I had a great set of interactions the other day with a Baylor alumnae on Facebook, where I often post the link to this blog. Her argument against my Jesus is My Valentine post had to do with how God is love and He does meet her every need and His love is really enough. Amen to that.
Amidst the conversations, accusations, and being called dogmatic ("it could benefit the masses to sometimes use less dogmatic statements about how people describe their love for Christ"), something really stuck in my craw. No, it wasn't a person running to the worn and tired "you're just dogmatic" argument, although that is both worn and tired. For all who use it, I offer that it's hard to biblical without coming across as dogmatic because you're talking about things that aren't your opinion. Your other option is syncretism, it seems. But I digress.
What struck me was the seeming lack of care for God revealing Himself to us in language and images of His choosing. Why do I need to improve on how God chose to reveal Himself to me? Why do I need to go beyond biblical imagery? Why do I need to move beyond Father, Lord, King, etc.?
One of the dangers of preaching is using metaphors and images to help people understand the metaphors and images the Bible gives us. My metaphors and images cannot be confused with God's. Mine are illustration. His are revelation.
More on this tomorrow. I just don't think it's wise to pull images from this confused, broken culture and act or speak as if they're the revelation of God - no matter how much explaining you do.
But that's just me thinking thoughts...
This is good.
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