{"id":724,"date":"2012-12-20T12:11:32","date_gmt":"2012-12-20T16:11:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=724"},"modified":"2012-12-20T12:11:32","modified_gmt":"2012-12-20T16:11:32","slug":"var-_gaq-_gaq-_gaq-push_setaccount-ua-25646250-2-_gaq-push_trackpageview-function-var-ga-document-createelementscript-ga-type-textjavascript-ga-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=724","title":{"rendered":"<script type=\"text\/javascript\">  var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-25646250-2']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);  (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text\/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https:\/\/ssl' : 'http:\/\/www') + '.google-analytics.com\/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();  <\/script>  <\/heat> Reflections on \u201cNot Knowing What to Say\u201d in the Face of Senseless Violence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">A Context for Not Knowing What to Say.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">As I prepare to share a group of maybe 15 persons reflecting on a dramatic story of the testing of Abraham told for thousands of years, I can\u2019t help but put our conversation into the larger perspective of our world and our universe.<span style=\"color: #333333;\">\u00a0 It\u2019s hard not to have been impacted by the unspeakable but yet real tragedy that occurred in Newtown.<\/span><span style=\"color: #333333;\">\u00a0 People everywhere had something to say, some attracted me and some repulsed me. <\/span><span style=\"color: #333333;\">\u00a0Our group struggled with not knowing what to say.<\/span><span style=\"color: #333333;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">This not knowing what to say came to the foreground for me just this morning.<span style=\"color: #333333;\">\u00a0 As I was going through my Google+ posts, there was one entitled, \u201cThe Hubble Ultra Deep Field in 3D [720p]\/ Ultrag\u0142\u0119bokie Pole Hubble&#8217;a w 3D<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201d which can be viewed at<\/span><\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qvjYcIPKA3s\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff; font-family: Calibri;\">http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qvjYcIPKA3s<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span>The hundreds of posts ranged all over but it didn\u2019t take long for someone to express they\u2019re being awed at the majesty of God which brought out all of those who asked why it was that the believers see God in the wonder of the universe but don\u2019t talk about their God when tsunamis, earthquakes, tornadoes, and yes events such as Newtown wreak havoc on innocent victims.<span style=\"color: #333333;\">\u00a0 Much of the conversations on either side really didn\u2019t impress me.<\/span><span style=\"color: #333333;\">\u00a0 I find it rare that a group of persons of different values and world views would take the time and discipline to discover what they already share in common and what precisely they disagree about in the concrete.<\/span><span style=\"color: #333333;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Most of us seem, in my opinion, to be more shaped by our culture yet don\u2019t seem to be aware that we are.<span style=\"color: #333333;\">\u00a0 To that extent we already know what someone is going to say . . .<\/span><span style=\"color: #333333;\">\u00a0 So we know what the liberal point of view is, the libertarian, the conservative, fundamentalist, atheist, etc., even though no one is only and all liberal, libertarian, conservative, fundamentalist, atheist, etc.<\/span><span style=\"color: #333333;\">\u00a0 Life is simply more complex that any vast over generalization which tends to lump all these cultural realities into undifferentiated wholes.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\"><b>A place to start.<\/b><span style=\"color: #333333;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">I think it is so obvious that nothing human is perfect, is beyond criticism, can\u2019t be improved on. If the previous sentence<span style=\"color: #333333;\">\u00a0 is true, then neither the government nor the country of the United States, the Roman Catholic Church or any religion, the worldview of liberals, conservatives, libertarians, fundamentalists, atheists; NRA or any organization, Knights of Columbus, Jews, the State of Israel, Muslims, etc., etc. etc.; nothing that we can talk about which is everything is beyond criticism.<\/span><span style=\"color: #333333;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">At the same time and this is the real rub, we do arrive at truth and truth has something of the absolute about it. <span style=\"color: #333333;\">\u00a0For example in its simplest form, concretely I will always have written this post; it\u2019s just a brute fact.<\/span><span style=\"color: #333333;\">\u00a0 And if you are reading this, you will always have read however much you will have read.<\/span><span style=\"color: #333333;\">\u00a0 Whether we would agree on what I meant and you understand is a further question, but it is a meaningless question if I didn\u2019t post and you didn\u2019t read.<\/span><span style=\"color: #333333;\">\u00a0 When truth becomes a weapon though, then I think the person using truth as a weapon has fallen short of truth\u2019s value which is be a light on the path, a guide in the journey.<\/span><span style=\"color: #333333;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">People of Faith.<span style=\"color: #333333;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">The title of the website is <span style=\"color: #333333;\"><b>Rise to the Level of our Times<\/b>, because I am terribly interested in being part of a movement to challenge people of faith to achieve an adult understanding of their faith; to come to grips with the fact that learning something when we are 2 or 12 or 22 can be understood more fully, can be corrected, might even have to be jettisoned when we are now 32 or 42 or 72.<\/span><span style=\"color: #333333;\">\u00a0 I believe that people of faith must learn to know what is of value and true in the secular world; the secular world cannot be all wrong nor is it all right.<\/span><span style=\"color: #333333;\">\u00a0 I believe that people of faith need to be critical of their faith; their world of faith cannot be all right nor can it be all wrong. As people of faith we have a biography as an individual and a history as a community.<\/span><span style=\"color: #333333;\">\u00a0 The search for meaning is in our individual biography and our communal history and true meaning is both redemptive and healing.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">I will post on the Testing of Abraham on another day but wanted first to just air some of my thoughts to invite others to comment, express their opinion, feel free to say whatever is on your mind because it is you and you matter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Your comments, observations, questions are welcomed. See \u201ccomment\u201d link below.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Context for Not Knowing What to Say. As I prepare to share a group of maybe 15 persons reflecting on a dramatic story of the testing of Abraham told for thousands of years, I can\u2019t help but put our &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=724\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=724"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":725,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724\/revisions\/725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}