You may have heard that many Christians believe that they should make a clear distinction between what they say and what the Bible says. I definitely support this objective as well. The difference is my method and my understanding of reality.
I very much believe that no person can truly be objective and only God can do so. I believe it important for us to admit that we as Christians are weak and flawed and we don’t speak for God. The difference between what is written and the Bible specifically as translated vs. what I say is that the one is actual thoughts of God while mine is a mixture of both my understanding of God’s thoughts intertwined with my experiences, culture, preferences, hopes, fears, and the like.
I see things from my point of view even though the only thing I believe in is God and His thoughts as presented in the Bible. So if you want to know the exact thoughts of God read the Bible, follow your conscience and seek God with all your heart. If you are honestly trying, you will find Him. I don’t think God’s desires for us are mysterious or hard to understand.
Our culture is very far from seeing things from God’s point of view, but if you try to see things from His point of view, I believe you can despite whatever limitations you have. I believe that a cultural and philosophical perspective on the Bible is a must to truly incorporate God’s ideas into your life.
We have to admit we are emotional and spiritual as much as we are physical and rational beings. God wants us to love Him with all our hearts, minds, and souls. In order to do so, we need to bring God’s thoughts into our culture and decide what things clearly contradict the Bible and discard them but embrace the rest. Every culture that has received the Gospel has had to make such decisions.
Currently the dominant culture in America and the world is changing as our cultural center in Hollywood is making a fundamentally different reality than it has previously. This will be the dominant culture in the world until Christians decide to engage the world and this country in production of culturally relevant creative works. We have to have a culture of our own as Christians in America and if we refuse to lead in this area we will be left with cheap ripoffs of everything which we just label with the word Christian.
So what I have done differently than other Christians is that I have told Christianity from my point of view and tried to find a more relevant philosophy to pair it with than what has been used previously in America. This is my own point of view and does not necessarily represent other people’s views or even the Bible as it is. I do not claim to offer anything more to the Gospel than any other Christian, but I do claim to offer a different philosophy.
So this pairing together of my philosophy with Christianity is meant to replace the old dominant cultural assumptions in Christian America today. I do not intend to say anything different theologically speaking than you have heard from other Christians. But when it comes to cultural issues like politics, ethics, science, psychology, economics, art, history, and almost every subject other than theology, I have an entirely different perspective.
Technically speaking this involves a fundamental change in philosophical perspective. My thinking naturally aligns quite closely to philosophical Taoism and Christian Existentialism. I know this makes me quite at odds with most American Christians as they think anything that is not culturally European is new age and communist.
All I can say is the world is bigger than the American Russian Cold War and fighting for keeping that mindset is not good for anyone other than a increasingly narrow section of the rural white population in America. It is the number one reason why so many young people feel the Church is irrelevant or even dangerous today. Ignorance does not look good on anyone including Christians.
So I realize that I will convince very few Christians but I feel no need to do so as they already have the Bible and the Holy Spirit to guide them. I am interested more in working with non-Christians as they are less inclined to write me off before they hear what it is I have to say. I am interested in evangelism and some of them are interested in a different point of view from a Christian.
Some Christians believe there is one true worldview that is from the Bible and they know it and everyone else is wrong. I believe there is one true worldview that is from the Bible but I believe that no one knows it and everyone is wrong about it. I think that as far as people writing books about the Bible or interpreting Scripture I am not any farther off than they are.
If everyone else will truly stick to the Bible and stop writing and preaching things other than just reading from Scripture and destroy all their theology books, I will stop writing as well. Until then, even though I know I cannot perfectly communicate or even understand every thought of God in the Bible I will continue to do my best to present it accurately to the world. And in doing so I will tell it from the only point of view I can understand which is my own. Whether that sounds heathen to other Christians is not my responsibility and I am ok with that.
The big difference between me and most Christian writers is that I have studied widely in both eastern and western philosophy, major world religions, and Asian and European history and so I believe I have a more nuanced and expanded view of both history and human thought. This has lead me to different conclusions. I also have had unusual experiences like serving as an enlisted soldier in the US Army for a little over a year and later being mentally ill for 25 years now.
I was a Christian before, during, and afterwards. Before people thought I was creative and many now think I am a heretic. Maybe some people think creativity means heresy or maybe they just don’t know what they are talking about. I try not to talk about things I don’t know about so I guess I learned something from the experience.