This site has moved to robert.williamsonline.us.
Our core beliefs are part of who we are. They are as much - perhaps more - a part of our identity as our gender or family or nationality. The Bible attests to this many times when it identifies Christians as a family. Jesus asserted that the kingdom of God was made up of believers, not of particular nations.
If I were to conceal the beliefs that make up the core of who I am, I would be rather shallow and perhaps even dishonest. I could certainly have no more than superficial interaction with others. You couldn't get to know me at all.
This site is sort of window into my life. I want to know you, and I want you to know me. The only way this can happen is for us to communicate. I communicate with you when I write about things. You communicate with me when you comment on my posts.
If we are to have significant communication, we must allow for the possibility that we will disagree on some fundamental level. That doesn't bother me. It's who we are.
It would be artificial and dishonest to gloss over disagreements when they arise. So I don't. If I'm going to be more than a casual acquaintance with someone, there will be times we talk about significant, even controversial things. I won't actively seek out disagreement and controversy, but when it comes up (and it always does), I don't want to pretend it doesn't exist.
I don't want to limit who I know (or who knows me) to only people who are just like me. I don't want to limit what I know about others to only those areas where we happen to agree. I'm happy to talk to others and find out where we disagree and then why we disagree. It might even get heated, and we might not like each other. But it's sure better than the alternative.
Posted by Robert at August 08, 2002 09:33 AM | TrackBack