Dale Cresap's blog

Do you love your enemies? You know that the Bible requires you to do this. Do you find this to be the most difficult commandment to keep? How do you identify your enemies? People who are trying to kill you? People who disagree with you? There is a wide gap between these groups, but you don’t get to excuse yourself from following this commandment by saying that you don’t have any enemies. You can have beneficial interactions with people you disagree with, even if they are working for a different vision of the future.

Have you noticed from the gospel accounts of my life that I was not what would be known today as a social justice warrior? There were plenty of opportunities. I lived in an occupied country. Some of my followers would have liked me to rise up against Rome and were disappointed. I lived in a culture of slavery and other oppressive practices. Don’t take my silence on these issues as approval of them. I had my own marching orders to proclaim the Kingdom of God. Would you say that my strongest criticism was of hypocrisy and false ways of being?

What is the main theme of the Bible? Is it composed of the stories of people who believed in me and encountered me? The first people who did this, such as Abraham, didn’t have doctrine to go by, so their beliefs were not as fully formed as yours are. Yet their encounters with me were transformative. Can one thing substitute for another? Which do you think is more important? Which of these do you see getting greater emphasis in my life? The modern church is very effective at teaching doctrine. Is it equally as good at facilitating encounters with me? How could this be improved?

Do you have friends? What is the depth of your friendship? Do you stick to common interests and jointly held views? These are safe areas, but this is a superficial level of friendship. Do you have friendships that are deeper and stronger, that will bear the weight of conflict resolution or transformative growth? There are certain things that you need to hear that you don’t want to hear. If you make the effort you can avoid contact with anything challenging or unpleasant, and this is truer than ever before. But in doing so you will avoid growth.

Do you practice the one true faith? Do you know of denominations that identify as Christian that claim to be the one true church? Do you find this claim off-putting? How do you think your claim of Christianity as the one true faith is viewed by those who practice other faiths? Everyone thinks that their version of the truth is correct but they cannot all be insofar as they contradict one another. You want to be an advocate for the truth as you understand it, and this is an admirable goal.

Do you think that you are righteous and come to the right position on every issue because you are led by the Spirit? Do you encounter other people who have access to the same facts and come to different positions and assume that they are not righteous or spirit-led? Are you confident that your own motives are pure and theirs are not? They may feel the same way about you. Is it possible that you are both righteous? To assume otherwise is to judge your brother.

Which do you consider to be more important, the pursuit of happiness, or the pursuit of meaning? The pursuit of happiness may be enshrined in your founding documents, and you may see everyone you know putting forth a great effort to obtain it, but is it the most valuable thing? To answer this question consider the tradeoff. Do you know people who pursue happiness and end up shallow and disappointed, lacking substance? Who can endure a meaningless life? This is a spiritual longing that you can’t ignore. How many people do you know that lead meaningful lives who are unhappy?

What would you do if you wanted to become a better Christian? More Bible study? More prayer? More church attendance? What would you do if you wanted to become a better person? Be more thoughtful and considerate? More generous? More committed to care for and involvement with those in need? If you become a better Christian by doing the activities first mentioned, will you automatically become a better person? You may get a different answer from those within and those outside of your faith tradition.

Do you see the church as a separate entity, isolated from the society at large? You could point to the verse that says come out from among them and be separate. Yet you are also called to be in the world but not of the world. It is hard to live in isolation from the general culture. Is it desirable? One of the criteria for church leaders is that they have a good reputation among those who are without. Have you found that good character traits are universally admired, even by those who make no profession of faith?

Do you read advertisements and know that the terms ‘as-is’ or ‘fixer-upper’ imply that the item for sale is not in prime condition? You would expect the condition to be reflected in the price, or the seller willing to negotiate at a disadvantage based on the quality of his goods. Do you know that you are bought with a price and you are not your own? How do you see yourself as a result? Did I get you as pristine and immaculate or as a fixer-upper? So did I use that as negotiating point or did I pay the asking price for you?