I am finding that many things I was taught were dangerously one-sided and served to uncritically reinforce the views I was given. But when I add additional history to my understanding, I am forced to pull back from many conclusions and doctrines and political understandings.
Perhaps the truest test of a relationship is what happens when one of the people changes. It’s also the best chance to learn and grow.
Deconstruction is causing a sharp reaction in church circles. It’s as if faith has become a form of works. It’s paradoxical that not being unquestioningly faithful to what we were taught reveals a works-like tendency, among those who otherwise believe in justification by faith and not works. In those circles, apparently one must be “faithful enough” to remain saved.
I’ve read a lot of books in the last couple of years. Here’s my personal reading list, and I believe that each of these would be valuable to you, for varying reasons.
It’s long intrigued me that many doctrinal positions are not universally held, and I started thinking about why we lock to hard into clearly debatable positions. I think humans tend to latch onto an idea that comforts us, and then we build walls of doctrine around that idea. Let’s explore that tendency.
If God is in control, then maybe I should stop trying to get out of a situation, and instead ask Him what He wants me to get out of it.
I’ve discovered that once you kick out some cinderblocks from a faulty foundation, many other previously-stable things tend to be disrupted as well. And maybe that’s not a bad thing.
The wilderness can seem deeply uncomfortable – but it’s also a womb, a place of preparation and growth, bringing about what the Lord intends for us.
For 45 years I’ve been taught some version of “Hebrews 10:25 says don’t skip Sunday church services.” I’m certainly not the first to exegete Hebrews 10:25, and I won’t be the last, and I don’t claim this is definitive, but I have some observations. In context, Hebrews 10 says “23Let us hold fast the confession …
“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.“ – Mark Twain? I have a very long history with a certain mode of sociopolitical thinking. Nearly everything in my upbringing viewed the world that way. All the data that informed my thinking was …
