OK, so to start this blog off right I'm going to address an issue I have seen not just in the church, but in the world as a whole.
Few people know how to define what they are...
In a society where labels are used as liberally as contraceptives it becomes difficult to know what system of thought you are engaging... which in reality means you not engaging it as efficiently as you could.
For example...
I had this conversation while in my undergrad...
Girl - "I'm a vegetarian"
Me - "I can't imagine not eating hamburgers, spicy chicken, or catfish."
Girl - "Well i eat chicken and fish, just not red meat."
Me - "So... your not a vegetarian, your an omnivore."
Girl - "never heard that word before, but it sounds better than being a carnivore."
Me - "It means you eat both animal and plants as food."
Girl - "Well then thats me..."
Me - "...and everyone else on the planet who isn't a real vegetarian."
While not a particularly detrimental topic... its a simple representation of the kind of uneducated ambiguity being used today.
I'll give you another...
Me - "Wait... your a Darwinist?"
Man - "Of course..."
Me - "But your a homosexual right? Doesn't that strike you as antithetical?"
Man - "How so?"
Me - "Well within that system, you have no place... you can't procreate, and in reality are only wasting resources..."
Man - "So?"
Me - "So what’s the point of you existing at all? Your a biological dead-end street."
Here's the kicker most don't want to hear....
Definitions are not subjective to your individual emotions or thoughts. There are certain constraints that exist when grafting your self into a certain camp of belief.
Another example, a conversation I have semi-frequently...
Man - "Your a Calvinist? So am I!, well except the whole (unconditional election/limited atonement) thing."
Me - "..........."
Man - "What?"
Me - "So your not a Calvinist then."
Man - "Well I'm a 4 point Calvinist"
Me - "Or a 1 point Arminian? Your a Calminian?"
Man - "Thats ridiculous to say you have to hold to all 5 to call yourself a Calvinist!"
Well readers, its not ridiculous...
To truly be a follower of a system of belief you have to accept it as a whole... not treat the market of ideas like an all you can eat buffet, where you pick and choose what tickles your ears and pass by what convicts.
Not only are many people not logical thinking about the labels they operate under or the inconsistencies they create, they neglect to see how their lives are dictated by their hodge podge beliefs and they become misrepresentations of those labels...
“Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. 3For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. 4With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; 5but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does”
