Philosophically Speaking

I grew up in the church. I was around church people. I’m familiar with the customs Protestant churches. But I never felt like I was part of them, the people that went to church. My dad remembers me asking Jesus into my heart when I was a boy. According to him I did this several times. The only time I remember was when I was at camp one year after third grade. And maybe that’s why in the end God hunted me down. I became interested in philosophy when I was in high school. I loved talking about philosophy and theology with my dad. As pastors go he was pretty open-minded to discussing this stuff. I’ve experienced and maybe you have to that so many pastors take a much more dogmatic view. When I reached College one of my first teachers that I really loved was in an intro to philosophy class. It only hit the tops of the waves but it was enough to stick. Over time I went through all of the Continental philosophy which is basically is there a pink elephant floating around in the room and some people can see it and some can’t, or does God exist, or other B.S. like that. I remember in one class an Armenian woman having to be dragged out of a philosophy class because we were talking about arguments why God doesn’t exist. She wouldn’t stop interrupting class because she wanted to prevent the teaching from happening. As it turns out God exists whether we teach that he does or whether he doesn’t. But I didn’t know that yet. My division from God was a combination of watching the luke warm behavior of many Christians. I realized then that Christians are not better or stronger, and we all need a Saviour. But I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about commitment. And while for the better part of my life I was not a believer, I always thought that IF I came to believe it would involve a serious life changing level of commitment. Kyle Idleman articulates this in his book “not a fan.” He points out that there are many fans of Jesus. But Jesus isn’t looking for fans. He wants followers. And I get it. I’ve already had to do things that required me to subjugate my pride, reputation, earning capability, relationships, and Earthly possessions. But it’s all worth it because I have the most valuable blessing which is a relationship with my Heavenly Father. I can confidently say I am not a fan of Jesus, I’m a follower. So how did I reconcile this philosophically? That’s a great topic for another post.
from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2dQPZ9p
via IFTTT