paravanes:meditations

image is from cctvcambridge.org I am taking an online course on C.S. Lewis offered by Hillsdale College in Michigan . Yesterday, while listening to the lecture in the second unit of the course, the lecturer pointed out something that seems so obvious and yet gets lost too often when we try to say what is most important about being a Christian. The lecturer, Michael Ward , said the entire point of seeking and serving God is to have our wills conformed to God's will. This seems really obvious, so why do so many of us miss this? Many of us in North America live in the middle of church teachings that suggest we follow God to have a happier, better, more prosperous life. Or, we follow God because we want to make the world a better place. Or, we follow God because Christianity is part of our family tradition. The list of reasons could go on and on. The idea of having our wills conformed to God's will may sound frightening, mysterious, possibly offensive, or perha...

In his book Conversations with God , James Melvin Washington (whose work predates a book of the same title by Neale Donald Walsch) writes a chapter titled "Slavery and the Eclipse of the African Gods." Washington's description of Black slaves and their conversion to Christianity suggests this conversion was not the result of "brainwashing" by slave owners in pursuit of submissive slaves. Rather, Washington describes this process as the eclipse of the African gods. I found his discussion interesting and convincing. If slaves had been "brainwashed" by owners, owners would not have banned private gatherings when slaves met to worship. When you have someone totally under your mental control, you don't worry about what they will do when you're not watching. Additionally, the proscriptions against slaves learning to read would not have been so vigorously enforced if slave owners really believed their own propaganda: slaves weren't very smart...