Author Archives: jimwdollar

Don’t Believe in God–BE God!

We take up the work of doing better by looking around. If this is the best God can do, God should be ashamed. And if this is not the best God can do, God should be ashamed. Or, letting the way things are work their magic on us, it could be that we have aContinue reading “Don’t Believe in God–BE God!”

Ditching Theology and Doctrine, Part 2

Christian theology and doctrine are grounded upon the assertion that Jesus died for our sins, erasing the supposed debt we owed to God for the original sin of the original parents of us all. None of which squares up in any way with what we know about the origin of the species. The Garden ofContinue reading “Ditching Theology and Doctrine, Part 2”

Ditching Theology and Doctrine, Part 1

Christian theology and doctrine—orthodox, reformed, or evangelical—are put forward in different ways by all variations of the Christian church as the way things actually are, with no alternative views allowed. The thing that makes us a Christian, according to Christians, is embracing Christian theology and doctrine—in a form expressed by a particular version of Christianity—believingContinue reading “Ditching Theology and Doctrine, Part 1”

A Short Reading List for the Spiritual Journey

A list of “suggested books,” when it is available, always comes at the end of the book. But. There is no beginning or end to this Handbook, because the spiritual journey itself has no beginning or end. The journey is a trip back “to the face that was yours before you were born.” Your physicalContinue reading “A Short Reading List for the Spiritual Journey”

The Moral, the Good, and the Bible

What is good? How do we know? Those are the foundational questions of existence. They are right up there with “Who are we? What are we about?” You answer those four questions correctly, and there is nothing but a long easy glide for you through the rest of time. You will, on the spiritual levelContinue reading “The Moral, the Good, and the Bible”

It’s a Mess Out There–Or Is It?

It’s a mess out there, AND patterns are everywhere. Is it order or is it chaos? It depends how we see what we look at. Life is an optical illusion. Look, and it’s a mess. Look again, and patterns are everywhere. We see chaos until we look closer, and then we see order, meaning andContinue reading “It’s a Mess Out There–Or Is It?”

Life Unfolds According to Its Own Good Pleasure

I don’t know why we can’t just live appropriately in each moment, with respect for each other’s ways. I don’t know why we cannot draw appropriate lines, honor appropriate boundaries, and allow things to be what they need to be apart from our ideas, interests, wishes and wants. We have our ways, it seems. WeContinue reading “Life Unfolds According to Its Own Good Pleasure”

The Mystery at the Heart of Life and Being

Something larger than we are flows within us, through us, around us. The connection is stronger, clearer, deeper, in some times and places than in others. In some times and places, there is a veritable YES! coursing through us in response to our life experience. It may be the birth of a child, or makingContinue reading “The Mystery at the Heart of Life and Being”

The Heart of What Matters Most

The word “God,” is among the most useless of words because its meaning is lost on us. Whose God are we talking about when we talk about God? Whose idea of God is under consideration? Fundamentalist Christians have an idea about God. Fundamentalist Muslims have a different idea about God. Reformed Jews have a differentContinue reading “The Heart of What Matters Most”