Fearless Wonder

I was having an interesting conversation with my brother yesterday. We were talking about churches, and small groups, and some of the pros and cons of different ones in their approaches. We both agreed that Churches that watered down things too much were not good because they produced a lower quality of believer. I think if a person is a true seeker, they will be patient and study out any difficult points of doctrine they encounter in the church they are visiting. If pastor waters things down too much, he won't be feeding the believers, and will only attract converts who are not serious about their faith. I think the true seeker isn't really put off by confusing insider language. When I first went to the Bodhi center in Chattanooga, I learned lots of new words and terms like Sangha and "The three jewels." I wasn't put off at all. I expected that as a new comer there would be things I didn't understand, and that I would have to follow up on if I was intere...

I recently posted in a Buddhist forum about Grace. The next day I heard a sermon about Grace and realized I had to recant some my opinions from the post I'd made. I still believe that there is a Grace in Buddhism, but I was unfair in my characterization of Christianity. You can read my post here My post was a reaction to an argument I've heard about why Christianity is better than all other religions. The argument says that Christianity is better because we have Grace through the shed blood of Jesus, while all other religions have to work to get "saved" (whatever that means) In the post I characterized the Christian concept of Grace based on my own struggle with perfectionism. In my view of Christianity, you were given salvation/grace but then had to strive, struggle and sweat towards perfection. Since this struggle towards perfection never got me anywhere, and the grace I've found in Buddhism has helped me, I wrote very positively about Buddhism and very ne...

I have the tendency to want to start off my posts with an apology for not having posted in awhile...but I am not going to do that. No apology what so ever. If you think I am a mean heartless witch for not considering your feelings...so what. I don't care. Get over it. (This is me learning not to feel overly guilty about everything. But already I feel guilty for telling you to "Get over it". Ahhh, but I won't say I am sorry. You can just deal with it. ) Anyways... I have had a lot I wanted to write about. A lot I have even tried to write about. I have sat down and begun countless blog posts but never finished them. Why...Because I am so uncertain about everything, and even as I write I change my mind, and realize I have multiple views on certain subjects. I feel like if I commit my thoughts to type, then I will be saying things I really don't mean, believe or understand. I give very little importance to my own opinion these days. I am sympathetic to a var...