pre-post, class date: 10/19/11; written date: 10/18/11

Humanity has been created in the image and likeness of God; therefore, human rule on the earth ought to resemble God's rule over creation.

... called to caring and stewardship over nature..

All arguments along the lines of these two excerpts are easily accepted without too much thought or concern. It's moving into the eschatology that required, at least on my behalf, much mind-boggling concentration and prayer. To be honest, as I was reading "Apocalyptic Sustainability" I was more so concerned with the state of my mind and heart- i.e. my beliefs and establishing them in a healthy, sound manner- than I was on the ecological aspect of the writings. Furthermore, not so much that what Waddell was saying was new or unsettling to me- I have been thinking about them for a while and essentially fully agree- but I felt (feel) as though I needed (need) to fully comprehend what I was reading in order to be sound within my own beliefs, or in other words, prepared to offer a sound explanation on them.

So, what I'm trying to say here is that I spent my time sincerely ingesting this material, digging into it, praying for an open and understanding mind in order to expand my knowledge and hence establishing my beliefs. This, in turn, was at times seemingly overwhelming and had me inwardly begging to throw myself at the foot of Waddell himself and have him re-explain every single thing I ever thought I knew- or, more likely, never fully learned- regarding what I believe or don't.