I should have learned my lesson from Sean Connery, who once famously said he would "never" play James Bond, only to appear, in the late 1980's, in Never Say Never Again. That's far too long a time span to predict with any accuracy, so I guess I'll take my lumps, as it were.
I thought, to help clarify things a bit, I might just say a couple things here about what it is I do. First, I do not ever try to argue, or convince through some sort of logical argumentation, or seek to prove anything. In the first place, I doubt if few are moved to change their minds based on any argument, no matter how compelling the "evidence" presented. My own position is quite simple - I am presenting the way I understand the world to be, using words that describe that world. If you choose to accept this particular vocabulary - GREAT! If not, it's no skin off my nose. I do not believe any particular vocabulary captures the world. How could it? All I do is offer up my own little point of view. If it resonates, it does. If not, there is no way I can commend it to you in order to make it do so.
Mine is a particularly pragmatic point of view. I have no interest in the "truth", in "reality", in "objectivity" (or its alleged converse). I don't think those words mean anything anyway. I think the way I describe the world works well for me, but I cannot demand others use my own way of speaking about the world; only that you try to understand and share this particular language-game while you're here.
That I do not believe my views are "True" in the sense of transcendentally accurate of the ontological structure of all things, that does not mean I do not hold them with conviction or passion. It only means that my conviction and passion are tempered by my own recognition of their ephemeral quality, their contingency. In other words, since things change, including the words we use to describe things, how could any sentence at any time, capture some bit of reality, no matter how small, for all times and places?
So, if you are "offended" by something I write here; if you think I am being "heretical" or whatever - take a deep breath and remember a couple things. I don't believe that anything we say, no words we use, can possibly become an impediment to God's love for us. I also do not believe that any of our claims about who and what God is have anything to do with who or what God is, so arguing over doctrine is a bit like arguing over Ptolemaic epicycles in astronomy. Being a Christian doesn't hinge on adherence to doctrine, so I find such arguments largely meaningless. Should I mention "doctrine" here, its usually descriptive in some general term, rather than any normative use.
So, starting tomorrow, I think we shall try again to say some things, to toss a few things out there and see if they stick. If so, great. If not, I'll try to be a bit more thick skinned.
