I’ve been writing meditations based on Bible passages for many years, but I’m sensing that I need to do something different now. What I intend to do on this blog site is talk about what I believe, why I believe it, and why I have dismissed a swirling tempest of others’ questionable beliefs I have heard or been taught over the years. To be blunt, I need to shed damaged and harmful heresies and confront the temptations that feed these falsehoods, so that the truth can grow more easily in me. My intent is not to give you carefully crafted instruction – there are many others who do that beautifully – but instead be open with my thoughts, questions, and doubts, so that we might walk together as we work out our faith.
There are many social media accounts discussing “deconstruction,” and I feel it is important to encourage anyone who is sharing their faith journeys, particularly those trying to shed damage they feel in their lives by hurtful instruction. I don’t consider myself a “deconstructionist” because I haven’t experienced the kind of faith-shattering shock and ugly break-up with the church that has led others to deconstruct their faith. However, I’ve been a long-time cynic of weak, compromising study materials that maintain convenient beliefs at the expense of what God has called us to do. I’ve been blessed with a strong cynical nature, and while this has gotten me in trouble with others many times, my cynicism has served me well in clarifying foolish thoughts and pushing back against wayward beliefs and harmful practices. If that makes me a “deconstructionist” to you, I’ll wear that label.
On this site, I’m focusing on what I choose to believe. Let me be clear on this point: I have no objections to people believing differently than I do. As complicated as each individual person is, I would be foolish to think we can all be shoved into the same doctrinal mold. Of even greater significance to me is how insulting we are to our infinitely gigantic Creator to think that all of us observe God in the same way. When we consider what Jesus did and taught us to do, we realize the urgency is not in what we believe, but what we do with our beliefs. They’ll know we are followers of God by how we walk in our beliefs.
So, thank you for hanging around all the way to the end of my introductory post, and thank you for joining me on our faith walk!
JM