Katherine passed along to me an article yesterday where the author walked her audience through her own enlightenment regarding how she views God. Most of it was centered around her realization that a lot of words she heard/used and concepts that inherently exist in Christian circles either have no meaning anymore - or the meaning is so twisted that the reality of the statements are lost.
This led me to apply the same thoughts to concepts, words and people that I encounter on a daily basis. If you read my post yesterday you probably got the understanding that I am currently in the process of developing my thoughts on a lot of issues. Sometimes in an attempt to test new (to me) concepts, I will post on Twitter or Facebook to see how these ideas are received and handled. This series of experiments has been baffling.
I have consistently found that people generally brand themselves with a series of a dozen or so phrases/ideas and ruthlessly defend those positions - regardless of whether the things they are defending don't really mean what they think they mean - or if the meaning has shifted over time, distorting it from the original concept to which they held.
In an attempt to be ever self-evaluating and self-critiquing, I find these encounters painful. And it isn't limited to one facet of life. Rather than produce examples - I implore you to join me in self-evaluation. Be willing to accept that some words no longer represent the ideas you originally found so attractive. Be willing to realize that some of your personal heros have dropped the ball and now require a caveat before praising them.
If we are truly pursuing a society that speaks honestly and debates intelligently - we must throw off the comfortable laziness of static thought.
Grace and peace.
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