Here\u2019s a question I get a lot.<\/p>\n
\u201cPete, thanks for ruining my life, my relationships, and everything I ever held dear about God, Jesus, and the Bible. Without you I would not be feeling this exquisite pain.\u201d<\/p>\n
So that\u2019s wonderful, but they always ruin it with a \u201cbut.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut where are the boundaries?\u201d<\/p>\n
The more we talk about the Bible\u2014Old and New Testaments\u2014as ancient documents, with ancient contexts, and meanings, and purposes, the less special and unique it feels. It begins to get hard to distinguish what is different, or if I may say, better, about Christianity and the biblical story vis-a-vis any other religion, or even no religion at all.<\/p>\n
Let me say from the bottom of my soul that this is a very, very good question. I would even say enormously important, all the more so as our world continues to shrink and we face global threats of climate instability and utterly insane world leaders, who, despite the lessons of the 20th century, continue to think of this earth as their private playpen.<\/p>\n
But I digress.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are the boundaries?\u201d is a question that occupies many of us, and I\u2019d be lying if I said it wasn\u2019t on my mind quite a bit, too\u2014like pretty much all the time.<\/p>\n
Having said that, I\u2019m not interested in answering that question at this point in my life. So sue me.<\/p>\n
I feel I need to let go of building those boundaries because my entire Christian life has been about doing that very thing\u2014creating and holding tightly to categories, behaviors, and associations that kept my boundaries neat and clear.<\/p>\n
Only to find, as I lived more and experienced things I never would have scripted, that all those things can\u2019t quite square with my reality.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t worry too much about what those categories, behaviors, and associations are for me. Worry about yourself. Plus that\u2019s not the point. The point is that I spent my \u201cfirst half of life<\/a> I understand the energy behind the question, and I feel it myself. And the time to explore more intently (rather than just now and then) answers to that question will likely happen, if I know my personality well enough.<\/p>\n But for now I think it\u2019s too soon. I have a lot more pondering and living to do before I can get to that.<\/p>\n So let me say this.<\/p>\n Once the unfamiliar reshaping of faith begins, our tendency is to want to snap back to that place of comfort as soon as possible\u2014even if that comfort is of a new and strange sort. Whereas the boundaries were once drawn too narrowly (and we know that now), we still want boundaries drawn, if only a bit further out. Even if those boundaries are now beyond the horizon, we want to know that they are at least there and that we will see them if we walk just a bit further.<\/p>\n What I\u2019m saying is that\u2019s what I feel I need to keep letting go of\u2014that need to see, if even dimly, how it all comes together.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=inspirandinca-20&l=am2&o=1&a=0470907754\")
If you are someone who has the same question about where the boundaries are now that the landscape looks different, perhaps answering that question should not be priority one.<\/h2>\n