It's Ok to Question

I don’t plan on persuading too many people. My audience is insignificant, at best. In addition, I don’t say things that make people feel great. I say things that are divisive. It’s not my agenda. But, It is the result. I like to think that I look at things critically and logically, with a full measure of my faith as the foundation. But, when I do this, it causes me great discomfort. I find myself questioning things that I always thought, simply were. I find myself asking, “ Why do I do this?” The answer is often, “Because I always have.” To me, that isn’t enough. I need more than that. The world needs more than that. “Churchies” certainly need more than that. I am tired of hearing people say things that are loosely or not at all tied to Scripture, all the while proclaiming those things to be “known truths.” Baptists call themselves people of “The Book.” Yet, a lot of what they say is stuff that has been concocted in the narrow pericope of incest-derived truth. This is what I call truth that comes through groupthink and brainwashing. I know this won’t sit well. But, think about it before you jump to emotional conclusions. Are you upset at what I said or how I said it? Break it down into a logical and thoughtful process of critical study. It doesn’t mean that you cease to be a Christian when you ask questions. It means you desire truth in the inmost parts of your being. It means that you want to be like Christ in the way the He was. You want to love people without condemnation or speculation. Remember, Jesus questioned almost everything about the Pharisees. How did that turn out for Him? We are good at learning verses, applying them narrowly, and casting a shadow on what we don’t understand. This gives rise to not loving people well. We are never called to be the judges of those around us. We are sometimes called to check others, whom we know and in which we are invested, when they are going down wrong paths. But even this is to be done with love. Read 2 Timothy 2:23-26. But, don’t read it from your typical point of presumption. This is about not getting tangled up in groupthink. This is about loving people where they are. The correction is not the main point. The end result of them seeing the truth as God reveals it to them is the main point. We have traded in loving people to understanding for chastising them to believe immediately what we say is right. Just look at the life of Jesus. He called people like us, the Churchies – known then as the Pharisees, “vipers” and “white-washed tombs.” He loved on the sinners. He ate with them when He had other options; take Zaccheus as an example. He was called a drunkard because He was always with those folks. He was accused of hanging with sinners. That is because He did. He called things as they were. We call things as we would like them to be. Again, I don’t expect you to like me. I don’t expect you to agree with me. This has been a long journey for me. It has taken years, years of my own successes and failures. The successes have been great. But, the failures have been what have made me more like Jesus. It is in my pain that I have been forced to see things as they truly are. I have a tough skin on my back. But, my heart has remained tender simply because God has shown me how to preserve and guard it. Even then, I don’t always do that. But, I am just like the pot-smoker, KFC eater, alcoholic, whore, homosexual, heroin user, liar, cheater, gossip in church, shit-kicker in church (always causing a problem), speeder, thief, the glutton, the self-righteous churchie, and the like. The difference is that I admit it. And, I accept the Grace that God has given me in abundant measure. You don’t want me to speak in your churches. You may not want to hang out with me. That is fine. I don’t get my solace and strength from you. I gain my strength and courage from a well that is never dry. It will sustain me through anything. I don’t need your accolades and your approval. I know who I am. It is both good and bad. I war against that everyday. I am a broken down, helpless, and needy man. It is so convenient that God loves me that way, because, I don’t know how else to be.