Provoking Again…
I’m an antagonist by nature, an instigator, a provoker, some might even call me a bully (although I don’t think so). My goal in ministry has always been to challenge peoples’ beliefs. I want to see if there is any way they could let go of their presuppositions and embrace a greater truth. Not necessarily my truth, but a new truth they haven’t yet discovered. Sadly, most can’t do this because they’re so busy defending their hypotheses. I’m not sure where we got the idea that Christianity was about first learning, then defending our theology and doctrine. It’s like our goal is to learn everything we can about God, plant ourselves on top of these truths, and never be moved again. If that is in fact our goal, then our faith ceases to be vital, expansive, and applicable to the entirety of life. I thought for a while that this problem was something I would only see in the older crowd - you know the gray hairs of the church. I was wrong, simply fricken wrong! I’ve spent the last several years with the 20’s something crowd and have been very shocked, even dismayed by how much they’re dug in already regarding their understanding of God. As an instigator, I try to wrestle with them. I want to see if we might deconstruct at least some of their presuppositions. You know, like challenging their views about the Spirit, the Word, His voice, the Kingdom, evangelism, discipleship, or the real purpose for our existence? I tell them all the time that “I’ve stopped looking for the easily found answers and that I’m in hot pursuit of some great new questions”. They often look at me like I have three heads and twelve sets of eyes. Recently, after having a conversation about the goal of Kingdom living, I actually had a 25 year old ask me if I believed in the virgin birth, the atoning sacrifice, Jesus’ bodily resurrection, and our eternal reward? There was no room in their mind for any “true believer” to think differently about anything they’d been taught in Bible College. Needless to say, I walked away a little perplexed and deeply troubled. We keep teaching generations that they can know everything about God and that the book of revelation is closed - “that’s it, God has said it all, it’s all been written down, the great scholars have broken it all down for us to plainly see”. All I can say is WTH (what the heck, of course)? My mother use to tell me “that defensiveness is defenseless”. What she meant by that is if we are defensive about our beliefs, we are actually communicating that we think our position may be shaky. Please think about that statement for a moment… She used to invite me into her space and allowed me to ask questions about religion, faith, politics, even sex. She made me feel my questions were safe (perhaps healthy). She made me think that even God wasn’t challenged by my inquisitiveness but in fact encouraged such behavior. I guess she ruined me, huh? I was reading Richard Rohr today and came across the following: “… Usually God disciples us by making our self constructed world (read, beliefs) fall apart. Our personal salvation project must show itself to be almost totally wrong. The refusal to allow this falling apart is what creates legalism and religion.” My question is, don’t we already have enough legalism and religion? Shouldn’t Christians be open to exploring truth, life, and the deeper questions? I know I’m being an antagonist again, but isn’t there at least something about God’s nature and plan that beckons us to throw out our preconceptions and say “teach us more Daddy, tell us more Papa, blow our little minds away one more time?” Just asking - I’ll keep provoking and instigating any how - it’s what I do…
