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August 03, 2006
Conservative Christians Gone Ooze-y
by Jesus Politics
Spencer Burke, together with Barry Taylor, are authors of the new book, A Heretic’s Guide to Eternity. Spencer Burke is also the founder of the website, TheOOZE. Burke came from a conservative evangelical background and was a pastor at a mega-church in Southern California. Burke's story and writing are hopeful signs that not all is settled in conservative Christian America. The Christian Right may be losing some of its influence and we have a growing number of people like Spencer Burke to thank for this.
Some excerpts from The Story of TheOOZE:
I used to be a pastor. More than that, I was a pastor at Mariners Church in Irvine, California-a bona fide mega church with a 25-acre property and a $7.8 million dollar budget.
By most accounts, Mariners is a great American success story. Founded in 1963 by a few families in a Newport Beach living room, the church has become one of the fastest growing congregations in the country. Each weekend, some 4,500 adults pass through its doors, with nearly 10,000 people attending its services and midweek activities. The church has everything a modern evangelical pastor could want. Great people, great programs and great pay. The only problem is, I'm not a modern evangelical pastor. [ ]
I read all the right books, went to all the right conferences and said all the right things. For years, I played by the rules and tried hard not to think too much about the lingering questions in my soul. Doubt, after all, was dangerous. Who knew where it might lead? During my time at Mariners, however, I grew tired of keeping up appearances. After 18 years in ministry, the evangelical package had started to unwrap itself. [ ]
Eventually, I knew something had to give. When the pain of staying at Mariners began to seem worse than the pain of leaving, I submitted my resignation. I packed up my desk, loaded up my car and drove back to my tiny, 700-square-foot beach shack. [ ]
It's funny, since resigning at Mariners, the reasons why I had to leave the professional pastorate have begun to crystallize in my mind. Although it's taken a few years, I've come to realize that my discontent was never with Mariners as a church, but contemporary Christianity as an institution. [ ]
In today's evangelical world, one of the worst things you can ever be called is liberal. Challenge an accepted belief or confess doubt and you're the equivalent of a card-carrying Communist. Brows furrow. Eyes narrow. Lips purse. Want to earn a place on the Colorado Springs…er, I mean, Hollywood black list? Admit your uncertainty about homosexuality as a Biblically-condemned sin. Want to be branded a traitor in your own church? Admit your ambivalence about a denomination-defining symbol such as baptism. [ ]
Being blackballed by the local church is one thing, being blackballed by the evangelical community as a whole is quite another. In recent years, I've become increasingly concerned about the power certain evangelical personalities have over popular opinion. Call me crazy, but it seems like many of my church friends live more on every word that comes from the mouth of the James Dobsons of the world than from the mouth of God. It isn't that what Dobson and others say is necessarily wrong, it's just that so many people have stopped thinking for themselves-and those who haven't, no longer feel safe to express a dissenting opinion. [ ]
Jesus challenged the religious establishment in his day. He answered his critics with powerful, thought-provoking questions. He wasn't afraid to take on tough topics or discuss contentious issues. Spiritual McCarthyism, meanwhile, promotes exactly the opposite. It encourages people to orchestrate their lives to avoid censure and minimize risk. In short, it teaches people to live in fear-to put up and shut up. I don't know. I guess I'm just not sure that fear, intimidation and control should be the defining hallmarks of Christianity. [ ]
A lot of people ask me about the name, THEOOZE-what it means and how I chose it. It's actually a metaphor. The idea is that the various parts of the faith community are like mercury. At times we will roll together, at times we will roll apart. Try to touch the liquid or constrain it, and the substance will resist. Rather than force people to fall into line, an ooze-y community tolerates differences and treats people with opposing views with great dignity. To me, that's the essence of the emerging church.
Posted by Jesus Politics at August 3, 2006 04:28 PM
Comments
One break from inside the loop is better than a hundred from without insofar as expressing what is wrong with the religous right is all about. Better late than never too: a sign that one's soul still has a price even if tainted in the process of playing the game(s) expected from one in such a position. I especially liked the note on Spiritual McCarthyism, but why not note the actual McCarthyism one is expected to propogate politically? And produce a violation of the church-state boundaries as political campaigns in process in Ohio & elsewhere do [not to mention the 2004 '1600Pennsylvania Churches' shitola which sought actual church-membership rolls with addresses]? The religious right is indeed the political right with the incarnation of the current GOPs: i.e., "spiritual" McCarthyism is nothing more [or less] than McCarthyism with a Birchism revival too. Scary if you are much of a student like I; scary for the scorn it will generate for you too, no matter how apropos or true.
For myself, I met all of this daemonic religionism very early on & was determioned to separate myself from it, which I did. I could not listen to the entreaties with a straight face & without my hackle being raised. The literalism was just too much to believe for a kid with a brain: laughable. How could one ever go the route with this stuff? Even moreso, the mega-church thing is a business, par excellence: nothing to do with spirituality. A zoning board action in the local paper is a sign of great rejoicing! When I see all the hoofers with their bibles on a Sunday, I only can weep for their dementia. We must do better than this: no matter the size of the buildings themselves. Kudos to Messers Burke & Taylor! May their candor encourage others!
Posted by: Arden C. Hander at August 3, 2006 07:58 PM
"Spiritual McCarthyism."
A helpful expression for understanding fundamentalist idolatry.
Posted by: Tenoch at August 4, 2006 11:56 PM
Dear Fellow Lightworkers,
Greetings and Salutations! I have been following with interest the spirited discussions in this blogg-forum and feel strongly that we are living in very “special” times!
As a contactee and a channel I would like to share information from the Masters from time to time with you all. My name is Michael Ellegion, and my website is ChannelfortheMasters.com.
I have been guided by the Spiritual Hierarchy at this time to connect with other fellow Lightworkers who also feel attuned to the higher Masters and Beings of Light, as clear guidence is especially at this time on earth, very important to us all.
Having been trained in the Edgar Cayce form of channeling as a small child, I have been channeling the Masters for over 25 years. I also have had wonderful experiences, having been taken aboard physically, onto the higher dimensional Merkabah Lightships of the Ashtar Command, I can truly say that we are living in the “End Times” of the old way and that there are many other fellow Volunteer souls here in Earth embodiment on earthly missions.
At my website, there is a very fascinating list of “NASA Star People characteristics” which I feel many of those of you who come to this blogg’s forum will definitely relate to many of the characteristics or traits documented there. I was first told about this list prior to actually seeing it, while physically aboard the Merkabah, and I was told that I was soon going to come upon a list of characteristics, and that when fellow Volunteers like myself, would see this list, they too would relate to at least several to a third of the entire list.
According to these very advanced, human appearing Elohim – extraterrestrials, “Depending upon how much of the original level of higher energy and consciousness that a soul is able to bring with them when their soul comes into earth embodiment, is usually how many of these characteristics a fellow Volunteer will tend to have.”
The Channelings I have done for over 25 years, are specifically designed to assist fellow Lightworkers in gaining greater insight into their individual life-missions. Becoming aware of future opportunities that the Spiritual Hierarchy wants you to be aware of is important, allowing you to more consciously take advantage of these opportunities. As a result, each one of us will help to uplift the planet––as it prepares for the upcoming planetary Ascension.
One of the special features about these transformational sessions with the Spiritual Hierarchy, is that while the Masters are channeling thru me, they place upon the tape powerful Cosmic subliminals designed to accelerate the reactivation of the original 12 strand DNA/RNA into the future 24 strands, along with the opening and activation of the synaptic-neropathways of the brain. This causes major transformations in one’s conscious awareness and the lifting of the Veils or Cosmic Amnesia. This in turn, helps one to remember their original galactic origins.
Checkout ChannelfortheMasters.com and to those of you who feel an attunement to this information and would like to further connect with me, I look forward to hearing from you, e-mail me at: vortexnetwork@hotmail.com.
Many Blessings to You on Your Earthly Mission!
In Light and Love,
Michael Ellegion
Posted by: 11.11 at August 5, 2006 01:04 PM
Michael Ellegion,
That was great! That's maybe the funniest thing I have read on this site!
Posted by: Gary at August 5, 2006 03:01 PM
Gary,
Oh yeah! I'll give an amen to that. Nearly antlered my diet soda.
Posted by: Frank Frey at August 7, 2006 05:31 PM
Michael Ellegion may be laughing just as hard at your believes and mine so if he will tolerate my believes I will tolerate his
Posted by: Monte Schlarman at August 8, 2006 10:53 PM
Right on Monte. I agree. In alot of ways it doesn't sound any more far fetched than some of the stuff in the Bible.
"This guy named Noah put two of every species of animal in the world on a home made boat for 40 days..."
ummm, yeah...
We don't all have to agree.
We just have to make room to disagree.
Posted by: greg deVeer at August 9, 2006 07:19 PM
While I respect Michael Elligion's right to his own beliefs, his random post in the middle of a discussion just demonstrates my frustration with the lack of editorial oversight on this blog. Usually its just radical conservatives hijaking discussions with non-sequiters about other issues, usually bringing abortion and gays into discussions, or refusing to acknowledge that a poster is a Christian. But now, we have completely random self-promotion.
Posted by: john g at August 9, 2006 10:12 PM
Hurrah, John! What can we do to make the point that "editorial oversight" is needed on THIS site? There are easily a half-dozen trolls or interlopers whose ONLY intent is to distort, disrupt or proselytize, & they keep on doing it with impunity because they know by experience that they will not be stopped. One answer to this nonsense would be a registration process that preceded posting with a followup throwing off when behavior was ill. Another reason for throwing off would be hijacking a post for one of the standard alterations of subject matter that occur regularly. Non-sequitors would be another...and the list goes on. But in the meantime, we are held hostage to some very lowdown types with nothing but malcontent, for whom disruption is success.
I have emailed the home page too. Can you give it a try with some of the above or your own special formula?
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Posted by: ltvtgynm at August 13, 2007 07:41 AM
Michael Ellegion is a very remarkable person and brings forth lots of wisdom. What this country was founded on is religious freedom. If you don’t believe in that for some you don’t believe in it at all. What this world needs less of is.... religions that tell their followers to suppress, criticize, or harm others. We don’t need religions like that anymore and they are holding back human progress.
If there is a wise and omnipotent and all knowing God don’t you think he would have placed some of himself in everyone so he wouldn’t have to baby-sit us? So we can find our own way and evolve into that higher God state that is a part of everyone. That would have been the wise thing to do and there is indeed GOD in everyone whether they are expressing it or not. Many people finding different expression and manifesting their unique gifts in their works.
The organized churches do not have a patent on spirituality. But it’s all in what you want to see or are willing to accept in this lifetime. Look on the net and find out for yourself.
Posted by: progressive at November 4, 2007 06:18 PM
