The cross reveals that we're called to a deeper, fuller experience of what it means to be alive and open to new dimensions of life which our religious boundaries - creeds, atonement theologies - have kept us from experiencing.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that religious boundaries can limit our understanding of life's fullness and teach us to explore deeper experiences.
John Shelby Spong emphasizes that the cross symbolizes a calling for individuals to seek a more profound and enriched experience of life, transcending the restrictions posed by conventional religious doctrines. He argues that dogmas and creeds can hinder us from fully embracing the dimensions of existence that lie beyond these boundaries, encouraging a broader exploration of spirituality that allows for personal growth and deeper connections with life.
In practice
A speaker at a religious conference could use this quote to encourage attendees to explore their faith more deeply.
When I grew up in the South, I was taught that segregation was the will of God, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. I was taught that women were by nature in inferior to men, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. I was taught that it was okay to hate other religions, and especially the Jews, and the Bible was quoted to prove it.
The church is like a swimming pool. Most of the noise comes from the shallow end.
Christianity is not about the divine becoming human so much as it is about the human becoming divine. That is a paradigm shift of the first order.
I would like the church to be a place where the questions of people are honored rather than a place where we have all the answers. The church has to get out of propaganda. The future will involve us in more interfaith dialogue. ... We cannot say we have the only truth.
It appears to be in the nature of religion itself to be prejudiced against those who are different.
When the dust settles and the pages of history are written, it will not be the angry defenders of intolerance who have made the difference. The reward will go to those who dared to step outside the safety of their privacy in order to expose and rout the prevailing prejudices.
Laugh as much as you choose, but you will not laugh me out of my opinion.
It's undeniable that what we are taught as a culture to believe about disability is at odds with traditional notions of masculinity.
When we struggle for human rights, for freedom, for dignity, when we feel that it is a ministry of the church to concern itself for those who are hungry, for those who have no schools, for those who are deprived, we are not departing from God's promise. He comes to free us from sin, and the church knows that sin's consequences are all such injustices and abuses. The church knows it is saving the world when it undertakes to speak also of such things.
I'm a study of a man in chaos in search of frenzy.
Duty and dereliction guide thee back to solitude.
America is said to have the highest per capita boredom of any spot on earth! We know that because we have the greatest number of artificial amusements of any country. People have become so empty that they can't even entertain themselves. They have to pay other people to amuse them, to make then laugh, to try to make them feel warm and happy and comfortable for a few minutes, to try to lose that awful, frightening, hollow feeling-that terrible, dreaded feeling of being lost and alone.
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