Arguing

I have recently come across a few situations, references really, from atheists mostly, about Christianity. There was a day when I would have felt a need to fight. To apologize, in the old sense. I had trained in it. I reveled in debate of any kind. To match wits and see who can hold their own.

But lately, I have no interest. The last thing I want to do is try to defend God. i think he's quite capable of doing it himself. And if he hasn't felt the need to submit to these half-baked questions then I don't feel a need to either. Half-baked, yes. Most of them are positioned in ignorance. People get a perception of something and lock in to that. This fuels all their arguments. Though they fail to see there are countless other perspectives, traditions, interpretations on it.

This even takes place within the Christian world as various denominations and even various viewpoints within denominations strive with each other. Get over it. Get over yourselves. You people think you're so smart in your clever attacks and comebacks. I was you once. And I was an ass too.

Before you take a shot at something, I suggest you do your homework. There are countless volumes, speeches, blogs, treatises from across 2000 years world wide, and I'll bet you haven't digested them all, so there's a good possibility that others may know things you haven't thought of yet. You look like a fool to anyone who has experienced more than you.

When someone truly wants to talk; when they actually care what someone else might have to say instead of simply lining up a bunch of monologues; when they actually consider other points and weigh them logically, I'm willing to spend no end of time discussing things. Otherwise, you're wasting your time and mine.

New

All things new. I've heard this countless times, but today it was brought to my mind in a new light. I have often understood the regeneration thing in terms of a one-time incident. That's actually the sense of the words in 2 Corinthians 5:17. I just checked. So I'm not saying that's wrong. Just that the verse, and the one in Revelation 21:5, was spoken to me today with a new meaning. And when the Lord of Spirits speaks it, I've learned to listen as it is intended in the moment.

I was thinking about letting go of the masks we wear and about living as if the past was dead, when I realized that I often think of that regeneration as a point that happened once and everything after that point is now held to my account. So while I know we are forgiven past and future and all that, the fact is, I feel responsible for my failures after that point of regeneration. This is a heavy burden for someone who has been in the Blood for years...and by some theologies years even before that. That's a lot of time to screw things up. A lot of time to be faced with one's own inadequacy...all the more clearly visible because of the new clarity of mind that comes with the Spirit. But in the split second that these thoughts crossed my mind He spoke to me that all things are made new repeatedly. That same joy and release one feels at first understanding that one is set free from the guilt of their offenses is mine each and every moment.

It's as if I am walking forward and shedding weight and armor with every step and with every step there is more and more to keep shedding for miles and miles and years and years, a trail of shed material falling away and ever more beneath it, all the while by slightest degrees the glory of the new creation becoming more and more manifest through it.