Nothing i say should ever be construed to represent the views of my wife, my church or my friends. I am a pretty independent minded guy and as i have matured, i’ve discovered that i don’t easily fit into any camp or under any label. There are a number of things i am not.
Politically, i am a moderate. I used to be a republican, but they seem to have gone so far off to the right that i now consider myself a moderate.
Theologically, i am, in broad strokes, a Christian. I used to call myself an evangelical, but the evangelical movement seems to have merged with the Republican Party and I no longer feel comfortable with that label. I suppose I could call my self a post-evangelical leaning somewhat in the direction of (but as usual, not wholly agreeing with) the model of Michael Spencer (aka the internet monk) or Rachel Held Evans. I am not an Arminian, nor a Calvinist, nor a Dispensationalist, Egalitarian or Complimentarian. My moderate inclinations have made me uncomfortable with the extremes of each of those positions.
In short, i don’t like labels. I think a lot. I ponder. I wonder. I question. I try to understand many positions.
I believe that God did not write for us a book of doctrine or systematic theology. He wrote for us a book which speaks of God’s relationship with man and man’s relationship with God and with his fellow-man. The key is relationship. It seems that every time man sets up a system of theology, it ends up trying to force scripture to say things it doesn’t actually say. My proclivity to not fit into a nice pigeon-hole tends to make some of what i believe and will write about controversial. That’s why i named my blog Unapologetically John.
A comment in passing: i do not capitalize the word i unless it begins a sentence. This is deliberate, not a mistake. I can’t think of any legitimate reason why this word is capitalized and it seems prideful to me. We never capitalize me or us or you or he or she, so why i?