Bridging the Gap

I was once asked to blog as part of my homework assignments for graduate school. I remember thinking something like, “Do people even read blogs?”

If I’m honest, at the time, I thought the assignment was a little silly.

But, now, approximately five years later, here I am.

Blogging.

I’ve come a long way…

And, in fact, it is with a sense of honor and humility with which I enter into a new series of blog posts.

Michael J. Kimpan, a fellow blogger, recently approached me about his desire (one which I share) to "bridge the gap" between people (specifically, in our case, bloggers!!) who do not see eye-to-eye on certain philosophical and theological perspectives. His desire is to promote healthy dialogue amongst fellow Christians, while not accepting the “agree to disagree” excuse.

Therefore, we are going to pursue this line of dialogue with what we might call a bit of charitable “back-and-forth” blog posts/open letters/etc. surrounding various philosophical and theological concepts.

I must also admit the feeling of trepidation when approaching something like this. Please know that it is not my intent, nor do I believe it is Michael’s intent, to earn points in a “besting of the other guy” mentality. In fact, to quote John Piper in his response to N.T. Wright:

The final judgment feels too close for me to care about scoring points in debate…the prospect of wasting my remaining life on gamesmanship or one-upmanship is increasingly unthinkable. The ego-need to be right has lost its dominion, and the quiet desire to be a faithful steward of the grace of truth increases.[1]

Piper then states that he believes Wright shares this same mentality, and so I will echo Piper when I say that, at least on this point, both Michael and I agree.

My first response will be in relation to Michael’s recent blog post entitled "al mohler, mullets and gay marriage".

Stay tuned…

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[1] John Piper, The Future of Justification: A Response to N.T. Wright (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2007), 13.