Just Thinking Out Loud

[pmpope68Participant]

This is also posted on the Facebook group.

I believe many experiences can be what each of us needs for a reason (but of course this doe not apply to all experiences. There are some things for which there are no explanations.). Thus, my having been in settings with people who are unreasonable, rigid, and intolerant, may be what I needed in the sense of showing me how to be compassionate, tolerant, less judgmental, etc. Needed probably isn’t the best word here, but I just feel like there has been a purpose to my experiences that I didn’t always realize until later. For me, growing and changing in my faith is not a bad thing, nor does it in any way deny the power of God (for me). A lot of times, the lessons don’t come right away, but in hindsight and after much reflection. Obviously, some of these experiences I would have preferred not to have because of the hurt involved at the time.
I think if people understood this, they wouldn’t be so quick to criticize and try to fix others with advice about forgiving, getting back in church, etc. They might just realize that what some experience is needed for their walk with God. So, for instance, I watched a clip this morning where someone mentioned not believing in the Bible literally. Well, for some, that is heresy. But this person is a pastor and is devout in his faith. How about allowing him some room and just chalking it up to that being what has helped his faith, even if you don’t find it particularly helpful for yours? But of course, where it becomes an issue is when our beliefs get fleshed out. So if you don’t believe the Bible literally, and someone else does, how do we deal with a particular issue in the church that must be acted upon with two widely varying starting points? Some will say, let love be the answer, but people in these two camps may define love differently. I just think we could get along so much better if we didn’t jump to criticizing people for their beliefs and feeling the need to convert them to our way of thinking and doing. But then again, that would change the very fiber of some people’s theology in which it seen as their duty to convert and to keep each other on the straight and narrow. Maybe all the varying viewpoints are inevitable and maybe they’re what makes the world go ’round. Maybe we need a little bit of everybody’s belief. This would even extend beyond religion to politics, business and every other area of life. Again, this is just me thinking out loud and is not meant as a perfect solution for every type of situation out there.

[David HaywardKeymaster]

thanks for posting this. i’ve been thinking about it all day.

[RichardParticipant]

I think what we are looking at is people at different stages of growth.  There are some things that some people will never understand in their lifetime.  There are things I know that I will never understand in my lifetime that other people do.  The question is, “How do we live together and allow each person to move along their path?”

I think that is the idea behind the freedom of speech and thought without the threat of violence.  There are things that I have worked out for myself that involve a certain level of complexity that many people don’t understand.  While it can be frustrating to be misunderstood, I have learned to accept that.  No one is trying to kill me for what I believe and what I believe doesn’t harm anyone else.

I’m generally not in favor of politeness over truth telling.  I haven’t found that to be the best policy.  The polite police can exert a tyranny over others as effective as any threat of violence.  I am willing to be insulted so that I can have the freedom to express my own truth as well.  I think it is far better to form a better argument than to silence the voices of others, no matter how grating.  I have found that the truth has a better chance of being discovered in an atmosphere of open dialog than of policed dialog.

There are forms of expression that are bullying and can shut down others ability to express themselves simply because it drowns out other voices, but the beauty of written expression is it is a level playing field for the most part.  I suppose one could post such a quantity of posts that everyone else’s scrolls into obscurity, but I think that is pretty rare.  I used to see that in chat rooms that I hosted on AOL when someone executed a script, but that was more of prank than really trying to say anything.

I support the idea of thinking out loud.

[AngParticipant]

@pmpope68  Literally is a key word to so many.  I started a huge argument/disagreement with a group online because I said “If you take the whole bible literally.”  That was quite a while BEFORE my shift in belief three years ago.  And even back then, I felt you couldn’t take every word in the bible LITERALLY, and even more so now.  And even more so, I agree with you that we should all let people believe what they want.  I still hold my thoughts to myself in many setting because I know the group I am in would not accept what I believe now and it would only cause family strive, and that is not needed.  As Richard referred to, I will not let anyone bully me into saying something I don’t believe no matter how nice they are.  That put me in the middle of a train wreck at the church I left… 

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