What are your thoughts on Brian McLarin's quote from A new kind of Christianity:
"As we near the five hundredth anniversary of the day when Martin Luther came out of the closet, so that all would know what he had been thinking in secret, it is time, I propose to reinvigorate the dialogue by having many of us come out of our closets and admit we have been asking these and other important questions in secret. We must stop being ashamed of our questions, and we must stop pretending to be content with unsatisfying answers. Instead, we must let our questions and our fresh readings of Scripture become passageways out of the thought boxes and mental stages and cages that can confine us. We must let our questions be the picks and shovels of a Spirit-inspired jailbreak. Once free, we can launch an exodus and continue our adventure, our quest for truth in the wild, unmapped places, as the biblical story beckons us to do."
Doing so is scary. We don't want to betray our heritage. We don't want to prove unfaithful to the faith that has nourished our souls and formed the communities to which we belong. Yet we must realize what being faithful and true to our spiritual forebears really requires. It's not simply a matter of repeating again and again what Luther and the other Reformers said (or going back farther, what the scholastics or eremetics or patristics said). Rather, true fidelity means we must do what they did. Like them, out of love for the truth, we must dare to precipitate a change, to foment a kind of gentle and hopeful revolution, to give birth to a new generation of Christian faith. By transcending and including, we must now rise to a new zone on the spectrum- to turn the page and open a new chapter by vulnerable exposing our previously secret thoughts and by tenderly, reverently listening to one another as we do so."
I think we must not shy away from our questions even though this can be scary. I don't believe this is just about questions but about truly discovering what following Christ means in a practical and tangible way.
I would love to hear your thoughts (even if your not sure they make since;)
"As we near the five hundredth anniversary of the day when Martin Luther came out of the closet, so that all would know what he had been thinking in secret, it is time, I propose to reinvigorate the dialogue by having many of us come out of our closets and admit we have been asking these and other important questions in secret. We must stop being ashamed of our questions, and we must stop pretending to be content with unsatisfying answers. Instead, we must let our questions and our fresh readings of Scripture become passageways out of the thought boxes and mental stages and cages that can confine us. We must let our questions be the picks and shovels of a Spirit-inspired jailbreak. Once free, we can launch an exodus and continue our adventure, our quest for truth in the wild, unmapped places, as the biblical story beckons us to do."
Doing so is scary. We don't want to betray our heritage. We don't want to prove unfaithful to the faith that has nourished our souls and formed the communities to which we belong. Yet we must realize what being faithful and true to our spiritual forebears really requires. It's not simply a matter of repeating again and again what Luther and the other Reformers said (or going back farther, what the scholastics or eremetics or patristics said). Rather, true fidelity means we must do what they did. Like them, out of love for the truth, we must dare to precipitate a change, to foment a kind of gentle and hopeful revolution, to give birth to a new generation of Christian faith. By transcending and including, we must now rise to a new zone on the spectrum- to turn the page and open a new chapter by vulnerable exposing our previously secret thoughts and by tenderly, reverently listening to one another as we do so."
I think we must not shy away from our questions even though this can be scary. I don't believe this is just about questions but about truly discovering what following Christ means in a practical and tangible way.
I would love to hear your thoughts (even if your not sure they make since;)
I like the statement above; “Like them, out of love for the truth, we must dare to precipitate a change, to foment a kind of gentle and hopeful revolution, to give birth to a new generation of Christian faith.”
ReplyDeleteI think questions are important for growth. They lead to a better understanding of a subject. For instance, all great discoveries in Science have started with a question. Scientists are rarely satisfied with what their forerunners discovered. They continue to question and do research in order to improve upon it.
This could also hold true in our spiritual life. Questions are the test tubes in which new discoveries are found. Questioning what’s been taught for hundreds of years, is to say the least, unsettling though, but may be necessary for change. Change isn't always easy for me. I like the comfortable. But, discovering the truth is worth some sleepless nights, because it is the Truth that sets us free..... And, that’s a whole other topic.
Just what I'm thinking today, it could change tomorrow, next month or a few years from now.
I have found that for me just questioning and thinking can become safe places. I can hide behind questioning and thinking. The reality is when my actions and life begin to be formed by questions and thinking even though those concepts maybe only fragmented thoughts and poor question.
ReplyDeleteIt is truly a matter of trust.