To say that something “only” has a placebo effect does not have to be seen as a criticism. In fact, the placebo effect is proof that we can heal ourselves. But just as our minds can help us to be healthy, even to control pain, our minds can similarly make us sick, even to hasten our death.
A progressive spiritual life is a life of prayer, not to lay supplications before a supernatural theistic person, as if God were some sort of Santa Claus, but recognizing that prayer allows us to courageously face reality, and enter our present in a way that changes our future. To paraphrase a commentator on Voltaire’s Candid, life is, in many ways, a shipwreck, but we can powerfully choose to sing in the lifeboats.
These progressive sermons are available as podcasts at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/progressive-faith-sermons/id419225485
Dr. Roger L. Ray
pastor, The Emerging Church
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