Remembering the night I stepped into TheOoze and someone kicked a brick

Blogger's Note: I'm writing this following Facebook responses to Davis Mitchell's posting of a Peter Rollins' presentation on YouTube entitled "I Deny the Resurrection," the title of which is a bit compelling, though isn't what it seems.

About 10 years ago, I discovered a site called TheOoze.com, one of the earliest online communities where emergent theology conversations were taking place.

The site was created by Spencer Burke, who was once pastor at Mariners Church, a 10,000-member congregation in Irvine, Calif. It's been a long time, but I have this memory of Burke saying back then that he was a burned-out pastor creating TheOoze.com out of room above his garage.

Late one night, I was journeying through the conversations and stumbled upon this one thread where the question was, in effect, "Can someone explain to me this thing about the 'holiness of God?'" I thought, "Sure, I can do that," and I penned something along the following:

"God is holy and can not be in the presence of sin. All humankind has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The blood of Jesus Christ, who was without sin, was shed for us. Those who have accepted Christ are covered by the blood of Christ and will be in the presence of God for eternity."

 Basically, that was my answer, and I felt pretty good about it ... until someone else answered me in the thread:

"What a minute, you evangelicals say that all of the time. But if God could not be in the presence of sin, what about when God was in the presence of Adam and Eve after that thing in the garden? And what about the Book of Job, where Satan -- who is pretty much the personification of sin -- is parading in front of God making all those challenges and accusations about Job? And ..."

 I was like, "Whoah ... what have I unleased here?"

But then, I started thinking about what that person on the other side of cyberspace was saying. And then I started thinking about my own theology, with constructs such as prevenient grace, where God is walking with us, loving us, wooing us, long before we might have even acknowledged God's existence, much less accept Christ.

It seemed like someone had knocked a brick out of my foundation and I spent the next 24 hours trying to put the brick back in place.

I got it in, but the mortar looks sort of sloppy, and you can still see the cracks.

I still believe in the holiness of God, and I still believe in the atonement of Christ, thus I still believe Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and that no one comes to the Father unless it's through Christ. I also believe that those who come to Christ are drawn by the Father.

How the rest of it works out, how it is all manifested in the life and death of others' lives is beyond me.

I only know from my own experience ... and even that is through the glass darkly.

Nonetheless, once I stepped into TheOoze.com, I began journeying into other theological places that others consider swamps filled with snakes and are afraid to enter. I haven't found any snakes; however, I don't necessarily buy all of their constructs, either. Still, I became less fearful of questions concerning foundations that looked a little messy and maybe had a few cracks. I also became less fearful of throwing away bricks that didn't seem to fit my theology any longer.

I just try not to hurt anyone who might be in the path ...