I've been becoming increasingly aware of the weight that follows a person arround who has put themselves in the public eye. Now I understand that I'm not really in the public eye. I mean I've got what...? 32 followers at last count. I'm not exactly the new viral internet fad but people might read this. And the thing about a blog is that it's in writing so I can't exactly fudge my way out of it if I say something incredibly stupid. If somebody calls me on something that I "said" I could (1) deny it, (2) claim that they took what I said out of context and re-explain it, or (3) just walk away and hope they drop it. ;) You can't really do any of those when what you say is in writing. I mean I guess you could but it's in writing. What if I change my mind a year from now. Oops too late it's already been more or less published for people to read on the internet. And to be honest one of the big reasons that I haven't written recently is becuase I've been thinking a lot about issues that are very emotional and heated debates and I've been coming down on the side that I feel is the minority among many of my peers and I don't want to get emotional and write something that I'll regret later after offending a majority of my close friends. I'm rambling but it's because I've had a lot of ideas that I've wanted to get out but have decided to keep in. Part of that is because I'm still working through a lot of them and I'm not ready to firmly state my position or defend it. The interesting thing is that many of these ideas are probably politically incorrect even in my own personal social settings. I'm in a stage in life where I'm developing a lot of my thoughts about the world and really ironing out some interesting portions of my worldview and I've been coming to some conclusions that might set me apart from some of the people that I come in contact with most. Without going in to too much detail and either offending someone or opening up a can of worms that would best be left shut... I feel like I'm developing views of parenting, politics, marriage, women in ministry, parent child relationships, and evangelism that are very different and quite often contrary to the typical view held by most evangelical conservatives. Oh and I really really liked "The Shack" and would recomend it to anybody, christian or non-christian.
I guess I'll be a little more specific. I would consider myself an evangelical Christian and it's kindof unwritten that people who are evangelical christians typically believe certain things. For instance, and I really don't want to start arguments on these topics, Most evangelicals that I know are complementarian, republican, and believe that spanking your children is not only okay but necessary. I on the other hand am egalitarian, independant, and will probably never spank my daughter. These are just some of the issues that I'm developing opinions on that are contrary to what many or most of my peers, coworkers, and fellow christians seem to hold.
The point of this blog though is not to start debates over whether it's right to spank your children or have women as pastors in churches so if people comment with regard to those issues I'll be disapointed. The point of the article is this question: Is it okay for me to end up with different opinions than my mentors, parents, friends, or even my wife? How different is okay? We strive in our culture to be open minded and understanding of others beliefs but how far is too far? Now don't missunderstand me... I still believe in Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I still believe in the trinity, in the sacrificial atonement, etc. etc... but there are several non doctrinal beliefs where I've found myself on the otherside of the fence. What do you think?
I strongly think that having your own opinion is what makes you your own self. If you don't completely agree with someone then go find what you do think is true and talk about it with them. If everyone agreed and thought the same thing this world would be so boring. There are things that people should agree on and there are things that people should disagree and strongly disagree with as well. I may be rambling on a bit but i feel the need to emphasize this point.
ReplyDeleteThe question isn't whether you'll have positions that differ from others, even from others that you respect. The question is, on what do you base your positions? If you are egalitarian, can you thoughtfully and honestly defend that biblically? If you did the research biblically and came to the conclusion that spanking was a required element of parenting biblically, would you change your mind on the issue or is it emotional enough that you couldn't?
ReplyDeleteThat's where the rubber meets the road.