I’ve been thinking a lot lately about this experience up to this point and thought I need to just write it down. I expect this to ramble some. And it may not make sense. Oh well.
First, I was talking to someone the other day about my experience so far and one thing definitely emerged: I really want to talk about this experience more than I am. I want to share my thoughts with others. I want to ask questions. I want to have a dialogue. I miss that part of this experience. That was something I thought would be freely available. I need to find outlets for this part of my journey.
Second, I have noticed a subtle shift in my interactions on social media. Not necessarily a shift, but perhaps an addition. I have always felt the need to defend the integrity of science and science education and still do. The subtle change is that I now feel the need to defend the integrity of my faith. I am really sick and tired of how people present Christianity as some close-minded system and the only way you can be accepted into it is if you do what they want you to do. Well, that’s crap. And now I feel that I need to make it clear that there are many Christians and people of other faith traditions that aren’t like that. In fact, probably the overwhelming majority of people aren’t like that. So we need to speak up more.
Third, something else that has occurred to me over the past several days is the importance of questioning. Father Kevin, now Bishop Kevin (woohoo!!), told me at the very beginning of this process that I need to be completely honest. If I read something that I disagree with, write it down. If I have questions, write it down. If something I read connects to a current event, write it down. Probably one of the main things that this has taught me is that it’s ok to question the Bible. It’s ok to question faith. That feeling has actually made me want to embrace my faith even more. I actually feel a stronger connection with the Bible. I’m still a little hesitant about things I want to write, but that is slowly going away. The really cool part of this is that questioning is one of the most important parts of science. Scientists are always questioning things and I emphasize that in my classes. It’s nice to be able to relate what I’ve focused on for years in my instruction to my personal journey through the Bible.
That’s it for now. I think I need to write more posts like this along with posts on my readings. I’m still trying my hardest to catch up and hope to catch up over the winter break.