It has been almost two weeks since I have made a post. I have used this time to reflect on the past month of blogging and how it has affected my life and others close to me. Due to the high volume of criticism (which I welcome), I felt that I needed to take a step back and let the inflammatory comments fade.
It is my desire to salvage this blog for those who have interest in reading and responding to the content therein. It has never been my desire for this to be an attack medium to challenge people’s character or create sides. It is clear, however, that this had been the result. After seeing and experiencing the hurt in people very close to me, I have debated whether to completely take this blog off and start all over, and I am ready to do that, if that is what has to happen. I hope, however, to continue to post comments in hopes that the unvoiced majority who read the comments can share in the readership.
Unfortunately, due to my “Via Negativa” blog, there has been a concentration of folks from Athens, AL who have rallied together, or so it seems. The result was a them vs. me thing, one of which I hate, not for the least of which reasons is that I consider myself to be good friends with them. However, I understand that many, if not most of you who read this blog no nothing of the relationship between me and Athens, and so I would rather not have to explain nor bring it up. It is simply unnecessary. For the readership at large, and the hopes that others will be engaged in discussion, I have chosen to resume posting, believing that the discussion is much greater in scope than those in Athens and myself in Louisville.
On a concluding note, as JCC has surfaced the point that the Via Negativa post proved to make. By the very onslaught of criticism, there is progress. The very thing that was sought to be criticized has, in effect, been accomplished through your criticism. The post served the purpose well to make the point that we Christians must be held accountable to what we think and profess, and resistance thinking and thorough probing of the issue is a sure way to accomplish that end.
Nevertheless, I hope to move on. There are many things that my heart pants about and my mind is provoked over to let the temporary derailment hijack the future prospects of this meager blog. For those of you have made my blog a link on your webpage or blog, I want to say a special thanks. I hope that the interconnectedness can result in a greater synergistic effort to bring illumined minds and enravished hearts to think and pant after God. And for all of you who have silently and actively chosen to take the time to read this post because you believe in it, I pray that you will find sufficient and satisfying bread to keep you hungering for more truth, more honesty, more holiness, and more authenticity as we journey this life together.
2 thoughts on “Moving On”
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bro. timmy i want to thank you for continuing the blogs and may everyone read them with an open mind. i honestly don’t think that we here in Alabama have rallied together to criticize you. I think some were maybe surprised to read what they did. when you were in alabama you didnt express these same concerns and comments with us and i think some people and myself asked the question, did he believe this when he was in alabama and just not talk about? i have no complaint with you and am not upset with you in anyway. i was posting my comments in the way i believe and it is perfectly fine for you and others to disagree.
lee
Timmy,
I don’t know you or anything about the reality of the situation that’s been playing out in the Via Negativa posts. However, I do want to voice my support of your blog, and my hope that you do continue posting.
It’s clear to me (an outsider) that you are passionate about your relationship with God, frustrated with the way some churches and some Christians are treating the things of God, and endeavoring to instigate positive change by provoking thought and discussion. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
I noticed you said somewhere that you are 26. I’m 25, and I know exactly how you feel. Often, I look around and wonder if what I see is all there is. Where’s the passion, the zeal, the challenge of the Christianity of the Bible? Would the people around me die for what the believe? Would I? It’s only now, in the last few years, after being raised in church my whole life, and going to a Christian college, that I’ve been pushed to truly examine my relationship with God. Not my status as “saved” or “lost,” but my RELATIONSHIP. That is what it all comes down to.
I would encourage those who have negatively criticized you to remember that we are instructed to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. I feel that’s what you’re doing here. And maybe they don’t realize it, but you’re helping them do the same. If one is never challenged, how will one know what they truly believe? And if one never asks the questions inside of them, how will one ever find the answers?
I encourage you to keep challenging yourself and others. Keep asking the questions. You may get criticized or ostracized, but don’t give up. There are those of us out here who appreciate the tough questions…and look forward to working out the answers.
Michelle