500-Word Theology

An exploration of theology and philosophy with the intention of keeping it clear and brief - somewhere around 500 words per post.

[500wordtheology]

When We Do Not Know

    As Christians, there will be times along our journey when we simply do not know certain things. It does not matter if you are a milk drinker or meat eater, early in your walk or reaching the golden years when it is nearly time to leave life on this earth. No matter how much you learn - and remember that Christians are called to question and learn continuously - there will be much more still to discover.

    So what do we do about that?

    What do we do, for example, when we encounter a topic or question that, in spite of our best efforts, we can’t seem to answer?

    For starters, we need to be certain we are differentiating between having NO answer and not PREFERRING the answer we have. As discussed in the past, many people unfortunately conflate these two things, saying “because I don’t like the answer, I will treat it as if there is no answer.”

    But even when you are certain you are not letting subjective emotions cloud your open seeking of Objective Truth, when it comes to God there will be moments in your life when you simply won’t have all the answers you desire. There are things that only come after this little blink of existence is over. As Paul says “Now we see through a glass darkly (full verse).”

    God includes mystery. Not in the flippant “God works in mysterious ways” sense, but in the real, true, deep mystery of things bigger than we can currently imagine. Literally “the unimaginable.”

    This can make us uncomfortable. It is good to acknowledge that, too. It does none of us any good to pretend or put on a false front. Honesty and truth are what we’re after, after all.

    We can be uncomfortable in the midst of mystery. We can readily admit when we do not know something. Yet in those moments, the thing to do is to return to what you DO know.

    Know that God loves you. Even in the midst of confusion or turmoil, that is a place of refuge and of rest. When you feel overwhelmed by seeking, and things feel unfathomable (which it ought to at least some of the time, if you are truly seeking the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe and the Objective Ground of Truth, Love, and Being!), return to the starting place that everything else flows from. God loves you, more than you can presently comprehend.

    Have peace. Any who trust in God can trust that he will lead you to more and more wisdom and knowledge. It may be today, or next year, or even only after we enter the next stage of existence. But he holds all truth, and he shares it with delight as we grow and become more capable of grasping it.

    Know what you know, and keep seeking what you do not. Seek with your all, and any time you are unsure, return to the solid rock that is God’s love and grace. Rest up in that embrace, and then strike out again with renewed strength and joy. Seek all your days, and revel in both the majesty revealed and the mystery still to come.

#  #  #

    This post concludes the 500 Word Theology blog. I want to thank everyone who has come along to read it over the years. I hope the words here were beneficial to you. I may return now and again if need be, with a new update or note, but for now we will close this chapter and start another. 

    As CS Lewis once wrote:

    “There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.” (The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume 3)

    And as we speak of Lewis (as we have so often here on this blog) I invite you to come visit C.S. Lewis and Beyond, which will be my next project. There my goal is to share quotes from the great author that are perhaps less well-known or widely posted. It is a wonderful thing to see people sharing quotes from works like Screwtape and Mere Christianity, but there is a sad shortage of things from others like God in the Dock and That Hideous Strength! Let’s fix that. :)

    Visit “C.S. Lewis and Beyond” here.

[500wordtheology]

Parroting and Comprehension

    We all learn through experience. Both our own, and that of others. When it comes to learning from others, there are two ways we can go forward: Comprehending what they’ve said (and so internalizing it; in essence “making it our own”) and mere parroting.

    Parroting happens when someone repeats the same thing over and over in the words of another person without the capability of explaining it in any other terms. This happens a lot online when an intelligent member of a group or side says something and people who agree with their view merely repeat it (like a parrot) instead of understanding what was actually said. It is quite common, and rather unfortunate because it leads to no growth or knowledge.*

    Anyone can parrot, but comprehension takes work.

    In the same vein, if you find yourself dealing with someone who simply parrots, it probably won’t be fruitful to continue talking with them. They haven’t put the work in yet to be able to form their own opinion or words to express it. They will only continue to repeat the view of someone else by parroting that other person’s language. There is not much you can do there except get on with your own sincere search for knowledge and objective truth.

*Memes work similarly, by the way. If you encounter someone who leaps to reply with memes it is likely they do not grasp the position they’re putting forward, because they must rely on the work someone else has done (often in mockery form, which only adds to the issue). There’s little to be done with folks who choose that route. It is nearly impossible to have a reasonable conversation with a parrot.

[500wordtheology]

On Charitable Conversation

    A charitable conversation is one in which both parties strive to see the other side in the best possible light. To have a charitable conversation is a joy. Today I want to speak to one aspect that plagues conversation in our age, particularly online: Altering a response before responding.

    There are two main reasons someone might use the phrase “in other words” or otherwise rephrase someone’s point using different language. First is because they disagree and want to lessen or weaken the opposing argument. Second is because they are trying to clarify.

    If you are altering someone’s point so that it suits your view (that is, what you wish they were saying because your own version is easier for you to defeat or rebut) then you aren’t really having a conversation at all, much less a charitable one. Instead you are simply talking to yourself and setting up a row of your own dominoes so you can knock them down. You are just talking to “win” in your own view. This may make one feel good, but it is ultimately fruitless.

    It is wise to note here that this INCLUDES altering someone’s point “to show them how ridiculous they are being.” We have discussed this sort of thing in the past. We can do better than that, and so we should.

    On the other hand, if you truly and genuinely lack CLARITY over what they are saying, the humble thing to do is simply ask for help. It takes almost nothing (besides a swallowing of pride) to kindly respond “I’m not sure I understand what you mean. Are you saying [Insert your own words here]?” Then let the other person confirm you do in fact grasp their point, OR explain how that is not what they are saying at all. 

    Listen with the intention of comprehension.

    Amazing things can come out of charitable conversations, but very little ever results from pointless bickering. Again, there are two reasons for rephrasing someone else’s words. If you lack clarity, strive to obtain clarity and be kind and respectful while making the attempt. If you want to diminish the other person’s view by altering their own words to suit your personal perspective (sometimes called strawmanning) it may be far wiser to move along and find something more productive to do with your time. Life is precious, let’s not waste it.

[500wordtheology]

A New Way to Tweet

    I previously used Twitter for myself. Now I use it for others.

    What I mean by that is social media used to be extremely me-focused. I would post my thoughts or photos, putting something out there in the hopes of getting a like or reply. Concepts like follower count and engagement mattered to me. I often found myself using Twitter excessively yet also feeling worse than the days when I didn’t log on at all.

    For a time I considered simply leaving. I even wrote the long post/thread saying goodbye. But I have, for many years now, felt called to the platform as part of my ministry and being “in the world.” I still received no clear “it’s time to stop” in that regard; it was more that I was just burned out.

    In the past year I’ve transitioned to using Twitter differently. With an Others focus. 

    I still post something personal here and there, or share new projects (or these blog posts). But far more I log on to encourage others, or to try to answer theological or philosophical questions. 

    When I log on, especially in the morning, I try to think of something to tweet that will improve someone else’s day, whether it be a bit of wisdom or a reminder of things we all inherently know (but sometimes forget). 

    If I get into a more drawn-out discussion and the subject matter fits, I’ll turn my response into a full post for 500 Word Theology. Not because I’m (any longer) concerned with building a blog or following, but because if one person is wondering about something there’s a good chance others are too. Or if I see someone spreading incorrect information (the most frequent of this is misusing the No True Scotsman fallacy) I will try to use those moments to spark an essay or work that might help.

    We all know social media is hardly social. It might have been at one point, back in the days of chatrooms and message boards. But now our accounts have devolved into places for shouting as loudly as possible or trying to make digital billboards for ourselves or our opinions. You see it all over the place, once you know what to look for. And plenty of studies have been done to show that social media, especially in this way, only leads to us feeling more disconnected, lonely, and frustrated. I come across tweets and posts on a near daily basis lamenting how miserable tweeting and posting has become.

    If this sounds familiar, I invite you to give the Others Focused approach a try. Log in specifically to encourage. Make it about them, not you. See how it feels for a few weeks, and if your enthusiasm returns. It certainly has for me, because I feel like I’m legitimately making a positive difference in the lives of others instead of just my own.

    It has been a great transition for me, and breathed new life into my activity online. Which makes sense, since the more we help others the more we tend to help ourselves inadvertently. Doing good has a tendency to make us feel better than self-service. Social media is no different.

[500wordtheology]

Better than Peter

31 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

33 But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”

34 Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”

- Luke 22:31-34

    We all want to be better than Peter. 

    It really doesn’t matter if we are Christian or Atheist, or hold any other perspective. We all desperately want to believe, and often even convince ourselves as a result, that if put in a situation where we walked alongside Christ for years and saw countless miracles, we would stand firm in belief, faith, and conviction no matter what else might come along. 

    Yet in the “Denial of Peter” passages like that above from Luke, God says otherwise. And life will echo this lesson, if we pay attention.

    Yes, we want to be better than Peter. We claim we would be, almost constantly. We say “if only God would X, then I would give him my all. I would be stalwart and dedicated for the rest of my life, having had everything finally confirmed.”

    My friends, it is not so. It is pride, that old detestable enemy, that blinds us in such moments. Pride tells us “you would certainly do better than Peter did,” in a voice dripping with honey. And if we listen to pride, we will believe it. That’s how it operates.

    And we want to listen.

    It is humility (usually taught via life itself) which tells us the truth. That we would be right alongside Peter, claiming one thing and then doing another. We are all Peter in such instances. It might not be the exact same situation which would have us abandon Christ. We might not want to lose our financial security, as with the Rich Young Man (Mark 10). We might not want to lose our social standing. Or, like Peter, we may not want to lose our life.

    Whatever it is, I cannot stress enough that we are not better than Peter. Please, be cautious of listening to your pride, my fellow humans. It will tell you that you’d act differently. It will puff you up and declare “I am better than he.” And you will likely want to believe it, too. But the story of Peter’s denial is in there for a reason. If the very rock on which Christ said he would build the church succumbed, why on earth do we think (apart from our own ambitious and dishonest pride) that we would do differently?

     But if we do not want to face it now, life will certainly show us. It’s what it does, just as it did for Peter. And unfortunately the crushing agony that goes with it.

[500wordtheology]

Becoming Disciplined

You may have noticed a small lull in updates to this blog. One major reason is I’ve been putting together an online course on the subject of Discipline. It has been getting my full attention and focus, to make it the best learning experience possible.

Over the past few years I have researched and worked on my own discipline levels, and learned a huge amount in the process. I want to share what I’ve found because becoming a more disciplined person has literally changed my life. And I discovered there is a hard way to do it (which I always tried and failed) and a much, much easier way, which I never knew about before.

If your discipline is not quite where you’d like it to be, here’s a link to see more details. If you're content with the level of discipline you currently have, that’s great! I’m glad for everyone who can achieve it on their own. But if you struggle with being a disciplined person, you’re not alone. I struggled with discipline my entire life, so making this change has been eye-opening for me. Hopefully what I’ve learned can be of great use to others.

Feel free to look it over. After wrapping up production on the course I should be back to continue the 500 Word Theology blog on a more regular basis. Thanks for reading!

The Discipline Course - Becoming more disciplined using the easiest possible way.

[500wordtheology]

Two-Verse Theology

    Regarding Christianity, Two-Verse Theology is a term for when someone builds an entire theology - that is, spiritual perspective - around two verses of the Bible. This nearly always requires ignoring the totality of the book and its message, and usually happens for one of two reasons.

The person was taught poorly or incompletely

The person has an existing agenda and desires to find things to justify it, regardless of if Christianity as a whole supports their effort

    Two-Verse Theology is a terrible idea in either case, whether it is from ignorance or it is willful. We have an entire book to draw from, so casting the bulk of it aside so we can make points that do not align with the totality is a surefire way to make errors. Put simply, it is the sort of mistake that young-in-knowledge Christians (and often anti-theists, to try to score points) make. The solution is increasing depth and quality of knowledge. In other words, meat-eating (more information here).

    There are two variations of Two-Verse Theology that are actually worse. They are One-Verse Theology and One-Word Theology. 

     One-Verse Theology is rather self explanatory given knowledge of the Two-Verse Theology concept. One-WORD Theology goes so far as to take a single word in a single translation and construct a larger perspective around it. This is sadly done far too often in our world, by Christians and non-Christians alike. And the truth is some will continue to do it even after it is pointed out that to do so is unwise. We cannot control others; it is their choice to do so. However at the very least we can know about it so WE do not make that mistake.

     One thing to keep in mind in order to avoid One-Word Theology is to remember that all words are stand-ins for something bigger. Language itself only exists to convey something more than language itself. If we make it all about a single word of a single translation, we run the risk of missing the forest for the trees, as it were.

    It is challenging to lay aside our own bias or desires and seek full truth regardless of how we feel about it. Yet this is the path to objective truth, and objective truth is the goal. We *should* set aside our biases and agendas. They get in the way of something beautiful. It doesn’t mean it is easy, but it is definitely worth it.

[500wordtheology]

The Parables of All

    The office phone rang and a plumber answered it. A young woman explained that her kitchen sink was backed up. The plumber gave her the name of a readily available drain cleaner and instructions. 

    “Pour the entire bottle down the drain. Wait ten minutes and then run hot water to help clear it.”

    Later that day the young woman called again, to say the cleaner had not worked. The plumber wrote down her address and went over to fix the stubborn clog.

    When he got to the house he found a bottle of the drain cleaner on the counter, still 3/4ths full. 

    “Is this a second bottle?” he asked.

    “No,” the woman replied. “I did what you said to do but only used 1/4th of a bottle. But I used all 1/4th of it. It didn’t work.”

    “I didn’t work,” the plumber said, “because the instructions were to use a whole bottle.”

═════ °• ♔ •° ═════

    A great city marathon was about to begin and the runners were huddled at the starting line. With a wave of a flag they were off! One of the runners sprinted ahead, clearly leading the pack. But after less than a mile he stopped.

    A woman who was cheering on the sidelines ran to his side.

    “Are you alright?” she asked. “You just suddenly stopped.”

    “I am done,” the man replied, walking past her and sitting beside the road. “I gave my all, and it was not good enough to finish the marathon, so I quit.”

    “You seem to still have a lot of energy,” the woman said.

    “I gave my all for that entire first mile,” the man repeated.

    “Could you keep going, if the finish line was in sight?”

    “Of course,” he said.

    “Then it does not sound like you gave your all,” she told him. He shook his head.

    “They should have moved the finish line closer if they wanted me to finish,” he said.

═════ °• ♔ •° ═════

    A young lady was a few weeks away from college graduation. All that stood between her and a prestigious degree was one final exam. She had done very well for nearly four years and all her professors spoke highly of her. It was quite a surprise, then, when she walked into her father’s study at the other end of the country and said hello.

    “What are you doing here,” the father asked, “don’t you have a class to finish?”

    “I gave my all to college and fell short,” she said. “I did not get a degree.”

    “You told me yesterday there was only one exam left,” he said.

    “Yes, but I am not going to take it. I already gave my all, and it wasn’t enough,” she told him.

═════ °• ♔ •° ═════

    We have unfortunately diminished the word “all” as of late. Where once it meant what it says, now to “give one’s all” appears to mean “to give until one personally decides they are no longer interested in continuing.” This is a shame, because we can’t know what we miss out on when we stop up short of what we’re capable of.

    Giving your all is hard, let’s not sugar coat it. It can feel exhausting to keep going when all you want to do is give up. Yet as I’ve said many times on this blog, we must be clear and careful about what words we use. Words matter. Language has power.

    Here is a difficult truth: If there is life still to live, we have not yet given our ALL. If we fail 1000 times but still breathe, there is still more to do. Some do not like this fact, but it is the truth. Some have been told otherwise in the name of comfort and empathy. Well-meaning people say “You tried your best” to spare someone’s feelings. 

    If we make the choice to quit, it pays for us to take responsibility for that choice and admit it. It can be hard to admit, and sometimes we don’t want to. But if we are to align ourselves with what is objectively true, we need to acknowledge the difference between continuing until our dying day and choosing to walk away from a goal we previously set. We need to be honest with ourselves, even when honesty is hard.

    Truth is just too important to diminish the word “All.”

[500wordtheology]

Religious Division and God

    I recently received this message during a conversation online:

“If God were real, then there wouldn’t be so many diverse sects, with each one saying they just happen to be right, while the others are wrong.”

    This is a mistake I see made often, so let’s take a closer look at why it is in error.

    I should say, before we go further, that if you’ve read this blog for any length of time you should know why it is an incorrect conclusion. (This post and this post and this post are good starting places, if you’d care to consider it first on your own, which can be a great exercise to build strong mental and reasoning capacities.)

    The statement above is quite long, so let’s be clear about the claim:

The existence of different religious groups - who believe they are right and others are wrong - means that God is not real.

    Now let’s ask a vital question: Why does that follow?

    Likely the reasoning here is “Well, God would make it so obvious that there could be no one saying anything contrary to the truth. Since many people say different things, God must not exist.”

    Let’s apply this same reasoning elsewhere, because it will show exactly why it fails. In spite of an overwhelming amount of evidence across multiple fields, there currently exist people who believe the Earth is flat. Using the above logic, should we say that the Earth cannot be round because there exist people who say and believe otherwise? That claim would be unwise, as I think most would agree.

    The truth is, if people are given freedom during this lifetime then they have the freedom to do as they choose to. In the case of the planet Earth, they have the freedom to claim it is flat. This does not mean it *is* flat, or mean that it is impossible to have knowledge-level-certainty that it is not flat. It means they have the freedom to both believe as they choose to and avoid deeper study (which might change that view if they were open to changing).

    In the same way, humans are free to believe whatever they desire about almost every topic imaginable. If you can deny the roundness of the Earth you can deny almost anything. The existence of differing views does not affect actual truth. If you’ve never seen the well crafted video “Rival Concepts of God” I highly recommend watching the first two minutes at least. The point is, people having the freedom to believe what they wish does not change that truth exists or that God exists. If every single human was at least 1% wrong about God (and so had differing views) it would not magically mean God did not exist. Part of our human experience here on Earth IS that freedom to choose as we will.

    I hope that helps for anyone who might be confused about the idea that religious divisions say nothing to the existence of God. Different sects and denominations only say something about us: that we have been given freedom during this life, to use as we see fit.

    Let’s use that freedom well, by seeking truth with our all.

[500wordtheology]

Subjective Qualifiers

    Waaaaay back at the start of this blog is a post with the following paragraph, shortened here for clarity:

     We must know what Good is if we are going to strive for it. If “Good” is vague or left to something foolish like “common sense” (a subject I would love to dedicate an entire post to, because it is too often left unexamined as well) then we could be wrong and never even realize it. Good, like most things, must have a foundation.

    Last post we discussed Evidence for God, and how it exists but sometimes people mistakenly say it does not. If the individual claiming there is no evidence for the existence of God really means “I don’t find the evidence I’ve encountered so far convincing” they will sometimes use the phrase “There is no GOOD evidence for the existence of God.” [Emphasis added.]

    The addition of the word “good” into the statement about evidence is a Subjective Qualifier. It qualifies the evidence in question with the vague (and here very personal) term good. Unfortunately this off-handed remark falls into the very trap noted in the post on Aligning with Good: It is ill-defined.

What is meant by “no good evidence” is, again, the idea of “I don’t find the evidence I’ve encountered so far convincing.” But that says nothing about the evidence itself. It is a mistake in language to say there is no good evidence. Rather it should be said simply (and clearly) “I don’t find the evidence I’ve encountered so far convincing.” Put another way, perhaps, “I personally don’t find it to be good enough.”

To say there is no good evidence for the existence of God is a declaration parading as fact when really it is exclusively opinion. This is a dangerous thing to do. Thankfully it can be entirely avoided by simply using words properly and saying what one means. And the same holds true for any statement you make, really. If you mean to share an opinion, state it so it is clearly an opinion. (See “Knowledge and Beliefs” for more details on this concept.)

Some people may insist on using the lesser phrasing “there is no good X.” This runs dangerously close to the No True Scotsman fallacy, and is unwise. Still, if they want to do it they will do it. In such cases my suggestion is to wish them well and then leave them to their decision. After all, we each get to make that call for ourselves. But it is unlikely a fruitful discussion can take place if they do this, because they have put up a subjective barrier that will only be overcome when they decide to tear it down themselves. You can tear down your own subjective barriers, but you cannot do the same for others - it must be their choice.

[500wordtheology]

Evidence for the Existence of God

    I have spoken in the past about the importance of using the human tool called “language” well. Put more simply: words matter. It pays to choose them wisely.

    In that vein, if you come across someone using the phrase “there is no evidence for the existence of God” one of two things is happening.

A) The individual has done no study on the topic and is speaking from a place of ignorance

B) The individual is not using language well and doesn’t mean the specific words being said

    In the case of A there is very little one can do, because speaking on a subject you are ignorant about is simply a willful act in our current Information Age. Anyone reading this very post, for example, can spend 2 minutes right now and search phrases like “best arguments for the existence of God” or “finding evidence of God’s existence” and gain an almost infinite amount of material to correct the “there is no evidence” error.

    In the case of B the solution is a little more difficult. Not much more difficult, but a bit. Small changes in word choices can and will result in more clarity. Let me lay out a few here, so it is as easy as possible to correct:

    If you actually mean “I do not find the current evidence to support God’s existence personally convincing,” then say “I don’t find the evidence I’ve encountered so far convincing.”

    If you actually mean “I do not accept any evidence except a specific type (for example, materialistic-empirical)” then say “I limit evidence to be only X and have seen none of that type related to the existence of God.”

    If you actually mean “No one has brought me the specific evidence I am interested in seeing in order to change my opinion” then say “I am waiting for specific evidence to be brought directly to me before I change my opinion.”

    All these statements are far more clear and accurate than the rather foolish “There is no evidence for the existence of God.” There is indeed evidence, and a great deal of it, so the best course of action is to seek it out and study it well and then use language to explain how we perhaps feel about our findings.

    If we are presently unaware that the evidence even exists, the first step is to go see it for ourselves so we are at the very least aware of its existence. (If that is the case I once again post this link so that it is as easy as possible for someone to correct that lack of awareness. Just never forget: At any given moment it is possible to find what we desire to rather than what is true. We must set aside bias and look openly and with our all, not merely seek out exactly what we wish were true.)

[500wordtheology]

Opportunities

    Every day we encounter thousands, if not millions, of opportunities. 

    The term “opportunity” means many things, so let me clarify what I’m talking about here:

    There are big opportunities and small opportunities. A big opportunity might be “landing the starring role in a Hollywood film” or “studying under a great master of your craft.” It might be more common, like “being accepted to a college” or “being up for a promotion at work.”

    These big opportunities are potentially life-changing.

    Small opportunities usually look a little different. For example: This morning I woke up naturally at 6AM, from a dream. As I laid there in the dark I had a small opportunity in front of me. I could, by my own power, swing my legs out of bed and get up for the day. However I also had the opportunity to go back to sleep. My first meeting of the day was not for several more hours, so that was an available option as well.

    Right there, in the first seconds of consciousness, two opportunities were already in front of me. There were more as well. I could also stay in bed but not go back to sleep, thinking or meditating or praying or browsing Twitter on my phone. Simply being awake and alive brought with it a wealth of opportunities.

    It continues from there. I did indeed choose to get up, and then even more opportunities appeared. I could go finish editing my current novel (with a deadline of “Today”) or I could look up the old English teacher who was in my previous night’s dream (realizing that I should tell her how much of an impact she had on my life). I could make breakfast, or do freewriting, or work on Ukrainian Eggs, or practice the guitar (likely waking up my wife, unless I took the instrument to a corner of the basement or something and played very quietly. But still, that option was there).

    I could spend all day listing the opportunities in front of me in those first few seconds after my feet hit the carpet; hopefully you see my point.

    External things can also spark opportunities. For example, I am currently reading a book filled with small truths and advice. Yesterday I read a passage about how friendship takes effort, and good friends don’t wait for someone else to take the first steps. I put the book down for a moment and immediately texted friends we haven’t seen in many months. I told them I missed seeing them and after a few minutes we had set up a date to meet on their back porch for tea. This would not have happened if the book hadn’t sparked an opportunity (nor if I ignored that opportunity) to rekindle an old friendship.

    Alright, here’s the kicker: Remember how I said the big opportunities could be life changing? The same is true of the small ones. Here I sit typing this message. By its very existence I now have the opportunity to reflect on these words and ideas each and every moment of every day, and make new choices simply because I am aware they are constantly in front of me. I could use the opportunity afforded by this essay as a launching point for any number of small steps towards huge changes and projects.

    This essay is an opportunity for you, too. You’ve read this far, and now you have some extra insight. What will you do with it? What pops into your head when I remind you that today you have the opportunity to walk toward anything, or any goal? The next few seconds of your day are now filled with opportunity. 

    It is wise to ask yourself: “Which opportunity will I take advantage of?”

[500wordtheology]

Seeking Out Objective Truth

    We have now talked about the idea of aligning ourselves with Objective Truth and Reality. As I have noted a number of times now, I believe the best course of action we can take is to work toward such an alignment. And in spite of the fact that this blog has a number of posts on how to go about doing so, I am writing today towards clarity on that subject. For those who genuinely desire to know.

    How do we seek Objective Truth?

    For starters, we need awareness and acknowledgement of a little thing called Personal Bias. Personal Bias (in the form of both our human state of being and ALSO our individual-self state) is such a sneaky thing, because it naturally colors everything we encounter. We Bring with us tremendous bias, even to our attempt at unbiased study.

    Know that you are biased. Know it is probably severe. Allow this knowledge to keep things like pride in check, because if you remain humble you have the opportunity to seek much more openly than if you are unaware that you are a biased creature. (Many people are unaware.)

    From there we can remind ourselves that we may not like the truth, but if the truth is what we’re after our feelings about it should not influence our earnest search. Put another way, if you go looking for something you want to find, you will probably find it. We must genuinely desire whatever is true. Hence Step 2 is to commit to being after Truth, in full, as best as we can possibly grok it.

    Step 3 is understanding the idea of grokking truth. “Grok” is a term invented in the 1960s, and it means an intimate type of comprehension. It is not just knowing about something intellectually, but on a far deeper level. If you want to seek Objective Truth you cannot approach with only one aspect of your being. It will take your ALL. As most important things will.

    Once we have these things in place our work can begin. And know that it will be work. The mere act of trying to set aside personal bias alone can drain your energy like a car with its lights left on all night. Do not try to go too fast or you will not be able to maintain a sufficient level of seeking. To give one’s all to anything is exhausting, and we can’t do good work when we are depleted. Expect this will take time. A lifetime or more. (If you ever think you “have arrived” it is wise to rethink that idea.)

    From that point we can apply the concept of the Milk Drinker/Meat Eater idea from this post. If you are just starting out seeking Objective Truth you will need to work a certain way, with far more outside help and with lighter, beginner-level resources. It’s okay that this is the case, as we all start somewhere. But if you try to jump into the deep end too quickly, you will drown. You will become confused about things you do not yet fully understand and then use them poorly as though you knew what you were talking about. This is a form of the pride mentioned above.

    You will want a more complete method via seeking outside help in-person, rather than a 500 Word Blog or online resource. However here are a few key elements (beyond those already listed):

Read broadly. All authors, viewpoints, and topics within any sub-category of overall objective truth.

Study deeply. Never settle for shallow knowledge of important subjects, and since truth is the most important of all, doubly so.

Seek teachers who are willing to admit when they don’t know something, and help you find true answers to honest questions. (Also remember they are biased too.)

Learn what an argument is, and formal logic. Never rely solely on things like “common sense.”

Do not be fooled by rhetoricians. These are folks with a proverbial “silver tongue.” They do not make good arguments, they merely speak persuasively and SEEM to make good arguments.

Remain open. Even when you begin to know Truth, always be open for more or the possibility that you have made an error. Don’t fear mistakes, just be aware.

    And finally, be ready for Objective Truth to come directly to you. I wish I could explain this last in better detail, but I cannot. I’ve not found proper language for it. Just be aware that there will come a point where Objective Truth overwhelms the “you” aspect of things. It has the power to consume the subjective. It’s a great place to be - though again it often takes quite a long time and a great deal of giving your all.

    I hope that is helpful. Truth is absolutely worth seeking, and bias is worth setting aside. Be well and may you find great success in your continued journey.

[500wordtheology]

Milk Drinkers and Meat Eaters

    Christianity speaks to spiritual maturity in this way: those new in their seeking of God are “milk drinkers” and those further down the road are “meat eaters.” This comes from 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 (as well as places in Hebrews).

I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.

    This is not to say milk drinkers are somehow lesser, only an acknowledgement of where in the journey they presently walk. We all start out drinking only milk. The key becomes not to remain there. Paul, in his letter to Corinth, speaks of how the people at that church SHOULD be further along, yet he is having to retread old ground with them because they are not stepping up as they should.

    We cannot remain in a shallow understanding.

    It is useful to take a moment to really consider this idea of milk and meat. What happens if you give solid food to a child who is not ready for it? They choke. So too we can choke if we are still in the early going of Christian study and attempt to jump straight to the most challenging aspects. (And there are a number of challenging aspects, which only grow more difficult the more you explore. This should be expected, as God allows a core simplicity when we approach but then continues on from there to a literal infinite complexity.)

    I see many people choke when they rush ahead before having the right foundation. This post speaks to that in allegory format, if you want to see more.

    Some believe they are ready for meat and yet fail to know fundamental aspects of God. They rush forward anyway, and they spiritually choke.

    Here would be my suggestions for both milk drinkers and meat eaters. A list of activities which will hopefully cause growth without choking.

Milk Drinkers

Those early on in their Christianity, or those outside of Christianity (agnostic, atheist, ex-Christian, other faith backgrounds):

Begin at the core of Christianity, down to its most simple foundation. Grasp that BEFORE moving on.

Read the gospels and work to understand them. Read lighter books related to them, such as CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity and N.T. Wright’s Simply Christian. Get that solid foundation in place.

Attend, and more importantly, SERVE a local church. One cannot practice Christianity without being a committed part of a church community.

Find teachers who promote and teach solid theology.

Keep always in mind that you don’t know what you don’t know. Abandoned preconceived notions. Perhaps take a look at the book The Great Divorce, since the subject of Heaven/Hell is often one we all come to the table with previous (wrong) ideas about.

Ask every question you have, knowing that initially some answers will not make sense until you gain more experience and knowledge (I sadly see many who don’t grasp this, and when they don’t understand an answer, or don’t like it, they dismiss it instead of working to understand).

Meat Eaters

Those further along in Christianity:

Read both the Old Testament and a variety of commentaries on it. The OT is hard for many modern people to understand, especially through the unfortunate lens of Modern Fundamentalism (which is garbage and should be avoided, but is depressingly still taught in some places).

Continued service in larger roles of your local church

Read deeper books, such as those by Thomas Aquinas, Augustine, and the heavier CS Lewis works like God in the Dock and Miracles.

Read about Philosophy, so you can grasp ideas like Ontology.

Begin to read more broadly once you have a solid understanding of Christianity. If you come across a book that challenges you, good. But also don’t let it challenge you alone; discuss it with solid teachers who have experience.

Ask every question you have, knowing that some answers will require you to go even deeper and tackle denser meat than you have to this point. Remember - always - it is about aligning yourself with truth and reality, not “what I wish was true.” Our likes and dislikes are not the key. Truth is.

[500wordtheology]

The Words I Choose

    I have discussed in past entries the importance of using language well. It is our primary human-to-human means of communication, and communication is crucial to this life.

    When I write something, I make specific word choices. My goal as a writer is to choose the best words to mean what I want to say. I do not choose terms arbitrarily, or with some hidden meaning that must be interpreted (unless I’m writing allegory, which I’m not when having a one-on-one conversation).

    Unfortunately sometimes people choose to attempt to interpret my words to mean things using entirely different words.

    There is no need to say “in other words” and list off a bunch of alternatives to what I have actually, literally said. If I wanted to use “other words” I would have used those. I did not use other words, so you can directly take the words I did use. At no point should anyone need to “interpret” what I have said using alternative language choices. Again: I choose the words I choose on purpose.

    If ever something I say is unclear, by all means ask me to clarify. This can be done very simply like this:

    “I do not understand what you mean. Could you please clarify?”

    Easy, no? This makes a sincere request (politely) and allows me the opportunity to try to communicate my meaning using my OWN alternate word choices. I am more than happy to attempt to work toward clarity.

    What is unacceptable is to invent alternate word choices and then claim I said them. This is not the truth - it is something made-up. I said the words I said, and I said them on purpose.

    Perhaps this issue stems from many people in our present age not thinking before they speak, and so choosing poor words that don’t mean what the person intended. I admit, in emotional conversations even I may do this on occasion. If I do, I accept responsibility for any language mistakes I make. Even so, my words do NOT need re-interpreted by anyone else. There is zero reason to say something like “in other words.” 

    No, not other words; in the exact words I chose to use.

[500wordtheology]

The Weakness of Rage

    Perhaps one reason many people don’t work to understand others is because understanding and rage are incompatible.

    If you want to be and remain angry - and in present Western Culture some do, as it is the popular modus operandi of late - you must avoid understanding the person or people at the source of your fury. You must. If you understand them, even if you still disagree, at least part of your anger will be diminished.

    Anger is an odd duck. It is a temporary emotion which can prove useful. It provides us a burst of feeling of power (and we sure do love power). However, like fear, it is poisonous to maintain long-term. 

    If you’ll permit me to sound arrogant for a moment, people have become so weak that they feel it necessary to rely on these base-level, temporary emotions to fuel their very lives. They lack discipline, so when left to their own devices (without anger or fear as their driving force) they do nothing instead of something. And they, thankfully, know they should not do nothing.

    Boy do I hear that. I used to be the same way.

    I used to require negative (but powerful) emotion to drive me. I knew, unconsciously at the time, that without those things I would simply sit on the couch and be a slug. I did not possess enough joy or virtue or discipline to spur me to action. Yet joy, virtue, and discipline are infinitely superior as motivating factors than anger or fear. We just don’t practice those enough, while we practice anger and fear almost constantly.

    I could say a lot on this subject, but I don’t want to muddy the waters. Instead let me be frank and clear:

If you truly work to understand someone else, even (perhaps especially) when you disagree, it will reduce anger and fear.

Anger and fear should be temporary reactions in some situations, never long-term motivators or Modes we willfully stay in.

Joy, virtue, and discipline are worth practicing consistently, until you are strong instead of weak. I do not say this cruelly, to berate you. I do not say it haughtily, for I need the practice as well. I say it because it is true, and the truth sets us free.

    Work to understand others. Abandon long-term rage and replace it with wiser choices. Life, and the world, get better when we do.

[500wordtheology]

Understanding and Agreement

    “Understanding” can literally change not only your life, but the world itself. 

    This is not an exaggeration. I do not say it lightly, and those who have read this blog know I choose my words carefully and say what I mean. When I say understanding can change both you and the world, I mean it.

    Most people already know that Understanding has this power. The recent problem is that many now confuse “understanding” with “agreement.” This is for a number of reasons, which we’ll not get into here. Suffice to say this confusion causes anyone who doesn’t agree with someone (or some idea) to foolishly interchange “I disagree” with “I don’t understand.”

    You can understand yet not agree.

    Even more so, if you don’t understand, you can’t even KNOW if you agree or not. You don’t comprehend the idea in the first place so you can’t successfully judge if you agree with it or not. You would be agreeing or disagreeing blindly.

    It is wise to admit “I don’t understand” when you don’t understand. The issue is if you simply quit there. Lack of understanding means there is a gap in your knowledge. Gaps in knowledge should be filled, and we fill them by doing the work/study necessary. In this case, the work to understand the position we presently don’t.

    It is past time that we, as a species, abandon the harmful practice of saying things we don’t mean. Do not use “I don’t understand” as a way of saying “I don’t agree with.” It is idiocy to do so, because it is an improper use of language. Worse, it is a lie to say you don’t understand if you do understand but simply disagree. Solid communication is crucial to humanity. Do not treat it poorly or flippantly.

    If you disagree, say you disagree. If you do not understand, by all means acknowledge your lack of understanding and then specifically go seek to understand. Do not shrug your shoulders and admit ignorance but then stay stewing in that ignorance. Ignorance is an ugly, dirty, foolish place to live. Work to understand - and change your life and the world in the process.

    I spoke once about “Working to Know.” If you are interested in how to achieve understanding, I recommend reading that post.