Why do I want start a blog?
I need a place to share my ideas and this seemed like a good place to start.
I had a life changing encounter with the Holy Spirit several years ago. It renewed me in ways that are hard to describe. Since then I have been on different kind of journey. In the Gospels, we are told to become salt and light in our world. This was something that made a lot of sense to me and I need to show to the world that I am different because of my faith. But, just how was I going to do that. I did what normal people do. I got involved with some activies and charities that provide help to the needy but has offered the message of the Gospel as well.
In 2006, I was working on a contract job in Florida for FEMA. So, I was spending a lot of time traveling between the job sites (Orlando and Washington D.C) and home (Fort Worth). I would pass the time reading not just the tech things I needed for my job but lots of other stuff as well. One of the books I picked up was Culture Warrior by Bill O'Reilly. Mr. O'Reilly galvanized many of the things that I have thought and felt for many years. Specifically, how the secular progressives (his term but a good one) are tearing down the traditional values that I hold dear as well as many of the people that I know. We see our culture and way of life changing in ways that we do not like nor really understand. When I finished reading that book, I felt like I had been called into service to become a Culture Warrior.
Since then I been working on preparing myself to to become a culture warrior. I had always been very aware of current events: locally, nationally, and internationally. However, I started taking more notice of the analysis and commentaries of these events from various places. At the same time, I took up self-study study of ethics, philosophy, politics, and biblical studies. I went back and re-read many of the books that I had studied when I was younger with a renewed purpose and different point of view. Eventually, I began to see that my self-study was not enough and a more formal education was needed. So, started looking for education programs that were of this type of thinking. I finally enrolled in Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) in the Master of Arts in Theology (M.A.T.H.). This program for people wanting a formal education in theology and the biblical studies while at the same time not wanting to become a pastor in a church. The program is biblically based and flexible enough allow a deeper study and understanding in ethics and philosophy from a Christian perspective.
Another big inducement for me to start this blog came from my church. We did the Truth Project from the Focus on the Family Institute. Dr. Del Tackett takes elements of our culture (science, law, philosophy, psychology, history, and politics) and systematically shows how they all point to God and the glory of His Creation. But, he also points out how our knowledge is being misused to deny and distort the image and glory of God. At the very first lecture, Dr. Tackett said that this course would challenge us to think about what we believed and if we hung on for the entire journey we would come out with a fuller understanding of the Christian Worldview. It as a 12-week series set up as a one-hour lecture on DVD from Dr. Tackett and then a break out session for small group discussion. Much of the information presented in the Truth Project was not new. However, some of his conclusions and examples were amazingly vivid and thought provoking.
I have come to believe that as a people we need to engage our brains and think. We need to understand what we believe and why we believe it. Then be able to step up and defend those beliefs. Then as issues/problems come along then we can deal with them and not get lost in emotional, feeling arguments that get us no where.
So this is how I got to the point. I hope that others will start reading and commenting on my new place.
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