January 2012
4 posts
3 tags
“I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I...”
– C.S.LEWIS I’ve been thinking and fighting and toying with the idea of prayer for a long time… It’s something that confuses and frustrates me in unique ways. Recently an idea that keeps finding me is that prayer “doesn’t change God- it changes me.” I think I...
3 tags
Old Christmas: Orthodox Christians flavor Feast of... →
Feast of the nativity on January 7th
Aka the “Old Christmas”
In Russian orthodoxy one tradition is to eat fresh garlic dipped in honey. The first bite of the Holy Supper of Russian Orthodox Christian traditions symbolizes a prayer that the bitter problems of life will be overcome by the sweetness of God’s love and grace.
“In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for...”
– Siddhartha Buddha
“I think we ought always to entertain our opinions with some measure of doubt. I...”
– ― Bertrand Russell
December 2011
2 posts
1 tag
A life in colour...
I don’t live in a black and white world with black white answers. Sometimes, I admit, I wish I did. It’s enticing to cling to the comfort of black and white thinking, like old nostalgic photos of family, or the romance of a flickering silent movie.
That’s comforting, but it’s not reality. The world I see is in full colour. With vivid hues and dark tones. I see a world...
2 tags
Silent Night? (written in 2008)
Have you tried listening to the radio at this time of year? Out of bored desperation today I tried while waiting in the car for someone as they ran an errand. No matter what station you switch to you will hear one of two things; advertisements trying to get you to run out and buy into Christmas specials, or Christmas Carols. I’ll be honest. I’m not necessarily the biggest fan of...
November 2011
6 posts
2 tags
3 tags
5 tags
Does love conquer all?
“Ever since Nietzsche it has been customary to sneer at the apparently wimpish vision of human life in the Beatitudes: the meek, the mourners, the merciful, and so on – when surely everyone knows that the people who make the world go round are the arrogant, the go-getters, the people with sharp swords or at least sharp elbows, the pushy, the proud.
Actually, all Nietzsche did was to articulate...
7 tags
Life in Christian-Conservative T̶e̶x̶a̶s̶ Barbados
Replace ‘Lubbock, Texas’ with ‘Barbados’ and this says it almost perfectly.
This small island-country is pretty much the Bible-Belt of the Caribbean. And if life in Lubbock Texas seems contradictory and confusing, life here is equally as paradoxical.
Behind the facade of dread-locks, sandy beaches and sunburnt tourists - the Caribbean is a strange blend of extremely...
6 tags
4 tags
October 2011
10 posts
3 tags
Barbados
I think you hit the nail spot on about the mix of developed and undeveloped in Barbados. It’s actually one of the things I like the most about it here. And yes, unlike most places the ‘nice’ areas and ‘less nice’ areas here are really quite interspersed. I can’t think of any ‘nice’ area where you can’t walk 5 minutes and end up in...
4 tags
valueplus asked: Hey I just thought I'd send another reply here since I blogged the first one - can you recommend some places to visit? Someone recommended North Point so I'm going to head up there this weekend.
2 tags
6 tags
“Half of disbelief in God in the world is caused by people who made religion look...”
– Imam al Ghazali ________________________ I think this is true. Somewhat like those who have experienced mistreatment and abuse in the name of love and therefore no longer believe in love. It’s a matter of not realizing the true definitions because of wrong experience.
7 tags
Sometimes..
I think I take myself way too fricking seriously…
2 tags
Bajan Bloggers
Anyone that cares, can probably tell that I’ve been far too busy to blog for the past few weeks (month?). Work has had me running a marathon at a sprint’s pace, which means the last thing I have the mental energy for when I do finish work is to actually think. Which means no blog.
However, things should be slowing down soon, so maybe my brain will return and with it a few posts. ...
2 tags
3 tags
3 tags
You don't know CRAP
(Photo by: Annie)
For as long as there has been humour, I’m sure there have been jokes that are in bad taste.
I know I’m probably guilty of it - It’s generally hard to be funny without becoming cheap. The easiest, and laziest, route for humour to take is one of insulting and belittling someone else. It makes us feel better in comparison. Several jokes float around my...
September 2011
6 posts
8 tags
2 tags
6 tags
“It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of...”
– Confucius (Circa 551 BC – 479 BC)
This reminds me of a popular quote from Jesus around 400 years later.
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to...
1 tag
2 tags
“I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think.”
– Socrates
9 tags
Amputees, Guessing Games & How to Win an Argument
Love Wins.
It shouldn’t be controversial to start a blog post with that phrase.
But somehow over the past few months, that phrase has become one of the most popular catalysts for controversy among groups of Christians on the Internet.
For those that are unaware, a popular yet controversial Christian author, Rob Bell, wrote a book recently called “Love Wins”. In true internet...
August 2011
36 posts
1 tag
3 tags
“Proverbs 26:4-5
4Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
or you will be...”
– We love isolated quotes. Bite sized snippets of wisdom. ‘Fun’ sized portions of knowledge. Appetizers are delicious, but they are only the starter for the main course.
Sound bites are good. But complete stories are even better.
Look at the ancient hebrew and christian book of Proverbs....
2 tags
3 tags
What if Jesus Meant All That Stuff - Shane... →
A while back Shane Claibourne was asked to write a sort of “apostolic” letter to ‘non-christians’ by Esquire Magazine. I can’t add much to this other than to say - Read it. Read it slowly and carefully and let the thoughts swim in your brain for a little while.
Read all of it at the link if you can… but if not, at least what I’ve pulled out below.
...
1 tag
4 tags
How does the evil and suffering in the world align...
Introduction
The most ancient and persistent objection to God’s existence is the problem of evil. How can a loving, powerful God allow so much evil and suffering in the world? Believers and nonbelievers alike must wrestle with this difficult question. Nonbelievers struggle with the atheist conclusion that morality is an illusory and ungrounded evolutionary artifact, in which case there may be...
1 tag
1 tag
1 tag
4 tags
“Do not be too quick to assume your enemy is a savage just because he is your...”
– –T. Merton
4 tags
“What is true of the individual will be tomorrow true of the whole nation if...”
– Mohandas Gandhi
1 tag
“Worry more about your character than your reputation. Character is what you are,...”
– John Wooden
1 tag
1 tag
1 tag
4 tags
Christians on Tumblr →
I am proposing that all the Christians on here repost this adding their basics to show we are all different.
Just repost, adding your short info (tumblrname, gender, age, job -if you want-, country, denomination)
- orthodoxbrit:
——————————————————————————————————————
TiffanyJane, female, 23, Graphic Designer, Barbados, Confused/Learning/Post-Evangelical/Emergent/Hopeful (usually)
2 tags
1 tag
“Jesus lived a life and died a death committed to peace. In life, he taught his...”
– Esther Epp-Tiessen (via changingmyperspective)
4 tags
The Rob Bell Controversy: Does Anyone Go To Hell? →
“For God so loved the God-hating world that he sent his only Son … ,” we might accurately translate. Apparently, at least according to Jesus, God really, really, really loves the world.
This doesn’t, of course, by itself address the question of universalism, as the verse continues, “all who believe will not perish but have eternal life.” But the force of...
4 tags
“Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other...”
– Mohandas Gandhi
4 tags
The Broken Truth
Old Turtle And The Broken Truth by Douglas Wood
Once, in a beautiful, faraway land… that was, somehow, not so very far …
a land where every stone was a teacher and every breeze was a language, where every lake was a mirror and every tree a ladder to the stars…
into this far and lovely land there fell… a Truth.
This truth streaked down from the stars, trailing a tail as long as the sky.
But...
1 tag
