Here is what’s going over and over again on the rotisserie grill of my mind…
Rotisserie #1
When I was in Philly, over Spring Break, a group of us had this running dialogue regarding Liberation Theology.
From liberationtheology.org:
Liberation theology is the effort to think clearly about the meaning of religious faith in the context of oppression, war, poverty, inequality and environmental destruction, and the effort to live a compassionate, courageous and life-sustaining response to those conditions, a response that both addresses the needs of those who are injured and oppressed, and also works to change the structures and ongoing processes of injury and oppression. Liberation theology varies greatly according to the culture in which it arises, but its underlying themes are immediately recognizable across the world: the transformation of everyday life through a new awakening of compassion, courage, truthfulness and justice.
Sounds painful…it was…but perhaps not why you think. I wasn’t frustrated because I disagree with liberation theology. I was frustrated because I saw how good intentions, by well meaning people, often get in the way of progress. Here is the scenario: my friend read this book Beyond God the Father, which I have ordered from Amazon and should be arriving by May 5th, and through her reading came about many new ideas and questions regarding scriptural truth. I suppose her greatest question revolved around the role of women in the church.
Let me say that my frustration begins with myself and carries over when I see it in others. I’ve noticed it more and more in myself in the past few days since I’ve been thinking about this and I’ve started trying to work on it. Be patient…
Here’s what my problem looks like from an overview…
My nature as a man is to:
1) Recognize a problem
2) Analyze the problem
3) Evaluate what I know about the problem
4) Solve the problem
That’s the process I go through consciously or unconsciously…with most everything. Is this a problem? Sometimes it is, sometimes it is not. In this case, I believe it was. My friend had legitimate questions. Notice I said questions (plural). The question she asked was linked to the role of women in the church. Ask that to church leaders and emphatically you will get a biblical response in the form of an answer…but the problem was that I don’t think she was looking for an answer. I think this seemingly insignificant difference reveals a deeper layer of truth about the difference between men and women than maybe even I want to admit.
You see, men were created to work. Much of our satisfaction in life derives from taking on a task, accomplishing the task, and then celebrating a job well done with those we love. That goes back to Adam.
In knowing this about the male species, it is no wonder that we heard her questions and regarded her questions as the problem so therefore, we went into full problem solving mode to provide a solution instead of being her sounding board.
It turned out that her question was responded to with 100% biblical truth from well meaning, kind hearted, gentle and respectful men but I fear that even speaking the truth in love wasn’t what she needed.
I think what would have worked better in this scenario is what I’ll call a “conversational apologetic.”
A conversational apologetic is where I embrace your questions, all of them…
Perhaps the reason I was so eager to solve her “problem” was because I knew, in the back of my mind, that if I let her speak her mind freely then I would have to respond to everything…so it was easier to just cut her off at one question that I was pretty confident I could answer relatively easily.
I regret that I did that. I regret countless conversations like that one because we could have gotten somewhere if I would have embraced her questions instead trying to solve her “problem.”
Rotisserie #2
I’ve got this holy dissatisfaction going on right now and I think it stems from having unmet expectations and a desire to be where I’m not. Probably doesn’t make sense to you but it’s true to my heart at the moment…
Rotisserie #3
I’ve been having some good conversations lately with some good friends…I’ll share later about a conversation I had about dating…
Randomness #1
When my ipod is on shuffle, I can’t make myself press the next button when Angels and Airwaves come on…they’re that amazing!!!
Randomness #2
I really enjoy strawberry smoothies. Made one tonight right before I sat down to write this.
Randomness #3
If you are still reading this…I’m impressed (smile)
