Things I Want To Say About Blogging in 2014

Things I have thought this year about blogging on Facebook and Patheos:

1. I suspect the fundamentalists and conservative Evangelicals (including those charismatics who fall into this camp) who today are proud of being Protestant (if they even know what that means) would have been first in line to find ways to kill off Martin Luther. Those who buy into the myth of modern Protestantism, which has become nothing more than a shattered mirror dropped from 100 stories, are up a creek without a paddle when it comes to developing a theology. And this goes for progressive or liberal Christian Protestantism as well (although there is more hope there).

2. If someone is outclassed in an argument they always turn to such things like “you are mean spirited” or “you are unloving.” To which I say, in social media always check out who it is your are arguing with. I do. Before I respond I go check out a person’s status. If you are going to get into theological debates understand that some debating partners know a hell of a lot more factually than you do. I am not speaking here about maturity levels. But it seems everybody and their brother has a degree in “Fruit Inspection” and of course their opponents are always barren trees. I have come to despise this kind of argumentation. I find it trite.

3. There is an enormous difference between being self-centered and having a centered self. Most (N.B. not all) Charismatics can’t seem to discern the difference.

4. Bigger is not better. The equation of blessing with quantity is a fiction of an idolatrous imagination.

5. Anecdotal stories are not fact. Charismatics tend to mix up experience, interpretation and testimony.

6. People who believe in biblical inerrancy are the toughest to reach for they have displaced God with a book even though they deny it. Their very denial is what is keeping them from a deep relationship with Jesus.

7. People confuse intellectualism with rationalism.

8. The world/universe is far more strange than even the weirdest charismatic can imagine and far more rational/structured than even the strictest hyper-Calvinist can imagine.

9. People with open minds are much more liable to actually hear the voice of God than those whose theology is like concrete: all mixed up and permanently set.

10. I refuse to let blithering idiots suck the joy out of my life. I refuse the boxes people try to keep me in. I refuse the labels others pejoratively try to stick on me.

11. Teachers teach. I am a teacher, that is one of my gifts. It is the one I have the most fun using. If you are not on this page to learn then please do the rest of us a favor and go away. You can disagree, you can argue, you can mix it up, but if in the end, you are just trying to prove you are right and everyone else is wrong, you are NOT welcome here. No exceptions. Go away. Shoo.

12. I have made a lot of new friends this year. Some of you I have met in the flesh! I am so grateful for your continued dialogue, patience, support, friendship, encouragement, and genuine affection. I have a few tricks up my sleeve for this coming year. I hope you will enjoy the SHOW!

And, no I will not be collecting my posts for 2014 and turning them into What the Facebook? Vol 2. They are what they are, moments in space-time where we had some fun together. On the other hand there are some books in the works, videos, podcasts, tours and the Making Peace Conference. Time to rock and roll!