This is a pivotal chapter in the book for plot development, and for Dan's tenuous hold on his job as pastor of the Potomac Community Church. The statement I want to focus on, however, comes from Carol, Dan's wife.
"It's kind of strange," she said, almost whispering, "to think that what might help our daughter's faith could actually hurt mine and that what helps my faith - having everything clearly defined and at the core at least, not changing - could actually hurt our daughter's faith."
That is a very powerful statement that personally I need to keep in mind. The questions that get me excited about being a follower of Jesus are, in some cases, the very same questions that terrify others. Sometimes I forget that and barge ahead.
As I have often said this is a conversation that we need to be invited to. You cannot rationally convince someone that deconstructing their faith is a good idea. They must reach a point where they start to ask questions... usually as a result of a crisis.
And to those of you who still think this is just a different way of doing the same thing... well, you're probably not reading this any longer anyway.
NOTE: We're half way through posting on the 29 chapters, plus introduction. I've actually finished reading the book, but I'm trying to avoid rushing - I want to maintain the discipline of commenting on an important thought from each chapter.
On Friday morning I'm hopping on a flight to Calgary, then a bus to Banff. I'm going disguised as a Baptist (there's not much I can do about the earring, but I did cut my hair...) in order to crash the Baptist Union of Western Canada's annual conference, where one Brian McLaren is speaking. I'm still trying to decide what I want to say to him about this book. I think when you distill these thoughts out of the narrative this is actually the most profound of his works - even more so than A Generous Orthodoxy, which is a bold statement to make. I'm looking forward to catching up with him in beautiful Banff!
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