GRETTA VOSPER’S GOD-LESS CHRISTIANITY

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Two days ago I wrote a piece entitled, The United Church of Canada and One Atheist Minister , concerning Rev. Gretta Vosper, a pastor who is at the time of writing, pastoring an Ontario church. This has been no secret for many years, but now her qualifications are under review by an the UC Executive and an ecclesiastical court. She does not want to be bound by a belief in God, but she refuses to step away from her church or the denomination of which the church is a member congregation. She acknowledges that she has moved toward humanism.

Ms. Vosper's personal website, records occasional blog entries, and some links, personal opinions and positions. Some readers will question why she continues to speak from within a Christian framework. If you wonder about that then your understanding may be assisted by reading her references to progressive Christianity and Christianity for the inquiring mind. She commends the Canadian Centre for Progressive Christianity. She favours distilling salient points out of the Christian tradition but to do that one must cast away assumptions, one of which is god called God. She chooses to filter everything with the question,  “Is this text, symbol, person, ritual, or tradition going to help us in the important work of building right relationships with ourselves, one another, the planet, and the seventh generation?” If it cannot help, then she says it is not worth using to pave her tomorrows, her heart or her church home.

Gretta Vosper has books of poems and prayers entitled 'Holy Breath' and 'Another Breath,' as invitations to explore new ways to love ourselves, those around us, and the rest of the planet and those who share it with us. They are procured by contacting retail@progressivechristianity.ca.  She is also the author of 'With or Without God,' and you buy this book on Amazon, which is Gretta's case for a post-Christian Church.

Readers may still question why bother with the 'christian' trappings? I don't have an answer for you or for Gretta, although I am confidant book sales are up when controversy is stirred enough to get people like me drawing attention to her. I do so only because some Christians I know are developing liberal theological leanings, or let's call them hesitations about biblical truths and concepts. My caution is obvious. Ask questions certainly, study scripture. Consult respected Christian apologists, not Gretta. Gretta leads you to humanism, which appears as freedom and progress but bonds with non-theistic secularism human agency. Her Christ-less, godless views cannot pave my tomorrows, my life, or anything about my faith expression.

HAPPY WITH ATHEISM OR CHRISTIANITY?

“Ron, I am very happy with my atheism.” That’s what he told me. My good friend is a man of 80 plus years of age and is a person whom I respect very much. He is a good man, a principled man, a morally and ethically admirable man. We were engaged in a brief e-conversation and at the start we already understood each other’s foundational positions, his being non-faith and mine being faith in Jesus Christ. Then we exchanged bio backgrounds and I was surprised to learn the extent of his childhood and youthful exposure to Christianity. He explained to me when he had stopped believing and the sense of relief he had when he decided it was not a rational world.

SPECTRUM OF BELIEF

Yes, No, Maybe are words reflective of viewpoints on the spectrum of belief and unbelief. If the spectrum is pictured as a linear indicator, then 'Yes' is dogmatic faith at one end, with 'Maybe' representative of uncertainty or doubt in the middle and at the extreme other end stands 'No' which conveys firm nonbelief.

The range is from Absolute Belief to Absolute Non Belief with Lack of Belief somewhere in between the two poles.