Evangelical Zeal

One surprising result of engaging in dialogue in the culture wars has been my shift in how I express my passion. In the past, I would regularly enter into a debate prepared to shout down the opposition. If not that extreme, at least I would not consider the other side to have anything worth offering. There is nothing so unusual about that, since that is the predominant model of debate in society today.

But I started this blog with the express intent of trying to change that for me and hoped that it might be an example for others. This process has forced me to find ways to express my passion without putting others down. Sometimes that is not so easy. At the end of the day I want the world to know where I stand and I want to say it in a way that is persuasive. I'm not naive enough to believe that everyone will agree with everything I say, but I do hope that at least some of what I preach will influence others.

One of the recent areas of dialogue has been around the area of absolute truth. I must say that I don't like some of what attends to preaching absolute truth since it can draw clear lines that exclude and if one of those absolutes is that God is love then how does exclusion fit with that? But the passion of spreading good news of truth that is bigger than us is a gift that Evangelicals have recently given me. Granted, the message I have passion for is markedly different that the one they preach, but I'm glad to name the common ground.

On Christmas Eve I felt the urge to touch hearts and squeeze guts just a little. This was the result. It was good to share a message with zeal, something I can thank those with whom I disagree for reminding me of.