Just your interpretation

Sometimes, in our discussion of scripture, history, God's will, military operations, or something a famous person said or did, an opinion is offered and, in response to the stated opinion, someone says, "That's just your interpretation." Technically speaking, this isn't a response at all. Unlike a question or an observation concerning the content of what was proffered, it only devalues and expresses disapproval of someone else's words, shutting down the possibility of a good conversation involving people good-naturedly sharing their interpretations with one another. The next time someone says it, I hope I'll have the nerve to say, "True enough. But what else is there?"

David DarkThe Sacredness of Questioning Everything

Being offended

We probably ought to be careful about deciding we're feeling offended; it can get old after a while. We become offended in all the ways God isn't. The seat of offendedness (like the seat of judgment) can be a real tricky spot to occupy. Before we know it, it can become a twenty-four-hour-a-day job. It becomes all we're known for, and when we're all caught up in all the things we're against, we forget the beauty of the things we're supposed to be for. We forget what the kingdom of God looks like and all the wonderfully odd characters taking up residence there. We forget to revel in dappled things. We forget we're dappled.

David Dark

Everyday Apocalypse

Governmental incompetence

To label entire populations -- or even sections of the globe -- as "enemy" is bad theology, and no government that does so can claim to be operating in any mindful way "under" God. To allow an all-too-human governing body to describe the world for us is to hand over our God-given duty to the likes of a phone book or a demonic stronghold. We have to take our thinking back. The same summons is communicated by Iraqi Christians who publicly pray that American Christians might consider more deeply their understanding of the body of Christ. Does our understanding of this communion move beyond national boundaries when it really counts? Do our imaginations, the way we think about other people, acquiesce to the idolatrous and destructive divisions of nation-states? The defensive distance we maintain between ourselves and the people we see in images of war and deprivation is a deadly construct. The social incompetence of our governments is our incompetence, our work, and our responsibility.

David DarkThe Sacredness of Questioning Everything

Questioning

I want to announce the good news that God, the God in whom I believe, never calls anyone to playact or pretend or silence their concerns about what's true. I want to break through mind-forged manacles that render us incapable of seeing truthfully for fear we might let in the wrong information. God is not made angry and insecure by an archaeological dig, a scientific discovery, an ancient manuscript, or a good film about homosexual cowboys. Nor would I imagine God to be made angry or insecure by people with honest doubts concerning his existence. God is not counting on us to keep ourselves stupid, closed off to the complexity of the world we're in.

David Dark
The Sacredness of Questioning Everything

Questioning

I believe deliverance begins with questions.  It begins with people who love questions, people who live with questions and by questions, people who feel a deep joy when good questions are asked.  When we meet these people -- some living, some through history and art -- things begin to change.  Something is let loose.  When we're exposed to the liveliness of holding everything up to the light of good questions -- what I call "sacred questioning" -- we discover that redemption is creeping into the way we think, believe, and see the world.

David Dark
The Sacredness of Questioning Everything