Topics

 
Chalcedonian Formula noun--A short summary of the paradoxical witness of the Bible to Jesus Christ: Jesus Christ (1) is both wholly divine and wholly human, (2) without separation, (3) without mixture, and (4) in that order. Originally expressed at the Council of Chalcedon (AD 451), we may also rightly use the paradoxical logic expressed by this formula for understanding biblical witnesses as a whole.
 
civilization noun. Any distinct and enduring society and culture. It is defined primarily by its dominant religion.

Church
Moving Now into the Future
Getting Much Closer to the Land
Getting Much Closer to One Another (Proximity)
Getting Much Closer to One Another (Love)

 Courtesy
Turning to Miss Manners for Help
Clarifying Beliefs, Values, and Norms Concerning Jesus, Manners, and Etiquette
Types of Etiquette as Different Ways of Honoring Jesus
How Courtesy Protects Freedom from the Law
Knight-errantry as Prophetic Witness

Creation
Witnessing to Jesus by Lovingly Learning about Creation

Daily
Where Our Pleasure Is, There Our Hearts Will Also Be
Making Each Day Densely Meaningful
Jesus Walks with Us Today: Keeping minds and hearts open for words and signs

 Democracy
Four Levels of Democracy

Food
Witnessing to Jesus through Right Eating

 Forgiveness
Forgiveness: Freedom from Resentment in Christ

 Global Technological System (GTS)

God
Yahweh: The Always Unexpectedly New: surprising words, unexpected adventures
Yahweh Brooding: Yahweh loves every person constantly

Hope  
Living Hope: joyful expectation of wisdom, strength, courage, good cheer
Hope (a sonnet)
 
Jesus 
Christ's Victory and Ours: Jesus defeated all powers of evil; all people have benefited.

Literacy
Christian Literacy: Bible, Church History, Theology
Christian Literacy: Understanding the Best and Worst of Western Civilization
Freedom through Reading Good Books Well

Numa noun. A name for the Holy Spirit. It is simply an Anglicized transliteration of the Greek word, pnuema, which means "spirit." The first person of the Trinity has a name, Abba, as does the second, Jesus. The third person also needs a name to be properly invoked and to avoid being regarded by us in impersonal terms.

government or state: noun. “The supreme public power within a sovereign political entity (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 2015).
manorial state: a state consisting of a ruler and his manor. His manor consists of his mansion and all the people and land around it which he controls.
municipal state: a state consisting of the rulers of a large city along with all the smaller cities, villages, people, and land that they control.
national state: a state consisting of rulers and all the cities, people, and land that they control.
imperial state: a state consisting of rulers and all the national states they control.

Marriage and Sexuality
How We Christians Make the Issue of Homosexuality an Olympian One
A First Attempt at a Christian Understanding of Marriage and Sexuality

Media

 Olympia noun That fabled land consisting of several geocultural provinces and generally coextensive with Europe, Southwest Asia, and North Africa.

Olympian adjective Having to do with Olympia or Olympianity.

Olympianity noun The world’s oldest, most popular, yet least recognized religion, structured in terms of six false gods: (1) Jupiter, god of politics; (2) Mars, god of war; (3) Vulcan, god of technology; (4) Venus, god of sex; (5) Pluto, god of money; and (6) Bacchus, god of consumption).
Olympianity: Today's Most Popular Religion
Olympianity: The Religion of Power
Olympianity as Religion and Sacred World
What Living in a Post-Christian Society Means
One Method for Discerning Today's Most Popular Yet Least Recognized Religion
Functions and Forms of the Sacred
Today's Sacred: Technology and Sex
Today's Second Sacred Pair: Nation-State and Revolution or Politics and War?
Today's Third Sacred Pair: Money and Consumption
The Grand Narrative: The Importance of Myth Today
Signs That Religion Is Alive and Well in Our Post-Christian Society Today
Today's Post-Christian Political Religion Adopts Christian Forms
Why We Christians Mistakenly Worship Jupiter instead of Jesus Today
Christianity Mistakenly Trying to Beat Olympianity by Becoming More Like It
Overcoming Evil with Good: Jesus Freeing Us from Today's Gods, Myths, and Religion
The Four Religions of Olympia: One Growing in Domination, Three Shriveling

Jupiter
Yahweh vs. Jupiter
Jesus vs. Jupiter
Jesus, the Church, and Jupiter in History
Jesus, the Church, and Jupiter Today
Courage or Compromise?
Jupiter: Political Power as the Measure of Our Importance
Jupiter: Justifier of Political Power
Jesus, the Church, and Jupiter Today

Mars
Yahweh vs. Mars
Christians Say No to Nuclear Weapons--and War

 Vulcan
Yahweh vs. Vulcan
Jesus vs. Vulcan
Jesus, the Church, and Vulcan
Organized Sports as Religious Experience
Turns out Current Equality Is Obedience to Vulcan Not Jesus
The Fatal Mistake of Understanding Technology as Neutral and Not Olympian
Vulcan: Progress Is Technological Advancement Despite Appalling Destruction

Venus
Yahweh vs. Venus
Jesus vs. Venus
Jesus, the Church, and Venus

 Pluto
Yahweh vs. Pluto
Jesus vs. Pluto
Jesus, the Church, and Pluto
Is Money a Personal or Systemic Problem?
The Challenge of Money in the Old Testament: Abraham
The Challenge of Money in the Old Testament: Job
The Challenge of Money in the Old Testament: Solomon
Righteousness and Riches as Gifts from God
Ways Pluto Tempts Us to Ignore Then Deny Jesus
The Power of Money

Bacchus
Yahweh and Jesus vs. Bacchus
Jesus vs. Bacchus
Jesus, the Church, and Bacchus

 Personality
Our Personalities: Christian and Olympian
Freedom: Olympian or Christian with No Neutral Third Option
Demonic Possession and Theories of Personality (Mark 5:1-15): Introduction, Conclusion
Holy Spirit, Unholy Flesh
Understanding Human Nature Using the Chalcedonian Formula
A Chalcedonian Glance at Platonism and Augustine on Human Nature
Contrasting Religious and Biblical Understandings of Human Nature
Theological Anthropology: Psychology Centered in Christ

Powers of Evil: noun. Sinister spiritual forces with together form an wicked parody of the Trinity. They include Satan, the wicked parody of God the Father; six conventional if false gods (Jupiter, god of politics; Mars, god of war; Vulcan, god of technology; Venus, god of sex; Pluto, god of money; and Bacchus, god of consumption), the wicked parody of God the Son; and the Flesh, the wicked parody of God the Holy Spirit.
What the Gospels and Book of Acts Say about Powers of Evil
The Apostle Paul on Powers of Evil
Powers of Evil from James through Revelation
Witnessing to Christ's Victory Today
A Summary of Christ's Victory over All Powers of Evil
Christ's Victory over All Powers of Evil: Already but Not Yet!
Christ's Kingdom of Freedom vs. Satan's Kingdom of Power

Prayer
An Edifying Confession of Sin

 Prophetic Mission Groups
Start Your Own Prophetic Mission Group
Prophetic Mission Groups: Banked Embers

 Racism

 Religion noun. The organized attempt to set ourselves right with god(s) and to think of ourselves as more right(eous) than others.


Time

Truth
With All Our Mind: Thinking Paradoxically
logic noun. A method of reasoning.
Sensate logic: the method of reasoning first championed by Aristotle (384-322 BC). We may call it sensate because it helps us to understand the reality around us which we perceive through our five senses.
Paradoxical logic: the method of reasoning recognized by church leaders at the Council of Chalcedon (AD 451) as the best way to understand the biblical witnesses to Jesus.
Limitations on Truth:
     Complexity of Reality
     Bias for Ourselves and against Others
     Desperate Conformity
     Delirium
     Power
Bullshit: A Greater Threat to Truth than Lies

Tufluv noun. A word derived from and meaning truth, freedom, love, and vitality (t-f-l-v, tufluv) in inseparable union.
Tufluvian —adjective. 1. Having to do with truth, freedom, love, and vitality (t-f-l-v, tufluv)
   noun. A person committed primarily to witnessing to the truth, freedom, love, and vitality of Jesus Christ.

Christian vs. Olympian
Christian and Olympian: The Range of Possibilities
Remaining Mindful That Institutions Tip from Good to Evil
Freedom from Religion and Morality!
Early Church: Freedom or Ritual and Morality?
Jesus, the Church, and Freedom from Religion
Christian Anarchism vs. Olympian Powers
Witness to Jesus Becomes Christianity
Witness to Jesus Becomes Morality
Reflections on Young Paul and Moral Codes
Christian Witness Becomes Olympian Civilization
Church: Quantitatively Olympian or Qualitatively Christian?
Subversion through Olympian Ways of Thinking
Subversion through Success
Subversion through Success: An Obsession with Unity
Freedom Subverted through Success
Freedom from Pluto and Jupiter
Our Worst Nightmare: Olympianity Victorious in the Church
Raging Battle or Last?
God's People Gone Conventional (Ezekiel 22:23-31): standing in the breach, saving the land
Truth and Life (Ezekiel 18 today)
Truth and Life (Deuteronomy 30 today)
Choose Life (Deuteronomy 30:15-19 today)

Witness
Churches: Activist, Conversionist, Prophetic
Olympian Churches, Prophetic Responses
Le Chambon: Where Goodness Happened
An Alternative Christian Society as Our Creative Response to the Global Technological System
Freedom for Local Self-Reliance
Learning Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as Ways of Living
Witness: Unconventional, Marginal, Mischievous, Radiant
Witness: Intentional, Unintentional, Normative
Christian or Olympian? A Quick Comparison
The Mystery of Christian Witness
Living Hope: joyful confidence; wisdom, strength, courage, and good cheer
Knight-errantry: itinerancy, courtesy, responding creatively to malice, protecting marginal people
Knight-errantry: Attitude of Gratitude (Ecclesiastes (9:7-10, 11;13)
Four Requirements for Living as Witnesses to Jesus: grace, different way of thinking, personal commitment, mutual support
Reflections on Itinerant Paul and Hostility
Walking with Jesus: A Daily Decision
On Jesus Not Being a Means to an End
Proclaiming the Good News to an Olympian Church
The Fruitfulness of Yahweh's Vineyard
Tufluvian/Olympian Spectrum: An Experiment in Thought

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