Dale Cresap's blog

Do you live in a classless society? There are valid arguments to say that there is no such thing, and those who are in the upper regions are less likely to be aware of the degree of stratification and the struggles of those on the lower rungs. Are you kind to the least of these? Do you think of them only as those in prison, or sick, or naked, hungry, and thirsty? You could expand your definition to include the marginally employed. If you are not one of these, do you seek out real connections with them? This goes beyond being courteous to them as they serve you.

Do you think of sins as acts of commission? Is it possible to sin by doing nothing? If so, these would be known as sins of omission. This concept implies that you have an inherent duty to those around you, and it is a sin to neglect that duty. If you follow a faith based on love, and the two primary commandments are to love God and your neighbor, then having a duty to your neighbor shouldn’t come as a surprise. What do you owe to the next person you encounter even if you have no prior association with them? You don’t owe them money.

Pilate asked ‘what is truth?’ even as truth stood before him. This is still a valid question. How do you view truth? In classic rationality truth is abstract and independent; it is objective and conceptual. Is there another approach? I said that you could know the truth, but I didn’t claim that I knew the truth, but that I was the truth. This strong statement opens the door for relational truth. Can you obtain relational truth outside of a relationship? Can you get it from books alone, even the Bible? The Bible speaks of people who had encounters with me.

Detectives use fingerprints to identify criminals. Your fingerprints are unique identifiers and you leave evidence of your presence on everything you touch, everywhere you go. Do you think I have fingerprints? You hold a doctrinal position that I created the heavens and the earth. Do you think I left evidence behind of my workmanship, in the same way an artist signs their paintings? If this is true then my creation testifies to the work I did in creating it. Do the heavens and the earth declare the glory of God? Not everyone can see this. Can you?

You know that I taught in parables. These were stories to illustrate the nature of the Kingdom of God, and you are familiar with these from the Bible. I taught in timeless imagery familiar to my audiences. Do you think that if I walked among you today I would use the same stories? Perhaps I would add new ones that spoke directly to modern experience. The parables only work if they bridge the gap between the familiar and the unfamiliar. You have to engage your audience with something they know to teach them something they don’t know. How do you present the gospel message?

There are crimes against the law of the land, misdemeanors and felonies, and civil lawsuits. Are there other types of crime? You won’t be arrested and prosecuted for spiritual crimes, but do such things exist? In some schools of theology anything sinful would qualify, and you have a way to obtain forgiveness for your sins. What about interfering with the spiritual development of someone else; causing one of these little ones to stumble? What about those for whom the way of truth is evil spoken of? For offenses must come, but woe to him by whom the offense comes.

Do you want to experience my full presence? Be careful what you ask for. Do you like having your home attached to grid power? The service to your house is about 200 volts depending on where you live. You know that there are high voltage transmission lines and these run at 12,000 to 120,000 volts and more. Do you think it would give you a superior experience of power to connect your home directly to these voltages? You know that this is a bad idea. How much of my presence can you bear? I know the answer to that question even if you don’t, and will not overpower you.

Would you say that your life is characterized by passion? Would this make you normal or abnormal? Do you find that most people go through life going through the motions, and that you can go through life and support yourself without an inner fire? But isn’t there an inner longing for a fully engaged life, for a cause that you are so committed to that it consumes you? How many people do you know like that? Do you admire them? Are you one of them? Do you live your life with a sense of destiny? Are you listening to your soul to find out what it is asking of you? Are you prepared to respond?

How do you carry out the Great Commission? Do you admire the apostles for their boldness that is commended in the Bible and wish to emulate them? Have you ever encountered resistance to the gospel message? Do you find that the harder you push the harder your audience pushes back, so your efforts create resistance? How do you feel when someone is trying to persuade you? Is there anything more important than feeling safe when you encounter a different point of view?

I denounced the Pharisees in my generation. Do you know anything about Pharisees other than what you read in the gospels? They were a relatively short-lived Jewish sect that took their spirituality seriously and applied it to all aspects of life. Is this last part true of you as well? What characteristics did the Pharisees have that I objected to? Even though no one goes by that title today, has anyone taken on the same characteristics to become the functional equivalent by another name? Who do you think I would identify in your current generation to criticize for hypocrisy?