So I am a Christian. What's your point?

       I am a Christian. It seems that because I identify myself as thus, there are preconceived notions and stereotypes that qualify me, as one of the masses, blinded by the repressive mores of an antiquated and oppressive myth. In present culture we are seen as a restrictive organization that does not allow liberty or fun. Rules that are designed to oppress the human will, structure that ties the hands of reason and intellectual progress. To the intellectual we are seen as un-intelligent conformists to an outdated and repressive system of beliefs… I have been called them all: heretic, hate monger, bigot, and misogynist.

 My goal in life is to help dispel this notion. I am here to say that I am a follower of Christ and I search for truth. I acknowledge my presupposition that I believe TRUTH and LIFE are in the hands of a loving creator God. Now in this statement I may have already lost some readers… So be it. But, for those who like me struggle with living life as a Christian I encourage you to walk this journey with me for a time. I am a thinking Christian… I am a Christian who believes in the value of ALL people. It does not matter what race, color, creed, or sexual orientation. I am not here to push my views on others or to assert specific dogmas. No, instead I am here to walk alongside those who struggle… To walk with those who search for truth. To walk with those who have come to a realization that there must be something more to this life.

            I have created this blog with the idea of having a platform to be a place where we are safe to ask the hard questions. I am willing to be honest to admit that I do not have the answers… But I seek TRUTH. In Christ Jesus I find that truth. This I qualify through 1 Corinthians 13:12: “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” I in my humanity am flawed. That being said we need to understand that possibly the biggest problem Christianity is that it is filled with flawed people. Yes every atrocity known to man has been, at one point or another, perpetuated by religion. I do not consider myself “religious” in the institutional form. Yes I am a believer in Christ, but I do not hold specific theological views or dogma’s simply because it is expected by a particular denomination. Instead I am a disciple of Christ.

I believe there is something higher and bigger then what this life has to offer. I also think it takes more faith to believe in random process that evolutionary biology entails, then in a benevolent creator God. I believe that the best proof of God is our ability as humans to think, reason, and use our minds. Values and morals to me prove the existence of a creator. But this is me simply again outlining my presuppositions. You have the freedom and right to disagree, but I hope it does not lead to you disengaging in conversation, simply because you may not hold my specific viewpoint.

            But please know this: I am not a heretic, a hate monger, bigot or misogynist. I am a Christian; a disciple of Christ. I am not perfect, I am flawed, but I am forgiven. So let us progress forwards.  Mathew 7:13-14 is the verse that inspired the name of this endeavor:

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

I try and live my life in such a way as to embody the love which scriptures teach. I seek to love the Lord with my everything and to love those who God puts in around my life as myself (Luke 10:27). I am truly trying to make a difference in this world. I am not oppressed by religious ideology; instead I find freedom in Christ. I am looking for an opportunity to engage in conversation in a world that is more and more openly opposed to Christianity and its adherents.

            I wish to share with you a few quotes from my most resent readings. D.A. Carson wrote in his book The Gaging of God:

individualism and personal choice in religion have largely displaced loyalty to denominational structures and to inherited doctrinal bastions. This makes it easier for individuals to be syncretistic, or, worse, confusedly pluralistic—i.e., people without strong doctrinal commitments may take on highly diverse and even incompatible ideas and fuse them in some way (syncretism), or they may take on highly diverse and even contradictory ideas without fusing them, simply letting them stand, unaware that the elementary demands of consistency are being violated. (pp.15-16)

There is so much confusion when it comes to what it means to be religious… Even more there is so much confusion to what it means to be a Christian. Add to this, the idea of “spirituality” which is gaining ever the more favor, and finding that narrow path becomes all the more difficult.

            The Last quote I wish to share with you is from St. John of the Cross, it reads:

Hence the wise people of God and the wise people of the world are foolish in the eyes of each other; one group cannot perceive the wisdom and knowledge of God, and the other cannot perceive the wisdom and knowledge of the world. The wisdom of the world is ignorance to the wisdom of God, and the wisdom of God is ignorance to the wisdom of the world. (Collected Works, Kindle Ed., Loc.10929-10931)

And here in lies the greatest difficulty. Our presuppositions do color our opinions and our beliefs on any subject. The wisdom of the world and the wisdom of the knowledge of God will always be at odds with each other. But I refuse to let this change the need for conversation Please join me in this journey.