I grew up in the LCMS and attended an LCMS private high school. During our cults and other religions class, our well respected teacher (among students and teachers) took up the banner against cultural darkness. Since this was the early 90s, D&D topped the danger list, but he lost my attention when he continued to spread the rumor that Anton LaVey sponsored Black Sabbath and appeared on their album artwork. I knew that not to be true. There has always been a subset of Christianity that pushed narratives into speculation and rumor. I never quite understood why. The Bible stands alone as testimony and nothing more is required to elevate the faith. There is no basis for antagonism.
I look forward to your future "non critiques" because it's a very difficult road to travel. The best I can discern is our efforts should simply be spent as the hands and feet of Jesus in service to the community.
Thank you, Brian! Yeah, the tightrope walk is one I feel all the time... I also really appreciate your point about the Bible's "solidness"; it's part of what lead me to realize that my faith *freed* me to explore all sources of wisdom, not defend my own from "outsiders."
That's another thing that feels worth exploring as part of this project: if so many people hold strong ideas about divine "sovereignty" and almightiness, why do those same people tend to be most insistent that God somehow needs defending...?
That's interesting about the defense because they may believe they're defending God when in actuality they're using God to defend America or politics or any number of other things. That might be some of what you're trying to tackle here.
Thanks for the mention Lyle!
Loved your book, dude! Lots of much-needed reminders.
I grew up in the LCMS and attended an LCMS private high school. During our cults and other religions class, our well respected teacher (among students and teachers) took up the banner against cultural darkness. Since this was the early 90s, D&D topped the danger list, but he lost my attention when he continued to spread the rumor that Anton LaVey sponsored Black Sabbath and appeared on their album artwork. I knew that not to be true. There has always been a subset of Christianity that pushed narratives into speculation and rumor. I never quite understood why. The Bible stands alone as testimony and nothing more is required to elevate the faith. There is no basis for antagonism.
I look forward to your future "non critiques" because it's a very difficult road to travel. The best I can discern is our efforts should simply be spent as the hands and feet of Jesus in service to the community.
Thank you, Brian! Yeah, the tightrope walk is one I feel all the time... I also really appreciate your point about the Bible's "solidness"; it's part of what lead me to realize that my faith *freed* me to explore all sources of wisdom, not defend my own from "outsiders."
That's another thing that feels worth exploring as part of this project: if so many people hold strong ideas about divine "sovereignty" and almightiness, why do those same people tend to be most insistent that God somehow needs defending...?
That's interesting about the defense because they may believe they're defending God when in actuality they're using God to defend America or politics or any number of other things. That might be some of what you're trying to tackle here.