This is a brief post that draws attention to a new page at this blog. Its an administration post that I have been meaning to do for a while.
“The Internet has given us 10 or 15 new styles of communication: long messages like blogging, and then short messages like texting and tweeting. I see it all as part of an expanding array of linguistic possibilities.“
David Crystal
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and[a] knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
Romans 11:33
This is a brief post as I am calling it a night. My weekend was spent tweaking and working on a page that I have put off for a while now. I wanted to create a blog page that would explain this blog to people who find it on the internet. I want to explain the ground rules, what is believed here, and explain what I am doing and how this blog came about and formed. I finally finished this and can get back to the subjects this blog wants to write about. To read the post go to, “Please Read This First Before You Start Reading Wondering Eagle.” This is important administration matter that needed to be done for a while, especially with how this blog has grown over the last couple of years.
Wondering Eagle 
I have a sincere question in two parts David.
1) Do you consider yourself a Christian at this stage of your life?
2) If you do, how would you describe your Christian beliefs?
[ This is not a gotcha question ]
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Still figuring that out. I have found evangelicalism to be flawed and unsustainable. That is my personal experience. My bigger question is that if there is indeed hell, then why would God trust such a sacred message and gospel evangelism to such a corrupt church.
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Thanks for laying out the background and history, and for identifying your perspective and your goals. We have spoken and emailed enough that I have a good understanding of where you are coming from. We see many of the same things and share many of the same concerns. I am continuing to try to address these from within evangelicalism, but I totally understand why you have separated from it. I have to admit that sometimes keeping my feet inside the evangelical world is like walking on a knife’s edge. But I have been able to maintain a distinction between my Christian faith and the behaviors and the attitudes of an organized religious system, and so (at least for now) I will continue to try to work “from within” that system to the extent that I can do so without violating my own faith understanding. I really appreciate your honesty and transparency in all that you write, and your passion for your blogging.
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I should say, it also helps me to keep perspective by recognizing that the Christian faith is far far larger than evangelicalism, despite what many of my fellow evangelicals think 🙂
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Dave H,
Also understand that the term evangelical has evolved from a historic definition from say the late 18th century-early 20th century, to the squishy, ill-defined, nailing-jello-to-the-wall term it has become over the past 50 years or so. An evangelical like say John Wesley or a Charles Spurgeon is a far different animal that what we call evangelicals today. If I was an evangelical because I understood and agreed with the historical definitions and characteristics of an evangelical, I would be _effing_ pissed that all these frauds have taken the term and thoroughly debased it, making the term worthless or a term of widespread derision and mockery.
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Yes, “effing pissed” is a pretty apt characterization of my thoughts regarding the evolution of and the politicization of evangelicalism, along with “deeply disappointed” and “totally frustrated.” I always say that I am an evangelical in the historic “Bebbington Quadrilateral” sense of the term, not in the modern sociopolitical/cultural sense of the term. Indeed, for many people the term itself is completely poisoned, and I understand why. Honestly, I truly feel like a large portion of my fellow evangelicals asked themselves the question, “What are the worst perceptions of us that society has?” and then set about doing everything within their power to prove the stereotypes and earn those negative perceptions.
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Evangelical has come to mean Fundamentalist with a new coat of camo paint.
Many years ago, my old Dungeonmaster described religion this way:
“Think of people walking around holding up signs. Here’s what’s on the signs:”
Basic Religious Symbol (BRS): Identifier of the specific religion.
Atheist: BRS with red circle and slash over it.
Agnostic: BRS + “?”.
Diabolist: BRS inverted.
Fundamentalist: BRS + “!” or “!!!!!”.
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There is truth to that. I believe the evangelical movement of the mid-twentieth century grew out of fundamentalism and sought to be more engaging with culture and less separatist. But more recently it has come full circle, become much more fundamentalist and now so many evangelicals see everything in terms of an “us versus them” culture war, with everyone who is not “us” seen as a mortal enemy who must be defeated and/or destroyed. I attribute this in no small part due to the fact that it is now driven more by partisan politics than by faith and the gospel.
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Yeah, around 2000 I saw Evangelicalism as a kinder, gentler, less legalistic version of the Christianity I grew up with, where it was okay to (gasp) go to the movies once in a while or even listen to rock music.
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