Progressive Christianity as it exists here and practiced on the discussion board is in my view well noted as an aid to deconstruction of the programmed dogma and doctrine of the traditional church system. Many but not all seem to come here that appreciate the support and presence of like minded individuals who have come to similar conclusions. What has been voiced here in the past is that we are good at deconstruction of organized religion but not at all in reconstruction.

I was thinking about that today and you know i do believe it is true. And furthermore I am personally in favor of such an approach. Why?

Well, the problem some of us had when we came out from some type of fundamentalism is that in the past we had allowed (willingly or unwillingly?) ourselves to be programmed by the organized church system. We allowed them much latitude in constructing our religious belief system based on a blind faith in their teachings and the Bible. A belief system that ultimately toppled with reasoning and an intuition inside ourselves that left us in the desert, so to speak, sometimes confused and often rejected by our associates because we no longer bought that which the system sold.

So many here in the community have come a long way at sorting things out in their mind and finding that they were not alone in their suspicions and reasoning concerning past beliefs that the Christian church system imposed upon them. Now they have been emptied of most of those building blocks and have renewed confidence but the question arises “Where do I go from here and what am I supposed to believe as a progressive Christian.” The thinking mind seems to want something concrete to sink its teeth into that makes sense to replace that which was lost. Where are the blocks for reconstruction?

Surely they are not in the nebulous 8 Points. No, those points are just general principles that unite us in some commonality of community. What the thinking mind is looking for are answers to the tough questions and a level of certainty which is not found in the 8 points. However, those points can provide a common atmosphere of agreement for ones personal journey of discovery . I am reminded from a writing in Psalms 127… “Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain” and again in the NT Paul admonishes us, in a sense, in Roman’s 15 not to be building on someone else’s foundation where Christ was not known.

So then reconstruction is not a church organization or even a progressive Christianity thing but rather a personal thing between Christ (as in an anointing or a smearing together with God) and ourself. The church can provide the support but unless the building is built by that connectivity or oneness then it is built in vain only in time to be toppled again.

And so I would also admonish all to not allow another whether an individual or even progressive Christianity to build your building because of some great sounding words. But rather to be patient and let Love have its perfect work which is less concerned with certainty and more tied to unity and peace with all. Surely then it can be said as Paul reportedly wrote in 1 Corinthians… “For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.”

I find it wise not to be concerned too much with reconstruction as God, the Divine, the Sacred, Oneness, Unity, whatever you envision God to be, will build that building and it will not fall.