This topic contains 11 replies, has 8 voices, and was last updated by 
David Hayward 1 year, 5 months ago.
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Since my early christian days I discovered I had the “debate bug” and things like evangelism and apologetics were seemingly legitimate avenues for the outlet of that. Even when I lost the mentality that anyone needed to be “saved” and that any saving that needed to be done was done by Jesus already, I still felt this passion to try and change peoples mind to whatever I deemed to be truth. There has been an ebb and flow to how much energy I’ve put into apologetics over the years and again it has followed me all the way out of christianity. It’s a struggle because a part of me wants to leave well enough alone and let people believe whatever it is they want to and another part wants to provide information and ideas that I only wish I had known about once upon a time. There is probably even a third part of me that just enjoys the friendly (or not) exchange of ideas and being able to contrast them to see how well they hold up against one another for the sake of finding truth. I suppose those are all legitimate things to an extent but I continuously don’t know why I try, especially with those hellbent on shutting out any opinion other than their own and those they deem “in the know”. I wrote this a little paragraph tonight though and in a way I feel that it helps me let go of that struggle to try and “awaken” people that are content where they are in their beliefs, or clearly aren’t but yet aren’t ready to entertain any other beliefs either and are just stuck in a limbo of cognitive dissonance. It’s helped me to realize that I don’t have the keys to anyone’s spiritual liberation or even necessarily my own. It’s not very profound or anything but perhaps it will help you as it did me just now:
“No matter where someone is at in their beliefs, they are there for a reason and a season. It’s where they need to be until they are ready to take a step deeper into that which is the eternal consciousness. All efforts to change hearts and minds are pointless unless a person is ready to see the next step…and that may not necessarily be whatever you think it is. The next step for someone else may not be the same as you. Perhaps some are called to be Christian, others buddhist, atheist, hindu or something else. What is most important, and someone told me many years ago, is that everyone is on their own journey towards God.”
Well said. That captures a lot of my journey so far.
AnonymousSavage – Well said!
AnonymousYa, my struggle is right there. It is an individual journey, but I seek the validation of a large group of like minded people. The problem as I see it is, when we strive for security of
the group consciousness, or the mortal consciousness, we stop reaching for the eternal consciousness.
AnonymousThat extra return was not intended for emphasis, it was just a glitch.
“when we strive for security of the group consciousness, or the mortal consciousness, we stop reaching for the eternal consciousness”
That seems to be the case. I would say that’s one of the main danger of organized religion, though that’s an entirely different subject lol.
I often think of this phrase that I picked up along my journey, “Unsolicited advice is veiled contempt.” This has been a great help to me when I have an opinion about something or someone and want to offer it to them. It’s their story. It’s their choice. It’s their life. They didn’t ask me. I’m not so sure people are always in a place for “a reason or a season.” The longer I’ve been on this journey the more I think “it is what it is.” Maybe there is no reason people are where they are. Maybe it’s the best they can do. Maybe it’s the best I can do too? I tend to ask myself, “Why does this bug ME so much? What’s going on here that it has raised my curiosity? What’s going on in me that I notice?”
Maybe there is no journey. Maybe we’re already there. Or “God” is already here.
I resonate with this too, when I first became Christian I was drawn into the heavy debate side of it and I loved battling others with contrary views, I wanted to prove them wrong. However, over the past year as I started drifting away from the church and recognizing the cracks in my own theology, I became humbled, started to understand the position of others including Atheists of whom I used to debate the most. Its not our place to change the spiritualities of others, or force our opinions down people’s throats, and historically speaking, evangelisation has been a lot more oppressive than kind… People can believe what they want to believe, and now I have a new mission, to understand as many differing perspectives of life as possible, and different perspectives of this great spiritual essence that surrounds life, perhaps that essence is essentially God. I only tend to debate now when someone challenges what I believe or I wish to contribute my views on a certain area as I believe such a debate is healthy in the exchange of ideas and growing to know someone else (either that or whenever @Richard makes a critical post
)And I like that @David, maybe we already are exactly where need to be?
I think so.
As David knows I have been struggling recently to see where I fit in now after a journey of more than 40 years outside the Goldfish Bowl of Christian Religion. I’ve recently finished writing something of the story of that journey. I now have a faith that I don’t have to defend. I have long had a bit of a reputation for asking some of the awkward questions to which there are no easy answers.. By that I mean that I don’t have any answers for others, but I have on a number of occasions been thanked for asking the right question(s) that have enabled others to think through particular topics for themselves. I’ve been wondering about who my target audience might be.
Rick said:People can believe what they want to believe, and now I have a new mission, to understand as many differing perspectives of life as possible, and different perspectives of this great spiritual essence that surrounds life, perhaps that essence is essentially God.
This was another real eye opener. I have often thought of committed Christians as being either ‘warriors’ or ‘gardeners’. I sense that Rick used to be a ‘warrior’ while I’ve always seen myself as a ‘gardener’ – that might even have something to do with being either an extrovert or an introvert.
I’ve been an active participant in what was often referred to as the ‘out of church Christians’ or the emerging / emergent / house church movement for some 10 years. One of the major lessons I have learned in that time is something of why people believe what they believe, often as a result of divisive, denominational theology. Rick’s comment about a mission to understand as many differing perspectives as possible really rang a bell.
In two broadcasts in December 2012 Bob Greaves – The Unconventional Pastor – talked about the need to understand our emotions. For me this was a real eye opener and I can see how this is linked to what Rick has said. I have tried to summarise some of what Bob was saying in a post on my blog entitled ‘Emotions – our reactions to reality’.
There is a need to take responsibility for our focus and perspective – the need to embrace our emotions – that make us what we are – the honest challenge of dealing with others who have a different perspective while leaving them free to be themselves.
I’m not at all sure that what I’m trying to say has come across very well. Maybe this would be an opportunity for others to comment and see if my efforts could be improved.
http://outsidethegoldfishbowl.wordpress.com/emotions-our-reactions-to-reality
Peter… “leaving them free to be themselves”… yes!
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