I've been so encouraged recently by the feedback I've received from some of my blogs. I've been able to challenge, encourage, irritate and sympathise with people who I've never met, people I've lost touch with and people who I would struggle to strike up conversation with.
It got me thinking- why do I blog? Why do I ramble on about my thoughts ever week? Why do I spam your Facebook and twitter by inflicting my opinions on you? Why do I bang the sale drum month after month about faith and the church? Why I haven't I given up yet?
The reason, I think, is because I'm an optimist. Because I love the church, but I believe the church could be better. Because I think faith is life changing and world changing but I'm frustrated with how it's often lived in my own life and those around me. I write because I believe I can change something. Because I believe that I have to start somewhere.
But if I'm honest- sometimes I'm sick of blogging. I'm sick of writing but not doing. I'm sick of the reality of being an Optimist. But I'm not sure I know what the next step might be.
I want to have a conversation. A real one. A conversation about the stuff I write about. About the stuff you think about but don't know where to talk about it. Changing culture is not something that happens overnight.
If you're in York, this Saturday (21st jan) I'm going to be at the attic coffee bar on kings square about 7pm. I'd love to have a conversation. I don't know if you've ever read my blog before, if you disagree with me, or whether you're my biggest fan- but I'm just interested to see what happens. See you there.
It got me thinking- why do I blog? Why do I ramble on about my thoughts ever week? Why do I spam your Facebook and twitter by inflicting my opinions on you? Why do I bang the sale drum month after month about faith and the church? Why I haven't I given up yet?
The reason, I think, is because I'm an optimist. Because I love the church, but I believe the church could be better. Because I think faith is life changing and world changing but I'm frustrated with how it's often lived in my own life and those around me. I write because I believe I can change something. Because I believe that I have to start somewhere.
But if I'm honest- sometimes I'm sick of blogging. I'm sick of writing but not doing. I'm sick of the reality of being an Optimist. But I'm not sure I know what the next step might be.
I want to have a conversation. A real one. A conversation about the stuff I write about. About the stuff you think about but don't know where to talk about it. Changing culture is not something that happens overnight.
If you're in York, this Saturday (21st jan) I'm going to be at the attic coffee bar on kings square about 7pm. I'd love to have a conversation. I don't know if you've ever read my blog before, if you disagree with me, or whether you're my biggest fan- but I'm just interested to see what happens. See you there.
Hi there!! If I lived in York I think I would pop by! But Im not..
ReplyDeleteI'm glad your an optimist, there's too many pessimists about and its cool to think we'll have an optimist added to our family. Well Im sorry if Im in the category you struggle to strike up convo with, I hope you wont think this for much longer.
I read a quote the other day and thought of you it was Lao-tse I think, he says something like "If when Im asleep I am a man dreaming I am a butterfly, how do I know when Im awake Im not a butterfly dreaming I'm a man?". And this guy (Not lao tse, nick clark) was saying that we can't prove God exists as such, but neither can we prove we exist either. So you having done a philo degree, how do people go about proving their existence in philosophical worlds?
Anyways, take care, pass my greetings on to Ellie please :-) Abi
Hi Abi. Thanks for commenting again! Makes me happy that you bother to read my blogs.
ReplyDeleteI don't find you a struggle to talk to at all.
In response to your thoughts- a lot of people have written about that; and to try and write something decent in a paragraph would be ambitious. But I definitely think going about proving God's existence philosophically is maybe the wrong approach. It's not that we can't try and understand theology and God on this level- it's just that it's very difficult to prove very much concrete. Our existence is pretty self evident to us- Descartes famous proof; 'I think therefore I am'. Now the question of how I prove the existence of other people or how I prove that the world exists and isn't in my mind is more difficult.
And God maybe falls into this category- although most people would say God's existence isn't as obvious as the existence of the world or other people. But for people like yourself (and myself) I think you might say that God's existence is pretty self evident- you don't have to do much proving at all- it's pretty self evident to you.
What do you think?
Hey! Oh Im glad about that!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your response, I like your line of thought. I also like the quote I think therefore I am, but does that mean people who can't think are not? eg someone in a coma.
Its so true, before you can prove something to anyone, you need to know what they understand by proof. So going down the proof line is not always a good approach.
But on the self-evident thing, I totally agree that God's existence is self-evident to me, but I meet so many people who would disagree with this, because they say things like I only believe what I can see. They call themselves "cartesian", was he a philosopher?
What would you say to them?
On the think before I am- It doesn't follow that those who don't think don't exist. Because we know that trees and rocks exist and don't think. It only means that if we're thinking, we can be pretty sure we exist.
ReplyDeleteWhen people say "Cartesian" they're talking about Descartes.
I agree, God is not self evident to most people. But I think a big part of God being self-evident to you is about trying to let others see what we see- to live alongside people, to learn how to share the simple ways we see the world. Not that there isn't a time for presenting people with clear arguments sometimes, but I think being called to be a witness means that we are called to tell people what we see- literally- to share why God is self evident to you. It's not necessarily always about convincing people that we're right but letting them see.
But then you're the full time evangelist- so really I should be asking you- what do you think? What does it mean to be a witness?
loool "youre the full time evangelist", may I point out by your own words so are you. Anyone who knows Christ is or should be. But yh its true Ive had the priveledge this year of being able to focus a bit more on this. Not that Ive done a very good job of it, but God is good and has been so kind to me.
ReplyDeleteI think youre so right about us trying to live in a way which shows people what we see. Its so wrong if we make it about us, and try and convince people that "We're right", cos thats not the point, the point is for them to discover God for themselves. But then, as we live this life where we seek to show God to people, often we come dangerously close to forgetting why we are here and forgetting the meaning of "to live is Christ to die is gain". We get caught up in things and forget that the reason we were doing it in the first place was to be a witness, and we start to do stuff so people think better of us rather than of God.
Something I heard recently which challenged me was that to become bold in our witness we have to die to what people think of us, to stop caring about getting people's good opinion and to not value at all people's praise. not easy.
Your thoughts?
Yes. I totally agree with you about dying to what people think of us. We're so dying for confirmation and affirmation from other people most of the time. But near impossible to do in practice; we're very socially motivated creatures really. It's not always a bad thing- but it's when it becomes the reason we do things that it is dangerous. But yeah, that is a challenging thought.
ReplyDelete