The apostle Paul wrote, inspired by God,

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

As many of you know, I am working this week on the Ute reservation in southwest Colorado with The Legacy, teaching art and music to Native American jr. and sr. high school students.  So, aside from this brief post, this is why you aren’t hearing anything from me this week.

Something you probably don’t know is that last night, my wife and I had a truly wonderful dinner with a Christian brother and sister here in the Four Corners area, Chris Pajak and his wife. 

Several weeks ago, Greg Boyd guest-preached at Mars Hill (Grand Rapids), and commented that ‘if something is made of flesh and blood, it is not our enemy’, hearkening back to the words of Paul.

I would like to report to you that Paul’s words, as reiterated by Dr. Boyd, are as true today as they were when they were written.  And in being so, I have experienced a deep lesson, I wish I could share with you.

As many of you know, I am a rather strong proponent for understanding the context of scripture when reading and interpreting it, for the very reason that without that context, we are only left to supply our own – which is likely very different from the culture and context in which it was written.

In the same way, I believe that when we tend to agree or disagree with someone, we supply a sympathetic or antagonistic context to their words when we read them – ESPECIALLY if we have never met them.  Having met Chris P, listening to him and experiencing his ‘context’, I realize that the context I have supplied has more often than not been wrong.

I am sorry for that Chris.

Please, please, please – let us keep Paul’s words in mind.  Our struggle is not with flesh and blood – but with principalities and powers – words and dominions of this world.  While we may disagree with a much of what is written on CRN, and probably more/most of what is on SoL/AM, our disagreement is not with Chris, Ken, Ingrid, Dwayna or others – it is with ideas on how to serve in the Kingdom of God.

If we are serious in our belief in balancing orthopraxy and orthodoxy, an independent brother or sister should be able to read this blog and see WHY it is different than those it criticizes.  A non-believer should read our disagreements and see a respectful disagreement unlike any experienced in the non-Christian blogs of this world.

We are not there yet.  I am not there yet.

But I hope that we would strive to move in that direction.