Still reading. But what next?

About a third of the way through The God Delusion now, and am still pretty much agreeing with most of what Dawkins is saying. But I'm also beginning to get a bit annoyed with him at times. I'd expected a slightly more academic approach, but to my mind he seems to be meandering somewhat. Also, he's beginning to get a bit insulting to those how have a faith. He doesn't say so in so many words, but he often seems to apply that you'd have to by pretty stupid to believe this sort of stuff. Now I know that that's, in one sense, the whole point of the book, but there are ways of saying things.

Andy commented that the God Dawkins is talking about is not the God of the Christian faith. I understand what he meant by that, and indeed it's a view that I've had mentioned in an entirely different context once before (ie, not about Dawkins). Trouble is, in this context - and up to this point in the book - I'd say that Dawkins doesn't claim to be talking about the Christian God specifically. It's the whole concept of God, and the existence of any kind of spiritual realm, that he's debating.

I'm enjoying reading it, anyway, and that's a good thing. It's got me thinking about God at the very least. I mentioned to one of my prayer partners (just about the only time I pray is when I meet up with two friends one morning a week before work) that I was wondering what to read next to get an opposite view. His suggestion?

"Well, there's the Bible."

Nice one Simon.

Am I deluded?

Wow. A month since my last post. So much for trying to keep a regular "spiritual journal".

I've started reading Richards Dawkins' "The God Delusion". So far, I have to admit, I'm agreeing with most of what he's saying. Which doesn't bode well for a Christian, considering his published hope is that "religious people who pick up this book will be atheists by the time they finish it." (Quoted from memory so may not be precise!) Of course it's raising lots of questions, but they are the sort of questions that I really ought to be asking myself anyway. The big one being, of course, whether I believe in the existence of a God. (The current answer being, "I don't know".)

It's an interesting read so far, and he makes lots of interesting comments about the apparent privileges afforded to those holding religious beliefs: which he quite rightly says are entirely inappropriate. That's about as far as I've got so far. It's clearly not going to be a very "balanced" book (he critises theological writings as starting with the assumption that there is a God, but is guilty of the same from the other end of the spectrum, it seems to me) so I'll aim to read something rsponding to Dawkins afterwards to see if I can get a balanced view. The obvious choice, a direct response called "The Dawkins Delusion", gets such bad reviews everywhere that I don't think I'll bother.

Reading progress

This evening I sat down and read the entire bible in one sitting. Impressive, hey?

How on earth am supposed to try to keep a record of what I’m thinking spiritually if I

(a) never keep a record, and
(b) never think spiritually?*

My spiritual life in the last few weeks. Let me think… I meet once a week with two friends from church to share and pray. I don’t know if prayer makes a difference, but at least it does give me an opportunity to pray. Let’s face it, it’s just about the only time I do, so thanks guys for giving me that space. And how often have I picked up the bible to read it since mentioning it here a couple of months ago. Ahem. I haven’t.

So, there’s a good positive update for you.

* After I wrote this I realised I'm not entirely sure what I mean by "thinking spiritually". Perhaps I'll work it out one day.

More time-soakers

My list of books to read continues to grow. I've now finished a couple from my earlier list, but more have appeared in the meantime. And right now they're all taking a back seat to the newest Harry Potter, which I'm about half way through.

I'd probably have found time to read a lot more (and, hey, maybe even pray once a while) if I hadn't discovered Flickr. And I thought facebook soaked up a lot of time! Last night I was browsing through people's photos before going to bed, occasionally commenting on them, and annotating some of my own and suddenly four hours had passed. FOUR HOURS.

The Bible: part two

I'm drawn to what Andy Goodliff says here. It allows me to feel (slightly) less guilty about one aspect of my relationship with the Bible.

Thank you, Andy.

Communion

Communion this morning. In his introduction, our minister said - as always - that the communion table was open to "all who know and love Jesus", and for a wee while I found myself wondering whether I qualified. Never really thought about that before. I've been trying to learn to "know and love Jesus" since I became a Christian way back in 1984; but have I ever really got anywhere? God knows. Well, I presume he does.

My pondering this morning didn't last too long, though, as Dave went on to use his usual "words of invitation":

Come to this table, not because you must but because you may,
not because you are strong, but because you are weak.
Come, not because any goodness of your own gives you a right to come,
but because you need mercy and help.
Come, because you love the Lord a little and would like to love him more.
Come, because he loved you and gave himself for you.
Come and meet the risen Christ, for we are his Body.

The key words that reassured me were these: "come because you love the Lord a little, and would like to love him more". Yeah, I think I qualify. Just.

Still, it's got me thinking. (I wonder how long that will last?)