This is Me Being Blunt...

I will always search for truth. Even when I think I've found it, I will continue to search and challenge my truth. This is something that too many Christians don't do. I firmly believe that if Christianity is true, God would want us to continue to search for deeper meaning and challenge our own faith even if we were already walking with Him.

There are two possible outcomes that can result from continuing to search and challenge. Both are good outcomes. One, we will build and strengthen the foundations of our faith and continue to learn and grow our relationships with our higher power. Second, we may find evidence to suggest that what we held to be truth may, in fact, be incorrect and thereby find the correct path. If we choose not to exercise our free will and follow blindly without question; if we fail to search deeper and in every direction even when we think we are on the right path, there are NO positive results. Will will cease to grow, our relationship with God will remain stagnant, and if by chance we are wrong about our faith, we will have completely missed the boat effectively eliminating all purpose and potential our life may have once had.

God gave us free will for a reason and he gave us a mind of reason for a purpose. Too many don't exercise this mind or their free will enough. We should use gifts always... forever... no matter where we are in our journey for truth. If we stop using these gifts, we may as well be dead. And as Nietzsche argued, God is, in effect, dead too.

Top 5 Reasons to Vote OBAMA

#5 If McCain moves into the White House, that will be his 9th home. Can we say "out of touch?"



#4 Obama is an avid fan of our national pastime. Sarah Palin is an avid fan of Canada's national pastime.



#3 Dude's got moves!



#2 Joe Biden compensates for Obama's weaknesses. Sarah Palin... she... eh.. hmm...



#1 Does anyone really want to hear four more years of Joe the Plummer refernces? Say NO to Plumber's Crack!!

My Truth, Your Truth

A few blogs ago, I mentioned the idea that "truth for me is different than truth for you." A friend commented saying that he believed that truth is what the Bible says is true and he had trouble with the "My truth, your truth" idea. I had been meaning to write a quick bit to clarify what I meant and I am finally getting around to it. I guess the way I should have worded my idea would be more like this...

I believe that we all have a unique experience of truth. By this I mean, that while the underlying truth may be the same for us all (The Bible perhaps), we all experience that truth in a unique way. This is why I say it is far more important to learn about truth by looking inside and listening to God than to listening to others because the way they experience that truth is different and make not resonate the same way as the experience God intended for us.

I think a big part of what this idea breaks down to is "beware of dogma." I remember Ally and I going to a church in Las Vegas once that believed that those closest to God could speak in tongues. To allow myself to listen to this belief would have damaged the way I viewed God and would have been deafening when trying to hear Him. This is not to say that this experience of truth (speaking in tongues) was wrong, it just may be the way God intended certain people to experience truth. At least thus far, I do not have the ability to speak in tongues. I don't think this makes me have any less chance of fully experiencing God, I just think I am meant to experience him in other ways. To be honest, I have yet to figure out what exactly my experience of truth is or will be. I may never know and I'm OK with that. But I am learning that the best way to come closer to understanding truth is by looking within and placing a fine filter on the outside "noise."

Let me know what you think...