I believe Peace Within Reach, which includes my books and my blog, stands solidly on the Gospel, and on the Bible. To me, the Bible is God’s Word, and within the Bible, the Gospel—Good News—message of God’s redeeming love and grace offered through Jesus Christ, is the single greatest hope for each person.
That said, I get challenged for being too open-minded, and seeing too much gray when I should see black-and-white, toward various ideas and questions about life. I will get into specific ones—the theories of evolution and the Big Bang—in my next post. For now, I highlight that the challenge toward being open-minded often comes with the concern to watch out for “slippery slope(s).” I don’t personally like that phrase, though I admit saying it too. Especially when it comes to spirituality, it seems like both strongly-right and strongly-left leaning individuals can be closed-minded because of the possibility of getting caught on a slippery slope, with an irreversible downward slide to all sorts of what is considered bad. I personally would rather trust God as I pray to Him for His protection, and as I clothe myself with His full armor (Ephesians 6:10-18), so I can then trust venturing out a bit in learning new things and meeting new people. I do write that with some caution, knowing that dangers are present, and knowing my human-ness. But, how else is it possible for us to, as the headers of my blogsite and Facebook page state, deal with “the grand Spiritual canyons that seem to be expanding” all over the place? God describes often how seeking to bridge these growing gaps is, in part, up to His children—Matthew 28:18-20, Romans 10:14-15, Matthew 25:31-46. Sitting on the sidelines, dry and well-above the possible slippery slope does not seem to be an allowable option for a child of God.
This is not to say I would expect you to agree with my views on things; they certainly are open to challenge, and as a child of God, I’m always in the process of being refined. But no matter what views we hold, we are called to venture out, and to somehow love our neighbors—no matter who they are or what they do—as ourselves, and to work the harvest fields with God (Matthew 9:35-38), even though a hiding thistle weed might prick us occasionally.