Monday: Things I Learned...

Great, thought-provoking comments by CT below. With apologies to Steak of 790 the Zone, here are some things I learned...

Notable lessons from my youth.


Assertion: Some men are better than others. Your goal should be to be like those men.

Observed: Those men are not as good as they want us to believe. Who are the good men? Where are they? Each time I get close, I get disappointed.

Years later: All men need accountability because without it, he will do the wrong thing. Apart from God, there is no good in us.

Be on the alert: When you encounter those who have a system of ranking men based on works. These are the kind that will surprise you with their faults, and shock you with their ferocity.

Assertion 2: The secularist will point to negotiables. Our faith teaches absolute truths.

Observed: There is a lot more gray in this world than I was told. Good guys aren't always good and bad guys aren't always so bad. What of absolute doctrinal truth?

Years Later: Absolute is alive and well! Whew! Now if only I can figure out exactly what that is.

Be on the alert: in the church for those who teach an absolute truth beyond the Biblical truth. Chances are, they merely want to see a world that looks and thinks like they do. And be on the alert in and outside the church for those who teach truths are non-existent.

Assertion 3: Unity is essential to agency (church) success.

Observed: Unity is a front that, when taken to an extreme, masks deep anxiety and fear. There is no real unity, only different leadership styles presenting different pictures of a false unity.

Years later: There is great unity in Christ and great theological and missional unity in the church. These need to be celebrated. Our differences serve to magnify that unity, and to challenge us to be gracious and thinking people. Remember there are great men of God today and throughout history who have disagreed on some secondary and tertiary theological problems.

Be on the alert: for those who insist upon unity on the non-essentials. Distance yourself from those who insist on unity on the extra-Biblical. And run like hell from those leaders who believe and insist upon a unity that does not exist. It will not end well. Shed light on those who bring dissension and thrive on it, but very carefully and graciously. The best guess is, they either don't realize what they're doing or they need to see Christ's love modeled in the worst way.