It's the End of the World!

Are you planning on the world ending this December? If you are not really buying all this 2012 stuff, then when is the world going to end and how?

There are various religious perspectives about the end of the world:

• Western religions tend to focus on the end as being a Judgement Day when God renders his judgement upon humanity. 
• Eastern religions tend to look at history as cyclical. When this cycle of time closes, another will begin and it may look something like our past. 

All this talk of the end of the world brings up another question. What is history? Is it a narrative with a beginning and an end? Or is 'The End' a more illusive concept? 

Join us this Wednesday, 7pm at Short's Brewing Company for a conversation about the End of the World!

Spiritual Role Models

Who is the most spiritual person you have ever known?

Many of us have had a person in our lives that exemplified the word 'spiritual.' They may or may not have been religious. They may or may not have been educated. There is just something about them. They seem to have a deeper awareness of the mysteries of the world. They are insightful and full of truth.

'Spiritual' means different things to different people. Whatever it means to you, bring an example of that kind of person to Short's this Wednesday. Grab a drink and pull up a chair for a conversation about spiritual mentors and role models.

Faith and Ecology

"Any error about creation also leads to an error about God.” – Thomas Aquinas

Last Sunday was Earth Day. People celebrated in different ways all over the country. Some people stopped to reflect on the state of the Environment and our human impact on that state. Others feel that focusing on environmental issues is an overreaction invented by political leftists.

People of faith are also polarized on this issue. Some people feel that God has called upon human beings to care for the environment. For such people, it is a matter of their faith to act responsibly toward the Earth. We should respect the Earth and care for it accordingly.

For other people, the Environment is not a part of their faith, it is the object of their faith. For them, transcendence and deity are found by looking to the beauty and hope found in nature. We should care for the earth as a deep spiritual experience.

Finally, there are some that believe that human beings were given "dominion" over the Earth. To them, this means we are to use the world as a means toward our own ends. When this dominion is limited by governments, or other forces, they feel that their God-given dominion is being infringed upon. We should utilize the Earth as God's gift to us.

Do you maintain one of the perspectives above, or do you take a different view of ecology? How does your faith inform your view and your ecological ethics? What are our responsibilities personally and as a culture? How do you live out your ethics on a daily basis?

Join us for our conversation this Wednesday at Short's Brewing Company. We will meet at about 7pm. See you then!

image source:  Google Image Search

Walking Out or Walking Back?

Author Rachel Held Evans posted an interesting discussion on her blog. She listed the 15reasons she left the church several years ago. Please click on this link, read her reasons for leaving, and then come back and give us your thoughts.

The conversation for Rachel did not end with leaving the Church. She went back. As a follow up, she posted 15 reasons that she returned to the Church.

So, where are you at in your faith journey? Are you a leaver? Are you a stayer - and always will be? Are you someone who has returned? This discussion is not limited to Christian church experiences. Organized religion across America is losing younger generations. Why do you think this is?

Join us this Wednesday at Short's Brewing Company for our conversation. We will get started at about 7:00pm.

Image Credit: Google Image Search

Zombie Faith

From Corey:

The other day, my kids and I were on our way to town, I realized I forgot something, and decided to turn around. Where I turned just happened to be Lakeview Cemetery. As strange as it sounds, Lakeview is a beautiful place, so I decided to extend the turnaround and enjoy the view.

My son (4) was fascinated not by the view of Lake Bellaire, but by the tombstones.

'Daddy, what is this place?'

'This is a cemetery.'

'What is "senitary"?' he asked.

'A cemetery is the place where we bury people's bodies after they die.' I explained.

He was fascinated and concerned. He is a very sensitive and observant little thing and he tends to fixate on the morbid. In the past several weeks he has told his mother on occasion 'Mommy, I don't want to die.' So, I should have known that a graveyard detour would set his mind to whirling.

'What happens to people when they are buried in the ground, Daddy?'

'Well,' I slowly answered, trying to avoid any future zombie nightmares, 'some people believe that dead people's bodies stay in the ground until Jesus comes back and rescues everybody that has died. That is called the "Resurrection."'

DadFAIL! I basically taught him that Jesus was some great corpse thief.

'No more questions! Daddy is driving.'

Oh well.

The whole conversation did bring to mind a particular challenge to me: What do I believe about resurrection, death, and the fate of my loved ones - body and soul?

Some people believe in resurrection. Some people believe in reincarnation. Some people believe that death is a mere annihilation.

What do you believe? Is death the end of a chapter, or is it the end of a story?

Join us this Wednesday night at Short's Brewing Company in downtown Bellaire. We'll start a conversation about the hereafter at about 7pm. See you then!

If I Had A[Five Hundred] Million Dollars...

Recently 3 different tickets in 3 different states matched the correct numbers to win $656,000,000. The winners will all split the winnings. Click here for news coverage.

There is anecdotal evidence that lottery winners tend to have a rough time of life after winning. There are numerous stories, and you can click here for a few of them.  It is easy to look down at people who got every chance at happiness but were unable to find it, but would we do any better.

So, what would you do with $500M? Is there something about money that changes people intrinsically? Would you be the same person? Would you be more generous or less generous?

Join us this Wednesday night for a conversation about money and spirituality! We'll get started around 7pm at Short's Brewing in downtown Bellaire.

Anger and Fear

March Madness has worked its way down to the Final Four for 2012. One of those final four teams is the University of Kentucky Wildcats. Kentucky's coach, John Calipari, was asked about one tournament game which was a rematch of the only game they had lost during the regular season. He was asked if he was seeking revenge and emphasizing that with his team. He had an interesting response:

"I don’t ever teach anger," the Kentucky coach told reporters Tuesday. "Because the physiology of that is really close to fear. So if you try to make your team angry, and things don’t go right, it turns to fear within their bodies. So I don’t do it."

While anger and fear may not work for basketball, it certainly seems to be a popular motivator among religions.  The news is often littered with storied of some Imam riling up his followers, or some preacher sounding an alarm for the faithful to heed.

Are anger and fear effective ways to explore spirituality and faith? Or, like basketball, is it counter-productive? Join us for the discussion about faith, anger, and fear.

We will meet, Wednesday 7pm at Short's Brewing Company.