Does the World Need to Be Saved..and if so From What?

In a brief letter that I receive on a daily basis from Bishop John Shelby Spong, one of the champions of theology and progressive religion, Bishop Spong answered a serious question about the origin of what we call soteriology or the doctrine of salvation. Like many folks today, the events of the world will either motivate you to become more grounded in your humanness so to speak, or they will add more fuel to your escapist ideas, where youre anxiously anticipating someone to come from beyond the clouds and rescue you; whether thats figure is Jesus of Nazareth, Mohammed, or whomever your heroic, universal figure maybe. There are some individuals who have what could be considered fundamentalist views, that maybe offended at what Im about to say, but if you study some of the prominent theologians today, from Elaine Pagels at Princeton, to Marcus Borg, to D.M. Murdock, and many others from interdisciplinary fields, youll discover that scholars have known the truth about the history of our religions for years. The truth is, that a striking portion of our views on Christianity is rooted in the 4th century thinking of Augustine, and it was expanded by Anslem in the 12th century. According to Bishop Spong and other scholars of religion, the ideas stemming from Augustine down to Anslem and others push the notion that humans started out being completely perfect, and later fell into sin, which caused us to need to be rescued or saved by a perfect human/godlike creator. But the truth is that if we view our religions and our heros/heroines in this matter, then weve got to view our lives as jacked up. Honestly, life responds to you the way that you respond to it, and if your life needs saving, then you better start using some of the tools that God gave you. I dont believe that this was ever the goal of religion, and despite some of the horrible ideas regarding the rights of women, families, children, sacred unions, and other things within our sacred texts, you can literally chart the evolution of society within the pages of the texts. Our religions can be beautiful, if we simply use them to uplift humanity, and not to give us a one-up on each other. Theres a wonderful story in the book of Genesis about the fall from grace where the children-likeadults, Adam and Eve (which were not the real names of the first 2 humans by the way), were forced to grow up and go out into the world to build their lives. These two Hebrew characters went on to create a family life, encounter their share of problems, family discord, and subsequently, work their way through them like everyone else. My point is that the bliss that these two characters felt in the beginning of that chapter in the bible is the same bliss that children experience in early childhood. So, if we, being adults, and having access to the history of scholarship; shouldnt our views of life and religion mature along with them? Being a human isnt so bad, considering our evolution from single-celled organisms, to the place where we are now where we operate as a whole person, but we are comprised of millions of different cells that can coordinate with one another. Our body parts function well together, why cant we find a way to be tolerant of the views and religious ideas of others. If your way of life works for you, great-but if your way of life or religion forces you to diminish the same universal life that breathes through someone else, while placing you on top as the chosen group, then maybe you should expand your views a bit. Our religions have evolved from tribalistic, to globablistic because we have evolved as a society. To hold onto a small view of the world, despite the fact that we live in a global culture is like walking down peachtree

street in Atlanta, Ga with your eyes closed-you are bound to walk into an oncoming car. Tolerance works both ways; the fundamentalist is entitled to their religious ideas just as much as the liberal is entitled to theirs. Lets just remember to keep the peace.
Rev. Jesse Herriott is a priest; writer and adjunct professor in Atlanta, GA. Jesse is completing a PhD in Psychology from NorthCentral University, and he writes about Religion, Relationships & Spirituality. In addition, he hosts a weekly radio broadcast airing every Tuesday at 9am Central on Unity Online Radio entitled, Living on Purpose. Learn more at www.jesseherriott.com