Free to Think?

I want to write this post with some caution, but also with some freedom. Often times we fear the opinions of others. This can be good at times, actually healthy. Fear of our peers and mentors helps us develop wisdom in decision making, helps us understand the value of community and also as the great Proverbist states “in an abundance of counselors there is safety“.

However, other times counselors can be bad. Lets take for example the counsel of the world being flat. Or times where certain technological advances would have been stifled. There are so many I can’t name here, but there would have been no Bill Gates, no Steven Jobs, no Bob Johnson, Michael Jordan, Frederick Douglas, Martin Luther King, Martin Luther or others if they had listened to the “counselors” of their day. Those who whispered in their ear what they thought was sound wisdom. Many counselors can be good or they can be bad, sometimes our inner witness can be our most valuable counselor.

With that introduction I want to blog about freedom, especially the freedom to think and question long held traditions, presuppositions, “truths” and “fallacies”, especially in relation to this thing we call “faith” and even more particularly the Christian Faith and its dogma.

Because of certain theological presuppositions we as Christians in America are threatened by questions. Questions from the outside and even more importantly from the inside. We are taught at an early age not to ask certain questions because “it is just the way it is” and that is often the final answer. Yet many of us start off with this unquenchable inquiry and as we “mature” we are taught to sit back as passive puppies waiting to be fed by its master. Many of our questions are never answered and we quench the inner witness that I believe God has placed in us for peace sake. I was/am guilty of that in my own life. It is much easier to accept the status quo, it is much safer to lean on the dogma/opinions of others because we dont’ want to upset theology gods.

Its funny because every time these questions would begin to burn inside of me I would extinguish them with the pet answers I had received before. You see since it was old truth (chronologically) and a vast majority had accepted it (American/Western Evangelicalism) then who am I to raise such questions? The church had already made a decision about these things and for me to question it would be to “question 2000 years of church history” as I have been told over and over again.

The only logical answer is that these inquiries have to be from Satan. Because again as I have also been told “some things we won’t find out until eternity”, right? But the questions never stopped, it was like dealing with hunger pains by not going in the kitchen. It wasn’t that I was questioning God in a threatening way (as if you can threaten God anyway), but more like a child who is no beginning to learn language and and brain is in the process of developing along the path of life.

I was also afraid to even acknowledge such questions, first by answering the questions of others with the pet answers I had received. Secondly by not wanting to cause discomfort, especially as you are moving into church leadership. These answers have to be solved before you can lead others right? At least the “foundational” stuff right? Well I don’t know. But what I do know is that the questions remain and I am no longer afraid of the opinions of others, not that I reject those opinions, and even more importantly I even respect such opinions and strong convictions. However, I am no longer threatened by such opinions because if our relationship is predicated on something other than value I have by my sheer humanity what we have is bogus (slang) anyway.

As of recently I have asked questions about things such as the canon of scripture, inspiration, revelation, ethics, violence in scripture, open theism and other such “truths”. Though I have spoke in a way that says I have answers, I am not sure I do, however, I do have opinions and these opinions may change. I no longer hold the interpretations of others as dear to my heart, I do accept these perspectives, I do read these perspectives; however, these perspectives are held as the perspectives of men, not answers from God. So men like Luther, Calvin, Zwigili, Edwards, Owens and others are mere men, who have come to certain conclusions based off of their inner witness and I too must evaluate their perspectives in light of my own experience and witness. Just because someone has written a book and is widely respected doesn’t make them right. Just because someone has written a very old book and has been enshrined doesn’t make them right. Just because someone has an extensive background in a certain area (especially matters of philosophy/social science/religion) doesn’t make them right. Because we are God’s children we have the right and I would argue the responsibility to evaluate “truth” and to determine does it stand the scrutiny of our own souls. It doesn’t mean we have to cast out all that is shared, but we do have to understand that people don’t come to such conclusions in a vacuum, they have experiences, influences, presuppositions and an environment. In other words they are not void of the same limitations and blind spots that the rest of humanity are limited and blinded by. Regardless of who they are.

My next post will deal with inspiration a little more closely, from my own perspective. I am not saying I am right, heck I don’t even know if I will hold to the opinion that I will right about in a week. But I do know I have some questions. And I am not afraid to deal with these openly. I honestly think we devalue our own selfworth sometimes. We become the opinions of others so much that we lose our own identity and that my friend is a travesty of epic poportions. I look forward to dialoging with anyone who still will engage. God bless.