From GetReligion:
"God does not answer our prayers. Jesus is not the saviour who saved the world by dying for our sins. Simply put, Christianity is “love one another.” Gretta Vosper, founder of the Canadian Centre for Progressive Christianity and a minister in Toronto, believes that the church, as we have built it and known it, has outlived its viability." (Amazon.ca)
Mollie (GetReligion) notes:
Lewis provides many details of what Christianity without Christ looks like. Vosper does not believe in the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection, the miracles and the sacrament of baptism. Nor does she believe in the creeds, the presence of Christ in communion or that Jesus was the Son of God. There’s more:
In With or Without God, her book that was formally launched this week, she writes that Jesus was a “Middle Eastern peasant with a few charismatic gifts and a great posthumous marketing team.”
The Bible is used in her services, but it gets rewritten to be more contemporary and speak to more people. Even the Lord’s Prayer — also known as the Our Father — does not make the cut because it creates an image of a God who intervenes in human existence. And then there is the “Father” part that is not inclusive language and carries with it the notion of an overbearing tyrant who condemns people to hell.
Again, I am reminded of the words of Reinhold Niebuhr when he described the creed of liberals : "A God without wrath brought man without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross."
And yet...this is the goal
“The feminist movement in Western culture is engaged in the slow execution of Christ and Yahweh. Yet very few of the women and men now working for sexual equality within Christianity and Judaism realize the extent of their heresy. It is likely that as we watch Christ and Yahweh tumble to the ground, we will completely outgrow the need for an external God. We, women are going to bring an end to God. We will change the world so much that He won’t fit in anymore.”- Naomi Goldenberg (feminist) - emphasis mine.
Moonshadow
And Bishop Spong wrote the Foreword. Um-hum.
“The church is extremely important because ..."
She's outta step: nobody wants the church; Just Give Me Jesus.
In many ways, I'm pleased that the Canadian church is different from the US church. This book, 'though, doesn't seem to be consistent with any of those pleasing differences.
Even the Lord’s Prayer — also known as the Our Father — does not make the cut because it creates an image of a God who intervenes in human existence.
Plenty of congregations do not pray the Lord's Prayer publicly, corporately, and I don't know why. Do you know why?
Can't they agree on the version? "Debts," "trespasses," "sins"?
Do they have trouble with the theology?
I happened to be reading aloud the Lord's Prayer from the NRSV at a Bible study a few years ago and when I read "And do not bring us to the time of trial" (Matt. 6:13 NRSV), the (Reformed) study leader stopped me short and challenged the translation. It's Metzger's edition, you know. But she rejected categorically the theology implicit in the translation of that verse.
Oh, well, sorry, this turned into a rant, venting my frustration that Christians can't get comfortable praying the prayer "that Jesus taught."