{"id":2433,"date":"2021-09-20T16:22:22","date_gmt":"2021-09-20T16:22:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2021\/09\/20\/bishop-john-shelby-spong-1931-2021\/"},"modified":"2021-09-20T16:22:22","modified_gmt":"2021-09-20T16:22:22","slug":"bishop-john-shelby-spong-1931-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2021\/09\/20\/bishop-john-shelby-spong-1931-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Bishop John Shelby Spong (1931-2021)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yes, I know, de mortuis nil nisi bonum<\/em>, but I will make an exception in this case. This man filled his belly from Christianity while rejecting not only its specific tenets, but theism itself.  <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Spong<\/a> in his final years belonged to the now largely defunct Jesus Seminar, which voted with marbles on which scriptures were authentic, always rejecting verses that claimed the supernatural. With those scholars, Spong rejected divine interventions, including Jesus\u2019 deity, resurrection, virgin birth and miracles. In the end, Spong denounced theism itself. He also questioned Christian teachings about the afterlife and suggested that their primary purpose was control of human behavior in this life.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Instead of playing the termite in a bishop's regalia, Spong should have had the intellectual decency to get an honest job.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cHeaven and Hell have got to go,\u201d the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, New Jersey retired bishop lectured<\/a> at United Methodist-affiliated Drew Theological School after authoring his 2010 book Eternal Life: A New Vision: Beyond Religion, Beyond Theism, Beyond Heaven and Hell<\/em><\/a>. \u201cNobody knows what the afterlife is all about; nobody even knows if there is one.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This quotation shows the man to have been a fool. Of course nobody KNOWS what the afterlife is ALL about, or whether there is one. It is a matter of reasoned faith. A man without faith in God and Christ who postures as a Christian bishop is comparable to a pacifist who expects to learn a living as a high-ranking military officer. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Spong eventually described himself as a non-theist, rejecting not just historic Christian teachings in the Nicene Creed, but also the very idea of a personal God.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Diocese of Newark tweeted:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

May he rest in peace and rise in glory.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That's hilarious!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yes, I know, de mortuis nil nisi bonum, but I will make an exception in this case. This man filled his belly from Christianity while rejecting not only its specific tenets, but theism itself.   Spong in his final years belonged to the now largely defunct Jesus Seminar, which voted with marbles on which scriptures were … Continue reading “Bishop John Shelby Spong (1931-2021)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[163,139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leftism-and-political-correctness","category-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2433\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}