Embracing the Tension of Being in the Middle By Terry Pruitt

When I claim to be a moderate, may I never do so as an act of cowardice where I refuse to take a risk. 

I desire to be open minded like a true liberal. 

When I claim to be a moderate, may I never do so as an act of cowardice where I refuse to take a stand on the truth. 

I desire to be respectful of the wisdom of the past like a true conservative.

When I claim to be a moderate,  I never want avoid the hard, painful intellectual rigor of grappling with the truth.

I desire to read, listen, and study broadly like a true liberal. 

When I claim to be a moderate, I never want to consider myself better than others by the false thought that I have somehow risen above the debate to a higher plane.

I desire to bring the self awareness that I indeed have a world-view that I implicitly believe when weighing all others like a true conservative. 

When I claim to be a moderate, may I never do so as an act of distancing myself from my sisters and brothers in the faith, nor distancing myself from friends of other faiths, nor distancing myself from the friction and hurt that commonly accompanies human interaction in general. 

I desire to be compassionate towards all mankind like a true liberal.

When I claim to be a moderate, let me suffer gladly the rejection of both the right and the left. 

I desire to be steadfast when mocked to stand for the truth like a true conservative.

I desire to critically read both conservative thinkers and liberal thinkers in order to understand the next step in their train of thought and to act on the best wisdom possible. 

I desire that my character embrace the best of the left and the right. 

Comments

bigred5 said…
Good review. Thanks for reading it.
3:52 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A lion, a rooster, a billy-goat and Tommy Franks go to a bar...

Image
Three things are stately in their tread; four are stately in their stride: the lion, which is mightiest among beasts and does not turn back before any; the strutting rooster, the he-goat, and a king whose army is with him. ---Proverbs 30:29-31 (ESV) Different creatures in nature have different glories. A rooster is a glorious thing to see. He is proud of his feathers and his position. A lion knows he is a beast to be feared. A rooster would be no challenge for a lion though. A he-goat is no challenge for a lion, though he also is proud of his position and strength. When we think of a lion we think of an animal dangerous and to be feared. But in a sense, a general (king) with his troops who are equipped for battle find no match in a lion. This is especially true if we are talking about a modern general with attack helicopters, snipers, artillery, tanks and well trained troops. We all have our own gifting and glory. The glory may be small or large. One may be a
Read more

Celtic Words In English

I once heard a lecturer say that English was made up at its heart three languages; Anglo-Saxon (A Germanic tongue), French (influence from William the Conquerer A.D. 1066), and Latin (from the church and scholars). She also mentioned that Celtic had been the language of England before the influence of the Anglo-Saxons and some “tie together words” had been brought into English. I assumed she meant words which tie sentences together, or nouns. But I was not sure which words she meant in particular. So I did a little research to find out what those relics in our language are. It seems that Celtic has few words surviving in English. I'm not counting the Celtic words which came in through other languages such as French. I'm not sure that there is a definitive list of Celtic words in English but here are a few I found in various places on the Internet and a book I have. ass (borrowed earlier by the Celts from the Latin asinus) bannock bard blarney bucket car cart clock coll
Read more

Was the New Testament Letters Only Written to Male Brothers?

  Question:   Was the Bible written to men only and not to women?   Some teach that the New Testament letters address brothers exclusively.      Executive Summary Answer:   Women and men share in the blessings of the gospel, Scripture was written for both women and men. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Gen. 1:27 ESV) Answer:   The Bible recognizes differences between genders but also recognizes the commonality between male and female genders.   The book of Proverbs is written to sons to gain wisdom.   “Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and forsake not your mother's teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck.”   (Prov. 1:8-9 ESV) The book of Proverbs was written in order to teach young men wisdom.   Even so, often it is the female gender that teaches wisdom.   Early in the book, the male gender, a son, is to embrace the teaching from a member of the
Read more