Growing Past Ideology

I'm thinking that beyond the issue of ideology making it difficult for us to process information contrary to our accepted beliefs, there is a lot of pressure within Evangelical circles to conform. If you do not fit the mold, you do not belong is a common message and motif.
This kind of thinking an message makes it difficult for people to assess new information. Pressure to conform to the official or popular message all too easily becomes the defining basis of belonging to the community. Either one accepts the established norms, leaves, or remains silent in their disagreement in order to stay within the circle of faith.
I have seen this pressure keep clergy from speaking out in fear of losing their positions. I have seen church members leave believing that they were not accepted or valued. I have seen individuals shamed and cast away for daring to question what others took for granted.
In the SBC, Fundamentalists used ostracism and defamation to attack seminary professors, pastors, and missionaries who would not conform to the beliefs or stated positions of a specific group. Fear of being labeled an outsider kept many in line and quiet on their disagreements, even if they believed their positions to be more solidly Biblical or in keeping with Jesus' teachings.
When politics comes into the church setting, there is a merging of faith positions and political positions. It is all too easy for people to confuse the message of the gospel and the message of the political party. It becomes too easy to write off any who would dare disagree with the supposed majority opinion. Fear of losing God's favor and salvation get tangled up in those same issues of political platform and policy.
Growing up in Brazil, I often heard the statement, "I don't argue with you, I argue with your ideas." The underlying concept was that people were more important than the positions they took, the ideas they espoused, or the knowledge they shared. That was a position that enabled growth. It enabled discovery. It enabled a society or group to investigate concepts without fear. It allowed for an exchange and a shift in ideas, positions, priorities, and values. It was a much more solid basis for conversations, decision-making, and growth.
We desperately need to get over this mentality of "You only have value if and when you agree with me."
Paul says, "For I see through a glass darkly, but then I will see clearly, even as I am clearly seen." That means there was room for him to grow, develop, change his understanding, and learn new aspects of God's will, identity, and character. It also meant that he was open to learning how to better apply the principles of the gospel of Christ Jesus.
When we are not open to change, to new understanding, to growth, we are not really following the gospel. It is good news that creates new life in those who would follow Jesus. It is a journey of transformation. It is a call and challenge to be "renewed day by day" as we "press on toward the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus."
Faith is not static. Life is not static. Becoming static, unmoving, and inflexible, is simply a recipe for becoming stagnant and beginning the process of moral and spiritual decay. No, faith calls us to growth. It challenges. It compels. It requires so much more than accepting the status quo or popular doctrines we have learned since childhood.
We don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, but if we are not being truly challenged in how we live out our faith, understanding, and relationships then we are not being true to our mission to love one another and become one in Christ Jesus.
It will mean that we have to accept some people we do not like. It will mean treading somewhere that makes us uncomfortable. It will mean that some will laugh, deride, and call us names. It will mean that we are ostracized for accepting those on the outside of our comfort zones. Even so, that is where education, faith, and learning take us. They challenge our received traditions as life changes around us. They call us to be renewed and to renew others in the process.
When that growth means that we look more like Jesus, that is positive growth. Should it take us away from Jesus, it does not proceed from faith. When ideology is fixed, it becomes an idol and distracts us from the values of the gospel. Good news means a message that is accepting of people rather than condemning. When others do not share our views, we need not fear them for it. God is much greater than any doubts we may need to struggle with. Otherwise, the God we serve is not deserving of the title, and is little more than an ideology that can be forced into a box.
The problem with that is that God does not fit into any box we can create. Instead, Jesus is always breaking boxes, confronting the status quo, and calling us into new channels and applications of grace, love, and mercy. I refuse to be left behind in that journey, even when I have to leave behind some of my own pet ideas and concepts. Following Jesus is of much greater worth, after all.
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My latest book can be found at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1520737602/

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