What's The Point?

I've been blogging off and on for about 11 months now. I started out anonymously, not telling anyone I knew that I had entered in to the online fray. My purpose at that time was a little nebulous. I was going through a lot of change and I wanted the chance to talk through some of that change and the wacky ideas that were going through my head. I wanted a place where I was forced to articulate things that could stay vague and non-committal in my mind. Over time that purpose has evolved a little bit. Even though I never made a point to pimp my blog, little by little people that knew me began to find it and even though I still have a very small audience by blogger standards, not a day goes by that I don't have 20-30 people reading my thoughts in one manifestation or another.

As that has happened and as I have become more bold in sharing the thoughts going through my head I have begun to get responses from people over the things I've written. And the responses I get have been an encouragement and in a lot of way nothing short of amazing to me. I am continually taken aback not so much that people make a point to tell me that they enjoy reading my blog but of the diverse group of people who enjoy reading it. A few months back I wrote a post that was critical of the dispensational view of eschatology (end times) and how I believed it was negatively impacting the Kingdom of Christ because of the view's unhealthy infatuation with the destruction of the world and the "get out of tribulation free" card that came with it. A friend of mine responded at one of several places that I posted the blog. When I got the automatically generated e-mail telling me he had posted a comment I was a little freaked. You see, I think he would describe himself as a dispensationalist and I was terrified that he would be hurt by my comments. I was so freaked out that I waited two days to read his comment because it took that long just to build up the courage. Being the wise and godly man that he is, rather than feeling a personal attack had come from me, he acknowledged the weaknesses of many who hold that position and mourned the affects right along with me.

I was floored. I guess I just got so used to existing in such a close-minded, "I'm right" mentality that I figured everyone I had left behind when I walked away from ministry would be there too. Obviously I was wrong. As I've reconnected with friends I haven't seen lately I am encouraged to know that many people are incredibly sincere in their desire to work out their faith with fear and trembling. They aren't threatened by strange and absurd ideas because their heart's desire is to be more like Christ and to live the way of Christ out more fully to those around them.

And that brings me to my purpose. I'm not trying to sway anyone's thinking or convince anyone of anything. I've heard some think that to be my goal. Perhaps it comes across that way sometimes because my personality is such that I speak with passion and conviction in whatever I say but that's not what I'm going for. I have at least 10 times as many questions as I do answers and every conversation I have teaches me something new. I want to dialog because that is the way I learn. And that is the purpose of this blog. I want to re-evaluate and re-examine those things which we often take for granted. I want us to do all that we can to look at the truth of Christ as it is presented in Scripture and in the world around us and try our best to remove our biases and pre-conceived ideas. I want us to talk things out. I want to hear theories and beliefs and experiences that will help us to accomplish those things.

So please, don't feel threatened by my blog. Don't believe for one minute that I'm attempting to convert you to anything. Your thoughts carry at least equal weight with mine. If you have a position, share it. If my thoughts seem uncomfortable and foreign to you, at least let them roll through your mind. Examine them from all angles and share the things that come to you during the process. In that we will all grow and become more like the one we follow.

I saw a quote today that gives great insight into something I think that those of us in the Church could stand to learn. Aristotle said, "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." The work of the Christian is the work of interpretation. In order to do that we must be able to think through things and wrestle through things. We should be able to share our questions and our thoughts without fear of being branded a heretic or of being slapped with some simplistic label that carries a stigma, such as liberal or anti-God or non-inerrantist. Let us be the Church to one another and spur one another on rather that drawing battle lines and hurling insults and accusations at each other. For any time that I've done this to anyone, I sincerely apologize. If I question you it's not because I want to diminish your position, it's because I want to hear the wrestling through experiences that have brought you to your position. I want to know why you believe as much as I want to know what you believe. Let us commit to dropping the pretense and to sharing our lives with one another so that we might better demonstrate the love of Christ to a world in desperate need. If that's what your interested in then let's make this a place where that can happen.