If I am a mature Christian with with an understanding of wisdom and the practical application of the principles listed in the Bible, I can make choices throughout my day and my life that reflect the character and the Nature of my relationship with Christ.
This means that I can see the Biblical virtue of a statement whether written by Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, Barack Obama or Shane Claiborne. Or, by the same token I can reject what they are saying as irrelevant propaganda. Each thing a person says is either uplifting, truth, irrelevant, meaningless, or perhaps profound. Either way, its how I choose to process the information that makes me an individual human being.
I don't need someone else to tell me what I ought to feel, what I should be thinking or how outraged I am supposed to be at something. This is especially true in the case of personal matters, things that I am directly affected by. For instance, I made Chili tonight, I made it way too sweet. I enjoy it, but its not perfect. This is my opinion on the Chili that I made. It is relevant to me because I am the one eating it.
If someone told me, "Liamson, this Chili is terrible, you shouldn't eat it and should should feel bad." Its not going to change my perspective on my own experience with the Chili.
Admittedly my experience has led me to be incapable of delivering an unbiased opinion on the Chili, but it also gives me grounds to know the difference between good Chili and Bad chili.
Now, if I had made the Chili and said, "I don't know how I feel about this Chili." It is because, I don't trust my own experiences. I neither know the difference between good chili and bad chili, or what it is exactly that I have made. And, furthermore, I am soliciting the opinion of others to guide my own. If they say its good, I'll like it. If they say its bad, I'll hate it.
Do you see the problem we have?
How can someone else tell me how I feel about something?
Why should I let them?
If I need someone else, a sign, or a group consensus that my feelings for someone else are valid, then my question is, are they even feelings at all?
If all the wisdom and experience I've had in life has led me to a place where I have grown attached to someone with whom much is shared, I don't need to convince myself that I am as I am.
Because there will never be an objectively great Chili that everyone can agree is the best ever. But, I can make a Chili that I will love and that is perfect for me.
This means that I can see the Biblical virtue of a statement whether written by Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, Barack Obama or Shane Claiborne. Or, by the same token I can reject what they are saying as irrelevant propaganda. Each thing a person says is either uplifting, truth, irrelevant, meaningless, or perhaps profound. Either way, its how I choose to process the information that makes me an individual human being.
I don't need someone else to tell me what I ought to feel, what I should be thinking or how outraged I am supposed to be at something. This is especially true in the case of personal matters, things that I am directly affected by. For instance, I made Chili tonight, I made it way too sweet. I enjoy it, but its not perfect. This is my opinion on the Chili that I made. It is relevant to me because I am the one eating it.
If someone told me, "Liamson, this Chili is terrible, you shouldn't eat it and should should feel bad." Its not going to change my perspective on my own experience with the Chili.
Admittedly my experience has led me to be incapable of delivering an unbiased opinion on the Chili, but it also gives me grounds to know the difference between good Chili and Bad chili.
Now, if I had made the Chili and said, "I don't know how I feel about this Chili." It is because, I don't trust my own experiences. I neither know the difference between good chili and bad chili, or what it is exactly that I have made. And, furthermore, I am soliciting the opinion of others to guide my own. If they say its good, I'll like it. If they say its bad, I'll hate it.
Do you see the problem we have?
How can someone else tell me how I feel about something?
Why should I let them?
If I need someone else, a sign, or a group consensus that my feelings for someone else are valid, then my question is, are they even feelings at all?
If all the wisdom and experience I've had in life has led me to a place where I have grown attached to someone with whom much is shared, I don't need to convince myself that I am as I am.
Because there will never be an objectively great Chili that everyone can agree is the best ever. But, I can make a Chili that I will love and that is perfect for me.