We forget to distinguish between history as a record of the elites and history as a record of the people. While most academics concentrate on the theologians who wrote the treatises and on … Continue reading Just Ordinary People….

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Post Truth Politics……

RJ Walters

Naming today’s age beginning with the word “Post” seems to be a dominant thing lately. Since I am doing a study of the history of the Christian church over at http://www.RedLetterLiving.net I am very familiar with the term Post-Christian. Here is what Wikipedia says about that: a post-Christian world is one where Christianity is no longer the dominant civil religion, but one that has, gradually over extended periods of time, assumed values, culture, and worldviews that are not necessarily Christian (and further may not necessarily reflect any world religion’s standpoint, or may represent a combination of either several religions or none). In my studies I can see … Continue reading Post Truth Politics……