{"id":168,"date":"2004-07-11T23:45:50","date_gmt":"2004-07-11T23:45:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2004\/07\/what_have_i_got.shtml"},"modified":"2021-05-29T02:48:43","modified_gmt":"2021-05-29T02:48:43","slug":"what_have_i_got","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2004\/07\/what_have_i_got.shtml","title":{"rendered":"What Have I Gotten Myself Into?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Look at the callender in the upper right corner and you’ll see that it’s been a bit sparse around here lately. Frankly, a big part of me didn’t want to sit down and write this tonight. Partly out of obligation to the 2-3 readers I have* and partly because I felt like it would do me some good to sit and write, I sort of forced my self to log on. Maybe it’s just the pace of my life lately (see here<\/a>), I don’t know, but I’ve lost my fire for blogging. No, this isn’t a notice that I’m giving it up, it’s just been hard to get motivated about it. I really can’t say why, but I just don’t feel like it.
\nWell, I guess if I were honest, I can say something about why. Over the past few weeks I’ve been writing sporadically about fundamentals of Christianity. I threw a gauntlet down of sorts in the begining<\/a> that Christians ought to be able to agree on the basics of Christianity and that we ought to stop fighting over trivial matters. While I still think that this is a great ideal, I guess I’m not so sure I want to write any more about it. Frankly, I figure that I will offend somebody or spark some angry debate and I don’t want to do that – or more accurately, I don’t want to feel the wrath of those offended. I want to write more on the subject, but the thought of doing so is a bit oppressive.
\nJesus took stand on things. He stood up and said this is right and that is wrong, unequivocably. He was not afraid to step on toes, even to the point of calling those who defined ‘religion’ in His day, basically, evil. My friend Douglas Jacoby recently posted some interesting observations<\/a> (writen in 1991) about the nature of God’s prophets throughout history. Namely, they are almost always in a small minority (frequently alone) and are almost always persecuted and opposed by a majority of religious leaders. He offers several examples from scripture, go check it out.
\nBeing in the minority is not fun, especially if it’s a persecuted minority. If one examines the scriptures honestly, you start to see why they killed Jesus. He stood up and told the people, the leaders, that they were wrong and in fact were far fom God. To stand up for God can be a lonely position. I don’t want to be isolated and persecuted for speaking up for God, so I guess that’s why I’ve hesitated to post my thoughts on specific fundamentals.
\nI recognize that this all sounds a bit arrogant. Who am I to assume that I speak for God? Certainly, just because history shows that God’s prophets were in the minority does not mean that every minority view is from God. I would say, however, if everyone in the religous world agrees with you, better watch out. So when I think about posting my take on Christian fundamentals, I know that if it is to be close to God’s it will be uncomfortable to many. I will not find much agreement.
\nThe ‘Christian’ population in the US is very large and on some level quite homogeneous. There’s a certain agreement on not challenging each other on what we believe about fundamental things. Sort of a “Don’t ask don’t tell” environment. We’re all ‘Christian’ so it’s all good. Frankly, that turns my stomach. Jesus wasn’t afraid to tell people that they were flat wrong, and even the brothers in the first century corrected each other on fundamentals in doctrine (Acts 18:24-26, Acts 19:1-5, Galatians 2:11-14). We ought to trust our Bibles and our God to lead us and take a stand on His plan.
\nBut even as I type this I know that my version of God’s plan and anothers will be different. And I know that it’s easier and more comfortable to discuss less important matters than to resolve our differences on fundamentals. But as I look around at ‘Christianity’, I see some great hearted people with some amazing thoughts and insights on God, but I know that we are on different pages on fundamentals and it tears at my heart. What they define as Christianity and what I difine it as are differnet things. I long for a united church. I long to be able to say “I’m a Christian” and to have people know precisely what that means. Is it too much to ask?
\nI guess at some point I’ve got to take my stand and throw out there what I believe. It is a bit silly, isn’t it, to get worked up about exposing my heart when this little corner of the net is clearly not that well traveled anyway. Oh well.<\/p>\n


\n* Actually, my web host tells be I have lots of readers. Supposedly there have been over 1,650 unique visits to salguod.net this month. Almost every day was over 200 page views. Seems like I ought to have more comments. (hint, hint …) \ud83d\ude42<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Look at the callender in the upper right corner and you’ll see that it’s been a bit sparse around here lately. 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I'd love to say I've been too busy serving at the homeless shelter or building houses for Habitat for Humanity or even finishing my basement (OK, that's partly true) to blog. Oh if that were true. The simple truth is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Salguod.net stuff"","block_context":{"text":"Salguod.net stuff","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/salguod-net-stuff"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":818,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/05\/living_intentio.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":168,"position":1},"title":"Living Intentionally","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"May 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Codepoke has an interesting post yesterday that runs parallel to what I intended to post on today. There's a bunch of stuff in there that I intend to chew on - later. I haven't posted much lately. Frankly, posting here has been sporadic at best for a long time. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "God and Church"","block_context":{"text":"God and Church","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/god-and-church"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":203,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2004\/09\/why_blog.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":168,"position":2},"title":"Why blog?","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"September 27, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"While I'm on the subject of not writing much, I'd like to comment on the purpose of blogging. I do this blog mainly because writing brings clarity to my thoughts. There's just something about putting words to the page that helps to crystallize things. I can't explain it, it just\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Salguod.net stuff"","block_context":{"text":"Salguod.net stuff","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/salguod-net-stuff"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":202,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2004\/09\/is_anyone_home.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":168,"position":3},"title":"Is anyone home?","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"September 27, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Just wanted to let you know that I'm still here. I've not been real inspired to write nyhting of any significance lately, sorry. I have some thoughts spinning around my head relative to some blogs I've been reading(including this 94 comment exchange at virusdoc) lately, but I haven't found the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "God and Church"","block_context":{"text":"God and Church","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/god-and-church"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":210,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2004\/10\/quiet_times.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":168,"position":4},"title":"Quiet Times","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"October 17, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Justin at RC posted a lament today about his lack of consistency in his Quiet Time. I wrote about this subject a while ago, here. I used to get so guilted out if I missed a daily reading or two. 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