building brick walls

The Preamble: I've gotten lots of questions about the nature of Jesus recently in a response to the posts I've written. I guess I should say that this blog was never intended to be a theological blog in nature, nor was it intended to illuminate the mysteries of Christianity (as if I were an expert on them). Rather this blog was intended to talk about how to see the objective, universal, and empirically substantiated reality we all share and how to remove the obstacles of ideology that make it difficult for all of us to see its full scope. In my posts I often reference Jesus as an informant of my own research and worldview so I suppose it was inevitable that my audience (being in a part of the world that is particularly influenced by Christianized traditions and worldviews) would ask questions as to who Jesus is to me. I am also not as surprised by the full range of questions I've gotten because of the recent post "the gods must be angry". As Walt said - I expected to raise some "dander" with the idea I put forward.

The Case: It seems to me that at least some of my readers (through a lack of clarity on my part) took away from my original post that I was passing a theological judgment on the Christian church. I take responsibility for that mis-communication. In fact the argument and point I was trying to bring up in the original post was not theological at all, but historical, social, and analytical. Now, in all fairness to the reader, it is nearly impossible to discuss the historical, social, and analytical aspects of religious/moral history without touching on the theology that has become so dominant in our culture or without addressing the mindset or individuals that share in that theology. There were times in that original post where I did address "New Testament disciples of Jesus" in a modern context and confront - head-on - a concept of theological and moral tradition in America and the west. But, still, my intention was only to illuminate and enumerate the historically critical questions to both the "believer" and "non-believer" alike.

The comments and responses that followed required me to draw deeper into the "theological" and further from the "historical" as the line between "ideology" and "reality" got blurrier. As those separate conversations went on, readers began to raise questions about my "beliefs" on the nature of Jesus which I tried to answer in an objective, universal, and empirically substantiated fashion. As I've tried to make the point since the beginning of this blog - that is like trying to speak in two different languages. Eventually the two participants in a conversation begin to talk past one another instead of having dialogue because one or both are unable or unwilling to bridge the gap that causes the breakdown in communication.

If you've been reading the comments section of this blog you've been a first-hand witness to, what I believe, is the primary obstacle in communication between the "non-believer" and the "believer". My experience with the modern and western (i.e. American) manifestation of Christianity - especially the "evangelical" community - is that when it comes to "finding the Truth" the non-believer must start dancing to the music of the believer. In other words: if a non-believer or seeker wants to access the mystery of Christ, he has to start reading the church's talking points and adopt the church's worldview regardless of unresolved questions about reality. I say again, this is my experience but it is an experience I've been forming over the last dozen or so years from both sides of the fence (as a "preacher" and a "seeker"). If you believe that I've reached this conclusion erroneously then I encourage you to find someone that is "unchurched" (and there are some that read this blog that would be willing to tell you about their own experiences and perceptions, I'm sure) and ask them if what I'm saying is true. By all means, I encourage you to research this in your own environment and come to your own conclusions.

Rob Bell talks about a pattern that he has perceived in the evangelical church of building rigid theological walls (which he calls "Brickitanity") that require the seeker to "get it right" in order to "get right". In other words, these wall-building practices say to the non-believer and the seeker alike that they "have to accept truth on our terms or suffer damnation for all time." I have spent many many years of my life studying Jesus' teachings in the New Testament texts and, from my own analytical point of view, this kind of attitude runs contrary to the message and character of the Biblical Jesus. I have encountered many people in life that share a more rigid and traditional view of Christian doctrine and I'm sure that there's little, if anything, that I can say to change their minds. What I'm hoping to convey to the believer, the seeker, the non-believer, and the militant non-believer is that there are some people that are not interested in building more brick walls, or asking "outsiders" to jump through more hoops in order to get the benefits of Jesus' teachings and character. What I hope to convey is that everyone, regardless of what they "believe", is worth the time, energy, and investment of being on the recieving end of the "Divine Character": love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control (or "discipline" - thanks Jon!).

This blog will always attempt to approach the cosmic, universal, objective, and empirically substantiated reality by bridging the "language gap" and breaking down the rigid brick walls of dogma, because dialogue between the believer and non-believer is too important not to. If I believe I am supposed to approach that great reality of truth by pushing "further up and farther in", I must also follow my conviction to bring others with me regardless of the assumptions they've already come to in the course of living life. In that process I feel compelled to cast as wide an invitation as I can, to speak the language of those hoping to travel with me (whether "religious" or "secular"), and to remain open to questions of all kinds and on all topics... regardless of how uncomfortable the answers and conclusions may be. The needs of others to have their questions, unresolved frustrations, and painful life experiences heard, listened to, talked about, and worked through is more important than my "need" to recluse myself to a life of no questions, where all of my beliefs are handed to me in a neatly packaged, but critically immune, doctrine.

And I hope to always leave the light on.