Dale Cresap's blog

Have you ever been sworn to secrecy, when someone confides in you some sensitive information about themselves on the condition that it be held in confidence? Has anyone ever told you such information without making such a request? In that case would you be free to share it widely? Passing on damaging information about others is gossip even if you heard it directly from them, and even if no promise of confidentiality was required. Do you understand the importance of speaking the truth in love?

Have you ever had an unguarded conversation? In your encounters with other people you learn very quickly what subjects are acceptable, what opinions are acceptable, and how much of your own vulnerability you can share. You may have known someone for years and know that things must  be kept at a superficial level, but with others you can go deep even if you have only known them a short time. So the quality of the relationship depends on the empathy of those taking part in it. Which type of encounter do you find more satisfying? How would you rate your relationship with me in this regard?

You know that I am all about redemption projects. You know this applies to you and your fellow believers. How far do you think my work of redemption goes? Would it be sufficient to create a sharp dividing line that favors a select few and consign the rest to be discards? In the eternal scheme is the earth just a temporary vehicle to facilitate this selection? You are grateful for your own redemption, and for those you love. Would you like to see my work of redemption extend as far as possible? What about the whole narrative of time and history?

Diplomacy is considered to be better than war. It is a way of resolving conflicts without resorting to violence, and wars occur when diplomacy fails. Christians no longer go to war against each other as they did in the past, but fighting can be verbal even if it isn’t violent. Verbal attack has a very low threshold and is much more common as a result. Is it so prevalent that it seems like background noise that you no longer notice? Has strife become the default condition?

Do you see your faith as substantial or ethereal? Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Do you see the brilliance of this statement in the way it relates very concrete things (substance, evidence) with things that are invisible (things not seen and hope). Your faith encompasses both realms and provides a connection between them. You will be in error if your faith only embraces one of these. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Your faith is best lived with a foot in both worlds.

Do you see your life as a linear progression through time? Are most of the moments you experience routine and unexceptional and therefore not memorable? But in the course of your life you have accumulated moments that stand out, that you keep coming back to, that you share with others when opportunities arise for you to tell your story. What is it that makes these moments stand out from among the rest? What do they have in common? Are these exceptional moments times when the transcendent and eternal break through into full awareness? How can you structure your life to have more of them?

What type of world do you live in? Do you encounter skeptics that point to human suffering and say that it reflects badly on me? I said that my creation was good. Is it possible for this to be true even in a world that includes suffering, even your own? Even in the midst of your difficulties, do you live in a world that is congruent rather than random, in which everything belongs in its own way to a coherent whole, and which is moving, however slowly, toward a favorable conclusion, and that your life matters as a part of it?

Do you believe in destiny? Are you confident that you have one of your own? What does this concept mean to you? Do you think it refers to my will for you? Do you think it is exact and detailed? Do you despair of finding something so precise? I don’t want you to think that your faith is fatalistic or deterministic. I don’t want you to see yourself as a passive object in your own life. You do have a destiny but it is not a simple as walking in a set of footsteps set out before you. You need to look for it.

Do you practice an intellectually rigorous faith? Do not think that these concepts must be in opposition. Scholars throughout the ages have given serious thought to theology, and true faith will withstand scrutiny. You may find some things in your beliefs that don’t measure up, and find that they were not essential anyway. You don’t need to park your brain at the door of the church, but this is not the same thing as figuring everything out by yourself. You describe your faith as a relationship with me, but you normally apply rigorous thinking in the realm of propositional truth claims.

Do you have questions about your faith? You have engaged a subject that is so vast as to be comprehensive of all things and so consequential as to be the ultimate reality, but it does not lend itself to designed experiments, so it is normal that you would have some questions. Some churches will find your questions threatening because they do not have answers or seize too quickly upon inadequate ones. Yet I am not threatened by your questions. But at the same time I am not eager to answer them right away.