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bufo -> RE: A New Earth -- Oprah and Eckart Tolle (5/5/2008 12:41:25 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: mrsdash
bufo, the funny thing here is that i am the one that wouldn't judge the intentions of stampinlady, but you did.
when i spoke of blaspheming as trumping something i was not at all saying it trumps good behavior or anything like that. i specifically compared it to the psychology in tolle's book. said that it shrunk in importance next to the issue of how God was impiously treated.
my assertions of blaspheming is toward tolle only. it's not a judgment of tolle the man but of his words and work. it's an academic assessment.
certainly blaspheme can be a pejorative, but it is not always. it fits here as a description of what tolle does to Jesus. tolle defrocks Jesus. Jesus is not God in tolle's work. he's been demoted. he's been de-sacreded. blasphemed.
God is not even a person in tolle's work. the "Divine" is a spritual energy, state of being that is all of us etc. God has been written out of the picture. that can't possibly be construed as a reverent or As pious attitude toward God. God is given no acknowledment or honor by tolle. strictly and academically speaking, that's a blasphemous position toward God. it's not disrespectful to state such a thing. if i am hateful and wish harm toward someone that i think is blaspheming, that would be wrong.
tolle speaks often of Jesus and quotes him. tolle teaches spirituality. certainly his book can be assessed by biblical standards by those that use the bible as a standard.
i don't know tolle the man, i don't know his character and i don't know if his denial of God will continue forever. i wish him no harm. neither do i see any reason not to critique his book from a specific christian POV.
blas·pheme (blăs-fēm', blăs'fēm')
v., -phemed, -phem·ing, -phemes.
v.tr.
To speak of (God or a sacred entity) in an irreverent, impious manner.
To revile; execrate.
I think you start your post with a statement that I think may be a bit unfair:
"bufo, the funny thing here is that i am the one that wouldn't judge the intentions of stampinlady, but you did."
What I said to Stampinlady (in full, emphasis added) was:
"Stampinlady. I thought the post by jmjphe was intelligent, fairminded and offered in good faith and gave ample evidence of his/her Christian faith. Furthermore it was his/her first post. You however quoted only a small portion of jmjphe's post which seemed to distort the context and uttered a brief condescending sentence that sounded very dismissive. Is this what you intended? Did I read it incorrectly?
Therefore, with the inartful exception of declaring the statement "condescending" (for which I take responsiblilty as a judgement, the rest used the phrases "seemed to" and "sounded" as opposed to definite conclusory judgements. This was intentional and was intended to state my perception while allowing room to be corrected. It ended with two questions. The first asking if my perception reflected her intent. The other asked expressly if my perception was in error. On the scale of "judgements". my post, while pointed, appears to be largely a statement of perception and a request of more information while acknowledging possible error on my part.
Regarding your view of "blasphemy": It appears that you take a very narrow, perhaps technical view of the term, divorcing it from its stronger connotations and restricting it to a narrow academic usage. That is fine except, I suspect most lay people would understand something a bit different from the term. The way you use it, you have labeled the majority of the earth's inhabitants as "blasphemers", which is again fine but probably a usage that is even a minority view in the Christian community.
Impious: lacking in reverence or proper respect. [perhaps. It's a stretch though. One should be entitled to state one's view of reality I suppose, if done civilly and respectfully, even if it differs theologically.]
Irreverent: lacking proper respect or seriousness. [Again, possibly. Certainly there is no lack of seriousness.]
Exercrate:
1. To declare to be hateful or abhorrent; denounce.
2. To feel loathing for; abhor.
3. Archaic To invoke a curse on.
[Certainly this did not take place.]
Revile: To assail with abusive language; vituperate. [Again, this did not take place.]
Thank you for sharing your views. I suspect that I should leave you alone for awhile.
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