[Oe List ...] The Zombie thing

[Bill Schlesinger]

Of course!  

 

Bill Schlesinger
Project Vida
3607 Rivera Ave
El Paso, TX 79905
(915) 533-7057 x 207
(915) 490-6148 mobile
(915) 533-7158 fax
bschlesinger.pv at tachc.org
www.projectvidaelpaso.org

 

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From: oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net [mailto:oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On Behalf
Of Herman Greene
Sent: Friday, October 23, 2009 5:54 AM
To: 'Order Ecumenical Community'
Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] The Zombie thing

 

I find great comfort and delight in two pretty Calvinist beliefs - total
depravity and unconditional [predestined] election. 

 

Are you totally depraved?

 

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From: oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net [mailto:oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On Behalf
Of Bill Schlesinger
Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2009 10:33 PM
To: 'Order Ecumenical Community'
Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] The Zombie thing

 

So you're a zombie walking these days? <g>

 

Bill Schlesinger
Project Vida
3607 Rivera Ave
El Paso, TX 79905
(915) 533-7057 x 207
(915) 490-6148 mobile
(915) 533-7158 fax
bschlesinger.pv at tachc.org
www.projectvidaelpaso.org

 

  _____  

From: oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net [mailto:oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On Behalf
Of Herman Greene
Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2009 8:14 PM
To: 'Order Ecumenical Community'
Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] The Zombie thing

 

So much for the wisdom of Calvin.

 

Herman

 

  _____  

From: oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net [mailto:oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On Behalf
Of Bill Schlesinger
Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2009 10:14 PM
To: 'Order Ecumenical Community'
Subject: [Oe List ...] The Zombie thing

 

'My, hopefully, ever evolving digestion of what we did for and to people's
lives is best reflected in the almost cultic fear, that was helped by JWM,
that once you were in community you could not back out without becoming a
zombie.'

 

A personal memory:  As a young seminarian in the West side EI world, I was
amazed by the tools and perceptions available to me.  I stopped JWM and
asked, "Should I stay here or should I take these into the local church?"
He stopped and looked at me, and said, "There are only two ways to live.
Either you're in the order or out of the order.  If you're in the order,
there's only one thing you have to do - obey God.  If you're out of the
order, there's only one thing you have to do - Obey God.  Obey God."  Then
he walked on.  

 

My sense of the walls closing in - and my willingness to leave in the middle
of the night as a result - ended as the conscious rejection of the only
group of folk who came close to being an ideal for me.  I couldn't take the
brokenness underneath the rhetoric.  I find great comfort and delight in two
pretty Calvinist beliefs - total depravity and unconditional election.
We're all screwed up folk - all of us.  And being screwed up doesn't
interfere with all of us being called to compassion, responsibility, and
being the beloved ones we are.

 

There's another Calvinist doctrine - perseverance of the saints.  It says
basically that once you're awake you can never become a zombie again.  You
can look like one, act like one, hurt yourself and others as though you were
one.  But you can't be one.

 

FWIW

 

 

Bill Schlesinger
Project Vida
3607 Rivera Ave
El Paso, TX 79905
(915) 533-7057 x 207
(915) 490-6148 mobile
(915) 533-7158 fax
bschlesinger.pv at tachc.org
www.projectvidaelpaso.org

 

 

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