I'm a Christian, and whilst that means I believe Jesus is the Son of God, outside of that there are many different views, opinions and beliefs that differ, not only between different Christian denominations, but between individual Christians.
I like to use this blog to talk about things that are going on for me atm, and part of that includes talking about my faith. There are a few different things that I want to comment on atm, but because my faith is important to me, I will need to discuss what I believe. And yet, I am aware that some people will not even read what I have to say because i call myself a Christian; others will assume that because I call myself a Christian, I must believe XYZ; others yet will see that because I actually believe ABC therefore I'm not a real Christian; and I'm sure there are others besides.
In reality, I am a Christian, and I want to point people towards God, and try and explain who I think God actually is. God is much bigger than we imagine, much more loving than we imagine and much more merciful than we imagine. I'm also aware that I do have some beliefs that are different to some Christians because of denominational differences, but also I have some non-traditional beliefs. I would like to share what they are, and why I believe them, but I don't want to draw people away from God. I don't think it would, but I do fear that people could misinterpret what I stay, not least because I would openly say that this is what I believe, not necessarily anyone else. I also don't think that people should pick and choose what bits of the Bible, for example, that they believe; and yet, if I open up about what I believe, I know I will be accused of exactly this. My only excuse is that you should pray about everything and get God to guide you, through His Holy Spirit. I don't believe the Bible contradicts what I believe (otherwise I wouldn't believe in it), and yet, the Bible is a collection of writings, different authors, different styles, different uses. Yes it is God-breathed, or God-inspired, but it is not God-dictated (other than the 10 Commandments). There is a great freedom in Christianity, but we should be wary that we create a religion around what we already believe and trying to use the Bible to justify those beliefs, rather than seeing the Bible as God's Word, shaping our faith.
Hmmmm.... that's a lot of waffle and doesn't get me closer to the solution I am trying to find. Not least because I'm trying my best to to share the topics/specific beliefs I am thinking about right now.
Basically, I want to be able to share my thoughts, my experiences, my reasons, without being attacked for those beliefs. I want to share with you my thoughts on current events, and explain why my thoughts have changed about that topic over my life. I want to share some of my non-traditional Christian beliefs, in the hope it will draw some people closer to God, who may consider the traditional belief a barrier between them and God. Yet, at the same time, I am only human. If I am wrong about those beliefs, I still trust in God; if somebody thinks they trust in God because of an errant belief, will their whole faith crumble because of me? I want to encourage discussion, debate and open communication; not heated arguments, name-calling, and twisting of words. I want to discuss what was preached in my church on a morning, and share the bits I agree with, the bits I disagree, the bits I find challenging, and the bits that are calling me to action. I want to talk about politics, and bring religion into the conversation. I want to discuss what is happening in the news around the world, and share my frustration about what some Christians are doing, or what non-Christians are doing in the name of Christianity, or my worry about the persecution that other Christians elsewhere are experiencing.
And after all that, I want to know that if I do share this type of thing, that someone, somewhere, will read it and find it useful. Yes, it's egotistical, but if I'm writing a blog I want it to be read. I am aware that my most popular posts are about the politics of home education and current legislation. To make this blog more popular, I could solely write on that topic. But though I want this blog to be popular and to take-off, I want to write about the whole of me and my life. So I write about a range of topics, knowing that some are much less popular than others, even if to me, I consider them an important part of my life.
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Interesting. Two things which I believe ,one is Tradition of the church along with the Bible, which came to be before the bible was written ,the Bible, say Mark was written circa 70 AD. The rest followed and I believe, st Augustine of Hippo, was largely responsible for getting the rest of the books of Bible approved by the Roman Catholic Church.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I wanted to go back to the beginning of Christianity and that is why I took a leap of Faith in the Catholic Church.