It is sometimes said, regarding many things, that the hardest part is getting started. I have definitely found that to be true regarding this blog. The idea to write a blog on the general topic of Christianity first came to me at least two years ago, and I’ve spent much of the time since then merely compiling a large collection of incomplete notes on a variety of topics on which I would like to write. When I finally decided to move forward and begin posting my writings, it took an unreasonably long time to decide what my first topic would be. I have finally settled on briefly sharing a bit about myself, my reasons for deciding to start this blog, and what I intend to write about.
My story so far has certainly not been very dramatic. I was raised in a Christian home, attended church from the beginning, and prayed the “salvation prayer” when I was four years old. In many ways, I was probably the stereotypical Christian child. I read my Bible frequently, answered questions in Sunday School, never challenged authority. I never encountered any of the difficult sorts of circumstances that commonly serve as testimonies, lead people toward God or, in some cases, drive them away from God. For many years I viewed this as a drawback, assuming that it would prevent me from having much to offer to believers or nonbelievers.
However, as I got older, I developed an intense curiosity that compelled me to question everything and not take anything for granted. This helped me realize that growing up the way I had brought with it its own challenges. Particularly, there can be a tendency to become so settled and comfortable that we find it difficult to move forward into greater depth and maturity in our Christian walk. It’s too easy to take for granted the truth of what we believe, without exploring the foundations of and evidence for those beliefs; to simply assume that everything we were taught is true; or that our particular denomination is correct in all of its doctrines, without testing all of these things and only holding on to those that hold up to scrutiny.
I’m certainly not saying that the foundational truths of Christianity are not important; indeed, it is on these that everything else is built. However, too often we can find ourselves simply going over these basics repeatedly, enjoying the familiarity and comfort, and neglect to explore new territory, to ask questions to which we don’t yet know the answer. This is what we must do, however, if we are to develop a solid foundation for what we believe; to ensure that our beliefs do in fact correspond to the truth (and aren’t simply chosen based on our own preferences); to prepare us to defend those beliefs against external intellectual challenges; and to enable us to provide insight to others who may have similar questions.
I’m certainly not suggesting that it’s possible for us to discover the answer to every question. However, I feel that often we are too quick to avoid tough questions and simply dismiss as a “mystery” anything we don’t understand. We ought to at least try to understand what we can. My intent with this blog is to explore some of those deeper questions, to present my opinion on a variety of questions I’ve thought about, and to hopefully hear some opinions in return. I firmly believe that one of the most effective ways to facilitate growth in wisdom, knowledge, and maturity is to engage in respectful debate and share differing opinions. None of us has all of the right answers, so we all have something to gain from sharing our various thoughts and perspectives.
Having said all of this, it is my hope that this blog will prompt deeper curiosity about God, Christianity, and the world in general, that it will serve as a catalyst for productive conversation, and that by increasing our knowledge we may be able to more effectively apply these things to our lives.
