This is worth the watch

meh, listening to this guy makes me wonder how much he has actually read the Bible or if he had just studied religious doctrine/material. He did not use one scripture from the Bible to back up any of his claims. He seems pretty resentful of something; religion without relationship can do that to you for sure. 

He is right in his observation some religions do seek to control through fear. But not all. And I agree God is not a Christian or a Jew or a Muslim, or any other religion. 

Christianity is a choice. God never wanted anyone forced into it. I believe a Christian is someone who chooses to believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior; admitting they fall short of God’s perfect standard without Him & accepting the free gift of grace. BUT - it is a choice, no one is/should be forced to believe this. If someone becomes a Christian just to avoid hell, I think they missed the whole point.

I am a Christian and for me its not about a religion or religious doctrine, or being 'good'. It's about a relationship Jesus Christ. I did not start that relationship until I was in my late 20's and it has definitely impacted my life and everyone around me for the better. My relationship with Jesus & the Bible has not only helped me to grow to be a better person, but it has also given me a peace and a joy in my life, a contentment - no mater what is going on around me. 

John 3:16-17 says: "For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him."

Resentful? That's not at all what I heard :)

"Religion without relationship can do that to you for sure"  Can you say more about that?  Relationship with what/whom?

In my opinion- he seemed resentful of 'the church' & the Bible. I'm not sure - I do not know him personally, that is just how he came off to me.

I also do not know if he seemed resentful to me because he has "religion without relationship" that was just one possible explanation that popped in my head. I do not know this Bishop personally or what his relationship with God is or where his focus is. What we heard may not have even been in context.

Religion without a relationship is about where ones focus is (what is most important to them) and can happen when people are involved in 'church' just because they grew up in it,  because it was the 'right' thing to do, because it's what their spouse does, etc, etc... Or it can be when they get so caught up in religious doctrine/traditions that those doctrines/traditions become what is most important to them. They loose focus, get off track. It can just be from becoming stagnant in one's faith. Compare it to a marriage with no love, no friendship, no joy, just two people just existing resentfully bound together in name only. ***This is my observation and explanation- please know I am not a Bible scholar, clergy, or rocket scientist  :-)

By relationship, I am talking about a relationship with God & His Son Jesus.

It was not a fear of hell that drew me to God or Christianity and it certainly is not what has kept me there. It was & continues to be the realization of how much He loves me.

OK.

What I heard, and what connected with me, is that God is too "big" to be understood by humans.  That no book or religion (set of rules and beliefs) could begin to define God.  That the books and religions are human constructs, not God's constructs. 

To me, that sounds like a very good, healthy, deep understanding of God.

"God is too "big" to be understood by humans."   I agree with that somewhat.

We may never completely understand everything about God; however, I do think there are some things we can know and understand about God for certain.

"That no book or religion (set of rules and beliefs) could begin to define God."  I do not agree with this.  

The Bible, a book I believe to be divinely inspired by God, says:

"God is Love" 1 John 4:6;

"All powerful" Jeremiah 32:17,27;

"Unchangeable" Numbers 23:19,

"The Way, Truth & Life" John 14:6;

"Faithful and True" Revelation 19:11

There are many other scriptures that begin to define Him. Define Him completely? No. I believe He is way to complex for that. But begin to show us who He is, teach us His nature, His character? Sure.

How do you feel about the depiction of God in the Old Testament?  Do those scriptures also define him and were they also divinely inspired?

John Spong has merely created a god in the image of John Spong.

He criticizes other religions for claiming, falsely in his opinion, what God is, who God is, and what our relationship with God ought to be, and then goes on himself with seeming authority to define what God is, who God is, and what our relationship with God ought to be.

Of course, he provides no reasoning to back up his own claim to authority.

It's Spong's god who would keep us as children, asking nothing of us, and more interested in our self esteem then in our self discipline and  formation into adult persons. And his god would impose suffering on us for apparently no reason whatsoever. Truly a cruel god.

Spong's ramblings were discredited long ago.  Sadly, he's contributed to the development of dis-organized religion and humanistic spirituality, and we know that the only thing worse than organized religion is dis-organized religion and being spiritual but not religious.

(Hope everyone is doing well... )

Discredited by whom?  Another human?  A religion?  The Catholic Church?  That would be rich.

"The only thing worse than organized religion is dis-organized religion and being spiritual but not religious"  It would be hard for me to disagree more strongly with a statement than I do with this one.

Yeah, another human. Several. Relying on centuries of serious insight by other humans. All of whom have more rational theological explanations to back them up than does Spong.

Reason in theology leads to organized religion.
Feelings in theology leads to dis-organized religion.

Being spiritual but not religious leads to feeling good about one's notion of God
without the moral responsibility that comes from that relationship.

When the person who is "spiritual" but not "religious" then starts to feel bad about their understanding of God for some reason,
they simply change their understanding of what/who/why God is.

They make God in their own image. 

Then they fell good about themselves again.
Feeling good about oneself is the most important value in the spiritual-but-not-religious equation. 

A lot of atheists use reason to define their theological argument.  Just because you don't agree with it, doesn't make your theological argument "more rational".

These are beliefs.  There is nothing proven about God. You can't, therefore, argue that one's beliefs are more rational than another's.  Well, I guess you could argue it, but doesn't it sound extremely arrogant and judgmental? 

I also think it's incredibly arrogant for anyone to state what "is the most important value in the spiritual-but-not-religious equation"?  How could any one person be able to state what is the "most important value" in another person's--let alone a group of people as broad as spiritual-but-not-religious--belief system?

Wow.  Are these Christian values at work?

Yeah, these are Christian values at work.

Jesus never said, "Blessed are the tolerant". Tolerance isn't a virtue.

If you love someone, then you're willing to speak the truth to them. Love is a Christian virtue.
It's willing the good of another for their own end and then doing something about it. 
Sometimes that pi$$es people off. 

Spong self identifies as a Christian, to my knowledge. So my appealing to rational theology is within the Christian sphere where he's concerned.  He can't back up his claims within that sphere. He's made up his own god.  He claims the authority unto himself simply because he assumes he has it.

Spong's theology is a form of spiritual narcissism.

Everyone on this planet who claims to believe in God has "made up" their own God.  No one has authority.  Think about the absurdity of claiming to have "authority" on God.  He certainly isn't claiming authority in this video, but he is certainly challenging it.

Then you go and appeal to Aquinas regarding reason, one of the Doctors of the Church?

Yes, he is claiming authority.

He's saying, "they're wrong". and then saying, "this is the way it really is". (paraphrasing)

First he needs to show how he gets the authority to make such a claim.

Yes, faith and reason compliment each other. Reason informs faith and faith illuminates reason.

Feelings do not equal faith. That's a misunderstanding of what faith is.