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The End of My Blog Break? Maybe

blog-breakI don’t apologize for taking blog breaks — and I’m not now — but, I must admit, this has been a rather extended one. My last post here was in May. So, I’ve been away a lot longer than usual. I am often too busy in the summer to spend much time on the Internet — though I find it intellectually stimulating at other times. I like to work outside at various gardening projects when the weather permits. I spend more time outside, just generally. I often fill pulpits in the summer. I just don’t have time for Internet activities.

But, this time, there was something more. I just got to feeling like I didn’t have anything to say.

The big controversy in the church and in society is about same-sex marriage and I have nothing to say about that — except that I find it to be a moral dilemma. I am committed to listening to people and to supporting people on their spiritual journey — so I am determined that I will do that to the best of my limited abilities in this case. When pushed to the wall, I find I have to simply commit myself to treat my LBGTQ neighbors as I would want to be treated if I were in their place. There is a hierarchy of moral concerns, after all, and Jesus did say: “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 7:12 NRSV.) End of topic.

I think I’ve always found that the topics and controversies that other people latch onto so passionately are uninteresting to me. Sometimes the controversies in the Christian world (particularly) seem silly to me.

And, it’s the same with the current political controversies too.

internet-mapWhen I get to this point I often seek input from others. But, being busy around the house makes that difficult. And, then, to make matters worse, I discovered that one of my (formerly) favorite philosophical theologians has now embraced atheism. I had been recommending his books. I find that I need to get inside someone else’s point of view, in order to respond to it — and, as a result I’ve sometimes been talking a bit like an atheist these days — though I’m certainly not. (Maybe I’ll say more about this later.) But, this also has contributed to my feeling that I have nothing to say.

I’ve dropped the Steele’s Answers blog — having completed the original project that gave rise to it — but I’ve kept The Hidden Life going in spite of my general busy-ness and my general nothing-to-say-ness. (Thomas C. Upham wrote so voluminously I could keep The Hidden Life going for many years — and, who knows, maybe I will.) The fact that I have not been posting in this blog doesn’t mean I haven’t been adding to the other sections of this web site — because I have. I’m on the home stretch in editing Thomas C. Upham’s A Treatise on Divine Union — but it will be a few months before I am done (going at the rate I’m going). I haven’t given up on this — but I am currently just trying to learn. I’m not so sure I have anything to say — or anything I want to say.

I have made some general — but behind the scenes — improvements in the web site.

I seem to be rousing myself from my lethargy. We’ll see…

 

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6 Responses

  1. Sandra VandenBrink July 31, 2015 / 10:40 am

    I’m curious who your “(formerly) favorite philosophical theologian (who) has now embraced atheism” might be.

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts and ideas on this blog. I often refer back to your articles when I’m pondering something Wesleyan or otherwise Christian.

    • Craig L. Adams July 31, 2015 / 10:51 am

      His name is F. LeRon Shults. He studied under Wolfhart Pannenberg and has been teaching theology in Norway for several years. He has written several books and has formerly described himself as “reformed” and “evangelical.” I have been recommending his writings for several years now to people interested in philosophical / systematic theology. When I say that he has embraced atheism I want to make it clear that this is not just agnosticism — he now has moral objections to theism and feels it must be abandoned on moral (as well as intellectual) grounds. He also objects to spiritual practices which would support a theistic perspective on life.

      • Sandra VandenBrink July 31, 2015 / 11:38 am

        Hmmm, I’ll have to explore this. Wonder what led him to these new conclusions. I’m always curious about how people come to their beliefs. Thanks!

  2. Franklin Robinson July 31, 2015 / 11:36 am

    We same to be in the same place in the moral dilemma concerning same sex marriage. Life long United Methodist who is concerned about the long term of our church’s survival(or maintaining it intact as it is now). I will continue to check your blog and Daily for your thoughts and that of others.

    • Craig L. Adams July 31, 2015 / 11:59 am

      Thanks, Franklin. When you say “our church” I presume you mean the United Methodist Church — which is, at best, only one branch of the Body of Christ. I like to think of the Body of Christ as “my church.” I agree that it would be better for the UMC to stay together (however dis-united they currently are) but I believe that there are larger and more important issues that God would want us to attend to. The UMC may be too diseased to survive, I don’t know. But, the cause of the Kingdom of God is a lot larger and more important than that.

      • Franklin Robinson August 1, 2015 / 11:26 am

        Well put. Thank you.

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