Month: August 2004

Who am I? What do I believe?

I got into an interesting conversation with a young woman tonight where a large portion of the subject matter was our shared Christian faith. After that conversation, I thought an overview of what I believe in might be in order.

  • I believe God exists.
  • I believe that only He is God, and that there are no other gods.
  • I know that I’m not Him.
  • I believe He created me, just as He created everything that has ever existed and ever will exist.
  • I believe that He loves me.
  • I believe that He wants what’s best for me, and that consists of living in His will.
  • I believe that sin is the result of me doing what I want to think, say and do, instead of what He wants me to think, say and do.
  • I believe that He loves me despite the things I think, say and do that He hates.
  • I believe that my sin prevents me from being able to experience God and commune with Him (in this human life.)
  • I believe that a blood sacrifice is necessary to atone for my sin. In ancient times, God-followers would sacrifice animals on altars to atone for their sins.
  • I believe that it’s not enough to love God; I should be obedient to His will.
  • I believe that He became a man, and lived as one of us in the form of Jesus of Nazareth.
  • I know the Romans crucified Jesus as a criminal.
  • I believe that doing this, God acted as His own blood sacrifice for my sins.
  • I believe that Jesus came back to life three days later, and spent many days among his faithful followers.
  • I believe that He rose up into the Heavens.
  • I believe that one day, possibly soon, He will return to take those of us who are faithful to be with Him in Heaven.
  • I know that many people say they are Christian, while living their lives in a way you never would otherwise know it.
  • I know this because I was one of them.
  • I believe that many con-artists and crazy people continue to appear and proclaim themselves as faithful followers, just as they have since before Christ’s time.
  • I believe that many people have taken a “buffet style” approach to their faith, picking and choosing what to believe depending on what suits them and peer pressure.
  • I believe that many politicians point to their faith while campaigning then vote in the opposite when they govern.
  • I believe that many religious denominations take certain passages of the Bible and either ignore them or obsess over them, at the expense of misguiding non-believers.
  • I believe that several religious denominations are overly legalistic, and lose focus on what really matters: the Grace of God.
  • I believe there is a church in Kansas that is one of these overly legalistic churches that, although they mean well, is doing great damage to the Gospel.
  • I believe that, despite not liking church services and not wanting to wake up early on a Sunday morning, I really should go to church.
  • I believe that every morning I must rededicate myself to Christ and learn as much about Him as I possibly can.

What is the purpose of blogging?

A discussion with an online friend lead me to question what the end purpose of blogging is.
Why do people blog? Why should I?
My friend tells me I should blog for myself; to entertain myself first. I’ll be mulling that over, but my initial reaction to that is that’s akin to writing books because I enjoy writing books for myself knowing that they will never be published and never be read. What’s the point in that?
Blogging has been described by some as a diary or journal open for all the world to see. Isn’t that an oxymoron? Publishing private thoughts?
No, my first reaction is that, by definition, blogging is an open, public and mostly egotistical form of self-expression. I blog because I enjoy it when other people read my posts and say things like, “I really enjoyed reading that,” or, “I’m glad someone else thinks the same way I do,” or, “I’d never really thought about it that way until reading what you wrote.” In nearly two years time, I’ve heard very little of that. I’ve heard plenty about mortgages and naked teenage girls and Viagra, but precious few in the way of comments.
Please understand, I’m not asking for a slew of pity “Oh, I really do enjoy reading your posts” comments, I’m just trying to decide whether spending my precious little free time sending messages in a bottle out to God only knows where is ultimately worth it. I don’t want to be just another mediocre blogger.
Maybe I’m just tired. Maybe I’m starting one of my infamous melancholy swings. I don’t know. What I do know is that I’ve written, by most people’s standards, some pretty good stuff lately and I had to beg for comments! That tells me no one cares what I think and, if that’s the case, why continue to blog?
Maybe I need to rethink how I’ve structured the blog itself. Maybe I’ll turn it into a bulletin board or just aggregate other posts I find interesting or begin collaborating with others. Or, maybe I just need to stick a fork in it.
Maybe I just need to mull it over for a while.