Underlying Assumptions & Basic Beliefs
A blog, like so many
things, reflects a kind of paradox. It is a thing of impermanence and
permanence. It is a site which enlivens and entombs words. It is both
playground and museum for the author's voice. And it delights in freedom and
constraint. I use my voice freely - I have
chosen what to express, how to express it, and I express it as an
individual. But I, and the voice that I use, are also deeply acted upon
and shaped by what has been and what is, by other voices, by the
weather, by the language I think in, by what I ate for breakfast. I do
not believe this dance of
freedom and constraint to be a war. It is a dance.
If you have tracked with me through that rather wafting paragraph, you probably have the patience to track with me through the rest of this page, and I now arrive at the actual point of this page. I am an author with a voice which, while wholly my own, is also thoroughly constructed by that which acts upon it from outside my own "author-ness." More simply put, it is impossible for me to approach life, let alone writing, from a neutral, unbiased perspective. I am human. Thus I am deeply perspectival. I assume things about the world and my experience of it, what it is and how it is to be engaged with. These are not blind assumptions - they are not detached from my experience and believed just because - but they cannot be proven like 1+1=2 can be proven, and at the end of the day they demand we respond to them and assume that the world is either a certain way or that it is not. And I believe certain things based on these underlying assumptions. I know that I am not aware of all of my assumptions. I also know that there are beliefs I wish I had, but still only act on half of the time - they are not yet held with a conviction deep enough to extend beyond my brain into my heart and out through my finger tips on a consistent basis. But I am convinced of enough of my beliefs, and I am aware of many of my assumptions. My most important assumption I hold with deep conviction . Why does this matter here? Because they impact how I think and what I write.
This is why I have pulled you along through the last two paragraphs and finally plunk you down at paragraph three, with a long set of bullet points looming beneath: if you are going to read this blog, you might as well know what basic assumption and correlating beliefs lie at the base of the posts. You may or may not share them. But if you would understand what I am attempting to communicate, or why I approach things the way I do, or why you really, truly disagree with me, you must know the things that I take for granted. What kind of dirt I'm using for the garden. What kind of coffee beans are in the grinder. What kind of wool is knotted on my knitting needles. (And what kind of aesthetic exploits the use of metaphor, repetition and alliteration all at once.) Sure, beliefs and even assumptions can change. They can change for good or for bad (I assume). But the most deeply-held will not change easily, and a worldview is very heavy to roll away. And my worldview is, in its innermost part, controversial and offensive and even hurtful to some. I don't choose it because of this. Believe me, I'm a natural conflict-avoider and pretty self-centred: I want you to like me. I choose my worldview because I am convinced it is the only worldview I can have. Because I am convinced that it is true and good. And, in keeping with the paradoxica, I hope that when we go through the controversy, offense and hurt, we may find they are the paths to truth, freedom and love.
The Underlying Assumption and a few Beliefs that follow.
In no particular order, except that the first point is very particularly placed as the first and foundational assumption:
Continue reading...
If you have tracked with me through that rather wafting paragraph, you probably have the patience to track with me through the rest of this page, and I now arrive at the actual point of this page. I am an author with a voice which, while wholly my own, is also thoroughly constructed by that which acts upon it from outside my own "author-ness." More simply put, it is impossible for me to approach life, let alone writing, from a neutral, unbiased perspective. I am human. Thus I am deeply perspectival. I assume things about the world and my experience of it, what it is and how it is to be engaged with. These are not blind assumptions - they are not detached from my experience and believed just because - but they cannot be proven like 1+1=2 can be proven, and at the end of the day they demand we respond to them and assume that the world is either a certain way or that it is not. And I believe certain things based on these underlying assumptions. I know that I am not aware of all of my assumptions. I also know that there are beliefs I wish I had, but still only act on half of the time - they are not yet held with a conviction deep enough to extend beyond my brain into my heart and out through my finger tips on a consistent basis. But I am convinced of enough of my beliefs, and I am aware of many of my assumptions. My most important assumption I hold with deep conviction . Why does this matter here? Because they impact how I think and what I write.
This is why I have pulled you along through the last two paragraphs and finally plunk you down at paragraph three, with a long set of bullet points looming beneath: if you are going to read this blog, you might as well know what basic assumption and correlating beliefs lie at the base of the posts. You may or may not share them. But if you would understand what I am attempting to communicate, or why I approach things the way I do, or why you really, truly disagree with me, you must know the things that I take for granted. What kind of dirt I'm using for the garden. What kind of coffee beans are in the grinder. What kind of wool is knotted on my knitting needles. (And what kind of aesthetic exploits the use of metaphor, repetition and alliteration all at once.) Sure, beliefs and even assumptions can change. They can change for good or for bad (I assume). But the most deeply-held will not change easily, and a worldview is very heavy to roll away. And my worldview is, in its innermost part, controversial and offensive and even hurtful to some. I don't choose it because of this. Believe me, I'm a natural conflict-avoider and pretty self-centred: I want you to like me. I choose my worldview because I am convinced it is the only worldview I can have. Because I am convinced that it is true and good. And, in keeping with the paradoxica, I hope that when we go through the controversy, offense and hurt, we may find they are the paths to truth, freedom and love.
The Underlying Assumption and a few Beliefs that follow.
In no particular order, except that the first point is very particularly placed as the first and foundational assumption:
- The Bible is the authoritative word of the Living God. There are many hard facts which can be brought to corroborate this claim - but at the end of the day, I have to assume that there exists in reality a God who can and would communicate to human beings through a book, and that the claim in the Bible, "Thus says the Lord" is true. I must accept it in faith or reject it in faith. In either case, we make an assumption.
- The Bible can be understood. In order to understand it, we must interpret it within the context of its various literary genres, cultural contexts and historical moments. It must also be approached the way God wants us to approach it, with humility and a willingness to seek, hear and surrender to His Words.
- The Bible cannot be really understood unless God's Spirit enables us to understand it - however, He delights to help us when we approach His word with humility.
- There is nothing in this world that does not have spiritual significance. It all exists from nothing because of His Voice. It is all sustained in its existence because of His Power. And ultimately, it will all be brought into submission and renewal under the authority of His Son.
- While there is a division between body and spirit (obviously), it is not an absolute division. What I do with my body affects my spirit; where my spirit is at affects my body. In the end, I will be be in the presence of the Living God, wholly souled and wholly bodied.
- Paradox is inextricable from reality.
- The human body is amazing, a whole and utterly interconnected system, capable of promoting its own healing when supported by natural and healthy environments, foods and lifestyle choices. There is also a place for human ingenuity and modern medicine, when used wisely and in light of the natural healing principles of the body.
- Local, organic food is best. Chickens and other animals should range free, eating their natural foods and soaking in plenty of vitamin D.
- The Medieval Period is not a period that should be primarily associated with ignorance. They thought, felt, struggled and invented in a different cultural context than you or I, but with the same human intensity. It should be called the "Dark Ages" only insomuch as the great distance between us and them - six hundred years at least - makes it dark and dim for our eyes to see and understand it clearly.
- No e-book can replace the happy smell of a well-worn, ink and paper book. Flip the pages and breathe in deeply.
- The world is broken and full of pain. I am the problem.
- All human beings are in rebellion against God, spiritually dead, and awaiting His justice against us for our sin against Him and His creation. But God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not die, but have everlasting life. Jesus' death on the cross is the ultimate expression of His love and justice, because He gave Himself there to suffer our punishment for us, turning aside God's wrath from pouring on our heads by embracing it fully in Himself. This is why salvation, from God's anger and the consequences of our sin and evil, exists only in Jesus Christ. Everyone who surrenders to Jesus, choosing Him as Lord over their lives, will be saved. And God's Spirit then comes to live in us forever, and He transforms us and uses us to transform the world to express His glory.
- The world will be remade and restored when it it brought fully under the authority and reign of Jesus. Then those who have surrendered to Jesus will pick up shovels and cultivate the world as a garden. And we will sweat joy and glory.
