The Eighth Sermon to the Dead

Today, someone I don't know posted on a friend's facebook timeline: Don't waste your time. Religion is the biggest joke played on man. A good god would've revealed itself. I had a mixed reaction to this. On the one hand, I recognized that this person's ' Reality Tunnel ' is firmly entrenched in a non-religious track. What benefit, to me or them, to contradict their tunnel? On the other, I really WANTED to contradict their tunnel, as I find religion to be both useful and beneficial in my daily life. Meditations, prayers, and rituals all help me to organize my day to day thoughts, and find my center. When I have solid ground to start from, the rest of my life falls into place a lot easier than not. Then again, when I think of religion, I think of a very personal set of practices, surrounded by an accepting community of like minded people. I have no idea what this person thinks of when they hear the word 'religion', other than 'it's a joke...

So, I'm listening to a lecture on Early Christianity (by Prof. Luke Timothy Johnson of Emory University), and he goes into four possible inadequate definitions of what a religion is. A descriptive definition of religion can be approached from four definitions: Membership in a group, ritual behavior, belief or doctrine, and/or morality. I thought it would be interesting to approach Modern Gnosticism from these angles. membership in a group: This sort of definition is unimportant to Gnosticism. You don't have to be an ethnic group, have been born into it, convert, or even say you are a gnostic. Gnostics tend to be self identifying, and they move into and out of the definition as they please. Gnostics do tend to have a negative identification: I'm not a Christian, I'm not a Jew, etc. It's not universal, but I have found it fairly common. Ritual Behavior Some Gnostics have highly ritualized behavior coming out of the traditional and esoteric sacraments and rituals...

As a member of the clergy of the Apostolic Johannite Church, I am very happy to post this: It is with a healthy measure of relief and joy that the Apostolic Johannite Church applauds the decision of the California Supreme Court to overturn the ban on same-sex marriages. Throughout its history, the Apostolic Johannite Church has remained committed to the principles enshrined in both Canon Law and its Statement of Principles- making no distinction between heterosexual and homosexual marriages providing they represent sacramental vows of union. Further to this, the Apostolic Johannite Church likewise recognizes the need for and gives its support to civil ceremonies of marriage, recognizing the freedom of choice of all human beings to engage in a religious or secular life as they see fit, celebrating their lives through civil, social and religious tradition. It is our hope that other communities, religious denominations and governments will look upon the example given anew by California, a...