So after much debate and thought, I have decided to post a blog. For some time now I have felt the desire to journal my walk in my faith, but unfortunately, I am not so good at that. I decided that the best way for me to journal my thoughts would be to share those thoughts with others: both believers and non-believers alike. My goal is to encourage open and healthy discussion of issues and to share my thoughts, beliefs and doubts with others in the hope that it may help to lead someone to a relationship with Christ. I am not a minister. I have no formal Christian education. But I do have a sincere love of God and I feel that I am called to share that love with others. My life motto is Love, Live and Lead. More on that some other day.
So what is in a name? For this blog, there is quite a bit. The first part "Souled Out" is, of course, a play on the phrase "Sold Out". Over the past few months I have been struggling with letting go of certain things that are "of this world" and I have recently decided that in order to truly follow the example of Christ, I must deny myself, as Christ told the disciples in Luke 9:23. In other words, I have decided to sell out my life completely for Christ. I am "souled out".
As for the rest of the name I believe that it is time that the modern day church look at its methodology and teaching and return to the true meaning of the Gospel. We need a modern day church reformation. In reading the Bible, I don't see any guarantees that my life will be happy or that I will be blessed financially with the overflow of God's blessings. The church today has lost sight of what is required of us to follow Christ. In Luke 9:23 Christ further tells his disciples that not only do we have to deny ourselves but we have to "take up (our) cross daily". Think about the true meaning of that. On a daily basis we must be willing and committed to doing anything and everything necessary to follow Christ. In Luke 9:24 Christ goes on to tell the disciples that "whoever loses his life for me will save it." This is completely counter to what most evangelical churches are teaching today. There must be a "death of self" in order to gain life in Christ.
Finally, I am tired of being called a "Christian." I am not ashamed of Christ, but I am ashamed of what the term "Christian" has come to mean to most in the modern world. I look back at the atrocities that have been committed in the name of being a "Christian" and I am saddened and dismayed. I can see today why many of the unchurched equate the word "Christian" with Hypocrite. In Mark 10:45, Jesus tells James and John that "the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve." I have decided that rather than be called a "Christian" and take on all of the negative connotations that come with that label, I prefer to be called a "Servant" so that not only will people know my life's purpose, but also so that I can be reminded daily of Who and what is most important.
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About Me
- Mark D. Rucker
- Lexington, Kentucky, United States
- I am an attorney and sports agent in Lexington, Kentucky, sharing my journey from couch potato to Ironman and beyond in the hope of inspiring others to change their lives.
3 comments:
Sparky, welcome to blog-world! I love your first posting. Very insightful. I look forward to following your adventures and your commentaries on life and faith. You da man!
Yeah boy. I got tired of the blog thing because of all the negativity it spawned among people I knew, and because of the narcissistic image most of the people I knew were putting out there. It became a showcase for many of my "friends" to impress themselves with their own interests and perceived depth.
For me, I like to blog from a very honest place that admits my thoughts are still in the incubator. I realize that what I think today might not be what I think tomorrow. I'm slowly learning that as I age I just process differently. Most of the people I knew from the blog world were not interested in formation, but simply information. I get enough of that. In fact I read the other day that the information produced in the year 2002 was estimated to be equal to the amount of information produced from the beginning of time to the start of that year. It was several exabytes, and that's a lot.
However, Mark, for you, I'll participate. I cant promise that I'll get back on my blog, but I may create a new one that is private that only the 3 of us can participate in. Jesus also said to not spread your pearls before swine. I love bacon, but I'd rather not have it comment on what I'm thinking. But I will at least interact here and respond to what you write.
Here goes...
I definitely smell what you're stepping in. It's funny because lately I've been asking myself what I would look like if I really began to be a disciple. For the last 2 weeks the idea mulling around my mind has been quite separate from the image of the institutionalized Christian from the evangelical church. I have been thinking about Jesus more as a real, presently living person (which He is) rather than an abstract idea I am culturally adept with. I have been talking to Him and reading His Word (listening to Him) much in the same way I imagine Plato did with Socrates.
Now I do not mean to imply that Christ is simply a philosopher and that the nature of our relationship is primarily one of idealized reality, but He is a Teacher and as a disciple I am His student. He is my Master and I am to therefore interact with Him as such. I am trying to really grasp His view and understanding and apply those meanings to my life and my life to those meanings. This is where I would differ significantly from Plato. He used Socrates' ideas to create and develop his own other-worldly metaphysic. I hope not to add to or take away from anything Jesus has to say. I hope only to be a 21st century example of what true discipleship looks like. My thinking lately is to be enamored with His teaching and desirous of His Spirit creating in me His character. I want to follow Him around and sit at His feet like Andrew and Peter and the lot did.
This development is still forming within me, but it is positively changing the nature of our relationship. I feel as if I am not currently able to articulate accurately what I mean by my emerging understanding of following Christ. I hope this becomes more clear even to me in the near future. I am also aware of the obvious push-back some may have to the Socrates-Plato analogy. I can assure you I am in no way suggesting ay syncretism with philosophy and Christianity that is incongruent with, say, Justin Martyr's early apologetic, or, for that matter, Scripture. I am also not meaning to remove any mystery from following Christ by simply reconciling my understanding of a relationship with Deity to that of two humans.
But I am learning to think of Christ more as a present person than a personal presence. I think these are both very good and necessary realities, though I believe I would contend the former must situationally come first. Starting with God as personal presence, for me, opens the door of validating experiential spirituality without it first being based in the teachings in Scripture. The apparent danger in starting from such an existential position is having a spiritual experience that is simply a demonic counterfeit distorting God's reality and intention. God's Word says to try (or test) the spirits. I would not know to do this without engaging (or being engaged by) God as a present person who has valuable information He desires to communicate to me relationally, or personally.
Approaching God as preset person forces objectivity that points me first to Him and then to my experience of Him. The other is based entirely in the subjective and therefore subject conjecture of what I believe to be true about God, rather than what He declares be true of Himself. After starting with God as present person, it seems to naturally follow that His personal presence will be experienced both in spirit and in truth, which is the way Christ said we must worship. Though the actual word "spirit" positionally is before "truth" there in John 4:23 (I think) the very fact that Jesus is the One speaking those words demands the objectivity of his students or learners or disciples to be attentive first to His Words to guide their encounters with His presence.
One without the other is to fail to grasp the reality. The command is spirit AND truth. They depend upon each other, but I still contend that they must be systematically engaged.
This got a little long, but that's the nuts and blots of my thinking lately. Let me know if you can make any sense of it.
Love ya guys.
That is some pretty deep stuff Mr. Campbell, but it seems like we are both going through some major changes and I think that is great. Thanks for your comments and I look forward to continuing our discussions.
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