Dale Cresap's blog

The Bible makes many references to soldiers. This is an image that everyone can relate to regardless of whether they have served in uniform or not. The admirable qualities of a soldier include pleasing the one who has called him to serve, and lack of entanglement in distractions. Good soldiers have discipline, focus, and a sense of mission. These qualities transfer directly to the conduct of believers even if their service to me doesn’t involve weapons. Do you know what your commander expects of you?

Do you make a strong distinction between theology and psychology? These are treated as entirely different academic disciplines, and typically not even taught at the same schools. But there are some passages in the Bible that blur this distinction. How can you love God whom you cannot see if you cannot love your brother whom you can see? He who says he loves God should demonstrate this by loving his brother. You will be known as my disciples by the love you have for one another. In as much as ye have done it unto the least of these, you have done it unto me.

My disciples asked me to teach them to pray and I did. You are familiar with the lesson, part of which says, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Do you use this idea as a standard by which to judge your own prayers? Do your prayers contribute to this goal? It is one thing to incorporate this broad policy statement into your prayers. It is another to break it down into specific requests that serve this outcome and taking action accordingly. Blessed are those who pray according to my will in concrete terms, for they shall see the answers to their prayers.

Are you familiar with the commandment that you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain? You apply this to profanity which could be considered cheap oaths. Can you think of anything else this principle could apply to? Does your mind ever wander when you pray? Do you ever pray without belief? Do you pray for things that you know are not my will for you, or pray for the misfortune of your enemies, which is in effect a curse for them? I don’t want to discourage you from prayer. I am aware of your human limitations.

Are you reassured by the fact that the Holy Spirit is known as the Comforter? Yet it was this same Spirit that led me into the wilderness for 40 days to fast and be tempted by the accuser. Does this sound like your idea of comfort? So this Spirit performs multiple roles. Are you in greater need of comfort or challenge? Comfort makes you feel better in your situation but challenge stretches you to the limit of your capabilities and enlarges them. How else do you grow in your capacity? Don’t you seek out challenges for yourself for this very purpose? The Holy Spirit can provide them too.

Have you been born again? This phrase is so common in Christian terminology that few consider the shocking impact of this statement. Have you become immune to it through familiar usage? Nicodemus was right to be shocked and bewildered at this concept. The impact was not lost on him. It is indeed an eternal truth presented as a riddle and a mystery. Do you see all Christian doctrine as easily reducible to propositional truth claims? What then does it mean to be born of water and the spirit? What does it mean to be sifted like wheat and baptized by fire and die daily?

Do you see your religion and your spirituality as the same thing, or is there a difference? You could think of your religion as a container for your spirituality. The Bible refers to spirit as the wind which blows where it will. Have you met people who claim spirituality but reject every religious tradition? Do they seem adrift, blown about with every wind of doctrine, having no stable foundation to stand on? A kite requires wind to hold it aloft but it will only fly if it is tethered to the ground.

Do you think that people are generally doing their best? This may be a hard point to concede when you consider the evil and poor performance that you see in general, and that you experience in particular. But what is the alternative? It is judgmental to assume that poor performance is intentional or due to character flaws or evil motives. Ultimately you do not know the cause of it. I asked my Father to forgive my executioners because they knew not what they did. Can you extend the same reasoning to those who hurt you or others, that they may have no idea of what they are doing?

Do you see the world in black and white? This is a very stark view and to see the world in these terms is not something to strive for. Even in early photography there was a gray scale between black and white. But I created a world that goes beyond black and white and even gray to include color. You refer to this as the spectrum of visible light. So I have opened the door for a rich scale of diversity. Do you see the same concept of a spectrum present in things other than electromagnetism? In what other areas are you able to see subtlety and nuance rather than two fixed rigid categories?

Are you a critic or an advocate? Have you noticed that people generally fall into one camp or the other in their initial responses to new information? Do you see it as an expression of intellectual sophistication to oppose and find fault rather than to support and show enthusiasm? This is a widely held view even if you have escaped it. What great accomplishments have come about only by opposition? If you want to get something done you need to have positive energy and vision. If you do you can expect criticism according to the perspective above, but do it anyhow.