There is no end to the study of God. He is Love and Mystery, and the depths of God will never be fully plumbed. However, we clutter our theology if we gather more and more non-essential theological minutiae and mistakenly either lose sight of the essential or elevate the non-essentials to the same level our essentials.
Read MoreWhat makes a person spiritually mature? Perhaps their number of years following Jesus? No. Maybe the amount of knowledge they have about spiritual topics? No. Perhaps the regularity with which they engage in spiritual practices? No.
All of the above are good, and they can lead to maturity when done regularly and relationally with God and others, but they are not the evidence of spiritual maturity.
Read MoreWhat comes to mind when you hear the word "deconstruction" as it applies to Christianity? Does it have positive or negative connotations for you? Sadly, in pop Christian culture, the term has been misused and misunderstood to mean, "I'm throwing away my faith and leaving God and the church!" This is not deconstruction.
Read MoreChances are you do not see yourself as a fundamentalist.
Chances also are you might be one.
Read MoreIf someone were to call you "emotional," would you consider it to be a compliment or an insult? For many, it would be the latter. However, if we use the term in the strict definition of the word (relating to the emotions; having or expressing strong feelings), we are all emotional.
Or, we should be, including in our theology.
Read MoreIf you were ask followers of Jesus this question today, many would say, "In heaven." Ask the natural follow-up question of where heaven is, and you'll likely get a shrug of the shoulders or a finger pointing to the sky. This means, of course, when these same followers of Jesus begin to pray, they are directing their prayers to God who is "up there... somewhere" or "out there... somewhere."
Read MoreSpiritual maturity is measured in part by a high level of uncertainty tolerance. I know we sometimes think that the more mature follower of Jesus is the one who has the unshakeable certainty about God. Unshakeable faith in God (because we know his loving character) is good. Unshakeable certainty about God (because we have him all figured out) is not.
Read MoreI have never met a mature and gracious follower of Jesus that at some point in their journey did not deconstruct at least a little bit in some way. It may have been a major deconstruction (their entire faith construct) or a minor one (changing the way they think about one certain issue or belief), but they came to the point of realizing that they did not know all the right answers and we’re open to unlearning and changing.
Read MoreWe say things like, “Go ahead and question / struggle with church beliefs / deconstruct, as long as you end up back where you started.” We have a hard time allowing those questioning followers to land somewhere else on the faith continuum.
So the first thing that we as followers of Jesus need to understand in order to become the kind of church community for healthy deconstruction and reconstruction is the wideness of Christian faith.
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