I should point out that it is actually “white male privilege”. One of the kingdom reformations, I believe, is to dismantle the male-dominated hierarchies of the world, especially those racially privileged males. There is no more male and female. That binary view cannot sustain our view of humanity any longer.

“BK, if you ever come to seminary I want to be in that classroom and see how you interact with your prof and classmates.”

Well, if I don’t convulse on the floor with my head spinning around due to some trauma trigger, it would be very enjoyable, highly edifying, deeply insightful and effervescently Spirit-full!

Actually reading back what I wrote about metaphors. I realized it doesn’t fully convey what I was trying to say.

I’ll give 2 examples. One was about our group project. Ours was on women empowerment, but we used the term “capital” when we described our interviewees. It is dangerous using an economic term to describe people because it can be misinterpreted that a person’s worth is based on their social/economic/political capital.

The second is about the words “white privilege.” There was a whole uproar about those two words at Moody. Basically there are two crowds. One crowd that is offended by that term and the other group that finds nothing wrong with it. You can guess the demographics of either group; it’s obvious.

So when I say “metaphors” I’m actually talking about word choice. I personally use the words “white privilege” but I also use other words like racial apathy or systematic racial injustice. Words have to be defined because they can change their meanings constantly and discussion cannot happen if both parties are not using the same words.

And that is related to my next point when I mentioned “God’s opinion” I had what you said in mind. By “God’s opinion” I mean God’s prompting as opposed to what culture/media tells us to do/thin/say/consume. But I also agree that we will never be lens-less. So it’s important to be aware of out pre-understandings and presuppositions.

About praying for milkshakes, you need to have heard the story from my prof. It was an example from his personal life about his putting his expenditures in the hands of God. He was not asking God to bring him a milkshake, but for permission to buy one, once again asking for His prompting.

I was calculating the hours spent in that class and it came up to 48, 16 weeks of 3 hour lectures. So this 1500+ word response doesn’t do justice to all I learned. BK, if you ever come to seminary I want to be in that classroom and see how you interact with your prof and classmates. It’s important to let others “poke holes in your theology.” You would keep everyone on their toes and I think that’s important.

Your points about de-essenstilization and intentionality agree with me very well. We really would be far better off if our circle of essentials were much smaller. My circle of faith essentials are the three big beliefs of Christianity: 1) God is some form of Father, Son and Holy Spirit 2) Jesus is the Messiah promised by Scriptures and raised from the dead after the cross and 3) The Bible is inspired canon for my faith journey.

In regard to local sages, I am still learning how to seek out “local sages” and to learn from them. I need to do this more often. I learned a lot by seeking out sages among former ubf members.

Metaphors get rather messy for me to deal with. These days I just speak my mind. I am often unfiltered and that can be a problem.

I have some reactions to #5 and #7. Sure we all have lenses and it would be great if we could take off our lens. But often I find people ask me to take my lens off and put their lens on. This can lead to a lack of authenticity.

This statement really stings: “As Christians, God’s opinion should have first place in our hearts, minds and lives.” What is God’s opinion? Who knows? Often I find that “God’s opinion” is just a cleverly masked personal opinion, wrapped in Bible verses. I no longer care about God’s opinion. I do care about God’s prompting in my heart. I am learnig to listen to God’s voice. This takes time and intentional practice to discern the voice of God from the many other voices we hear.

To pray for a milkshake, for me where I’m at is simply foolishness. I don’t “pray” for anyting anymore. Prayer to me is more like breathing. It is listening. It is observing. It is taking bold actions. It is asking. It is seeking. Prayer for me is now mostly a sub-concious, continual experience.

Yes, taking past each other in the recent comments regarding sexual abuse was quite troubling, disturbing and problematic on many levels.

Yes, we should use metaphors and examples prayerfully. Recently I realized that when I speak or share about certain subjects and topics in my sermons it upset some people, and majorly distracted them from the point that I had wanted to make. So I should avoid them!

Yes, without a doubt, we in the U.S. are privileged beyond our wildest possible imagination (sadly often without even realizing it!), compared to the rest of the world and even the rest of history.

Yes, nothing ever beats realizing how much God delights in us (Zeph 3:17), despite ourselves.

I’m still trying to grapple the meaning of the words “illocutionary” and “perlocutionary.” I’m probably not going to get the hang of those words any time soon!