Welcome

I don't want to make this an overly long post. I expect to be blogging for months and, perhaps, years to come on this subject. God willing, I will have plenty of time to develop themes and streams and rivers of concern that have plagued me for years. I imagine--indeed, I'm quite confident--that many of the issues I raise are of concern to others and, though not all, many of them will be of interest or concern to you.

I expect that some of my readers here will be very familiar with me. I am known in Evangelical Christian homeschooling circles because of my relationship to Sonlight Curriculum.

My wife and I founded the company 20-some years ago. I used to be the chief spokesperson for the company until I resigned from active, day-to-day participation. (That resignation occurred going on 3 years ago, now. (Wow!))

I still identify strongly with the larger homeschooling community, and I know that many Sonlighters "follow" me to one degree or another.

I also know that--or maybe I should say, I am confident that--a number of Sonlight detractors "follow" me as well, hoping to find something with which they may beat on Sonlight.

I don't know why others may be familiar with me. Twenty years ago I published a book called Dating With Integrity. It's still in print today. So you may have heard of me through that.

I was editor of Mission Frontiers magazine published by the US Center for World Mission for several years. I wrote a number of articles that gained fairly wide circulation.

But, overall--and I am writing this paragraph in anticipation of it being read two or three years in the future!--I expect the most likely reason someone will find this blog--the most likely reason you have found this blog!--is because they have (you have) Googled one of the topics we will have discussed within the blog itself.

I have decided to create this blog because it feels to me as if Christians are "not allowed" to ask the deepest questions. Those who don't struggle find the questions of those of us who do impertinent, bothersome, offensive, demonstrating a fundamental disrespect or disdain for the things of God.

And while I can understand that . . . feeling . . . And while I am sure there are many atheists about whom such comments might be made in truth, I believe that those who assume anyone who asks such questions must be coming from a position of disrespect and disdain are, themselves, demonstrating a fundamental disrespect and disdain for the person who has legitimate and innocent reasons for asking such questions! Indeed, the (non-questioning) people who level such charges are exhibiting an immaturity and fear that ought to have no place in a church or community that claims to be filled with the Spirit, power and wisdom of an almighty and all-knowing God!

Brave words.

The problem is, I have been afraid to confront the issues that most bother me. It scares me even to ask the questions . . . because, I'm afraid, even to ask the questions will, for many people, brand me a heretic. I am afraid that if I ask the questions--or if I admit, even, to reading the books written by certain people--those actions on my part, in themselves, will open me to being branded a heretic. And so I have shied away from raising the issues or asking the questions or--to be most forthright about it--seeking the answers! (I have direct, personal, and very costly experience that has helped create the fear within me. And I have no doubt I will soon tell the story of that experience. But as I write this post, that is for the future.)

The fear of which I speak is not unfounded, I think.

It is as if you were an intellectually open person in the 1950s. Wanting to listen thoughtfully, analytically--maybe even skeptically and disdainfully! (but with care and concern for honesty and justice)--to the heartfelt concerns of leading Socialists and Communists, you purchased or borrowed books written by well spoken advocates for those positions. But, for your troubles, you suddenly find yourself hauled before HUAC--the House Un-American Activities Committee.

In a free society, especially in a self-described Christian society--one in which, I would expect, members are dedicated to honesty, care, love and respect for their fellow human beings! --It seems to me that intellectually rigorous and honest and compassionate concern for the truth and for those who may be of a different opinion or who may be held under sway of a different worldview . . . It seems to me that such behavior should be honored and valued rather than held in disdain or abhorrence.

I will end my opening post at this point, however.

As I said up top: We should have adequate time to get to know one another . . . in our belief . . . and in our unbelief.