Tuesday, July 11, 2006

What's in a Name?


The name of this blog may seem strange. I actually had in mind to make it a strict apologetical (reasons for believing) sort of site where I would research and report on various arguments for the Christian Theistic worldview. However, it has been hijacked by my personal life, and I honestly don't really feel that I want to get into that stuff right now, mostly because I seem to be at a bit of turning point as far as faith goes (it seems).

I have come to place where I really want to be real, and don't want to have to sift through piles of Christian doubespeak in order to find out who someone really is. I just graduated from Bible College, and throughly enjoyed that experience, as the school I went to wasn't a 'jam our theology down your throat' sort of place, and I learned quite a lot and became much more open minded after going through it (proof that God does work miracles). It has brought me to a bit of a crossroads, though. I'm not sure what faith is supposed to look like, or Church for that matter.

There are many things I want to blog about and talk about with friends, and whoever else finds themselves on this site. Credence is illogical in a lot of ways and I want to explore why.

So, for this first post regarding serious things, I would like to give some thoughts from a book I am currently reading, called Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller. I took a picture of the book today (because I like doing such things) and would love to hear any thoughts you have on these quotes.

"The very scary thing about religion, to me, is that people actually believe God is who they think He is. By that I mean they have Him all figured out, mapped out, and as my pastor says, "dissected and put into jars on a shelf." You've got a bunch of Catholics in Rome who think one way about God, and a bunch of Baptists in Texas who think another, and that isn't even the beginning. It goes on and on and on like this, and it makes me wonder if God created us in His image or if we created Him in ours."
I have more, but I'll probably leave them for another day, so as not to overdo it.

Just one more thought and this is something that I have been thinking about the most regarding spirituality and Christianity. So I'll just quote myself:

The biggest challenge to the veracity of Christianity is the fact that so many different people reading the same source material get such different ideas out of it. You would think if there were a mediator (the Holy Spirit), they would agree much more than they do.

4 comments:

NathanColquhoun said...

was a great book.
he's even better in person.
we've brought him in twice now and he's just such a great guy.

Anonymous said...

Sometimes I wonder how much of the "source material" Christians actually read. Especially if you already have a point of view, you most likely will find something to confirm what you believe.

My concept of the "Holy Spirit" interpretation is that God likes and understands diversity and if He really wanted us to all believe the same thing we probably would.

Christians actually agree on a lot of things generally. It is when you get into specifics that causes contention.

Anonymous said...

btw I posted the last one... stupid laptop trackpad.

-=- Whitey -=-

Anonymous said...

In response to your quote (at the risk of sounding too emergent movement) God's ultimate desire for us is to have a personnal relationship with us. To seek Him in all that we do regardless of the specifics of what we believe. Each of us need Him in different ways, some need Him as a guide, or protector, or disciplinarian, etc. The bottum line is we all need Him, and He is all things. Therefore the Holy Spirit reveals the same material in different ways to different people so as to be the God they need. If everyone believed the exact samething in all the details, you would then have a formula to follow for cookie cut people (which I think was part of your original complaint "jam it down your throat theology") rather than meeting God.
Example from my life: I have a buddy here that I disagree with on a lot of points. However we help keep each other from putting God in our own neat little box and becoming just what I want Him to be. And when I get off course at all he just reminds that it's all about seeking God's face anyway