In the discussion with Jeremy on matters of Christian doctrine… why was it important to me to hammer out things for the sake of those readers who are unbelievers?
I guess that is my particular emphasis when interacting on the internet. There are much larger numbers proportionally of those who have issues with Christians than there are Christians online in my experience. At least in mixed companies. Maybe Christians often carry over their tendency to group together. I have avoided those venues.
I also feel that for more mature Christians I am not in a position of teacher…. I serve as a stimulus to think a little more, the way I receive from their posts. The Holy Spirit is each Christians teacher, and I am not indispensable in the capacity of straightening out doctrine.
Plus, it is not my favorite thing to do. But on the other hand, I do believe that our understanding of certain issues is critical. And this extends into the unbelieving community in seeking for answers on how to deal with ethical difficulties.
And maybe I just can’t erase from my mind the many alienated young -former- Christians who I have come across in the interactive parts of the web. So often they were not given an open forum on discussing doctrine, or in asking questions and seeking the goal of making sure what they were asked to believe in was cohesive and true to how ‘things are’.
So I suppose I have an agenda. I surely have some basic premises that what we believe will inform how we behave. I mean what we really believe.
I started thinking about how odd my statement was about unbelievers asking the hard questions and expecting answers. It didn’t seem to jive with the context of discussing a sermon directed to Christians. But then, aren’t we supposed to be ready in all seasons with an answer of why Christ is the answer, the Salvation of the world?
And then there is the plain fact that some of the most important and steadfast conclusions I have had were sometimes forged in the fires of controversy. Sometimes it galvanized me, and sometimes it completely turned me around in my thinking.
It seems to me that our view on how we work with and within our government is going to become extremely important in the near future. It has been vitally important, but we had alot of leeway in the riches of freedom and circumstance. I feel that this is something we have been losing, and that what we make of what is left is going to have a huge impact.
I don’t’ know why, but I felt I wanted to record these thoughts.