Mad Scientist

I've been thinking about how valuable it is to disagree. In fact, there are two important facets of disagreement: the way you disagree and the things with which you disagree.

As a lover and follower of Jesus Christ, I want to make sure the way I disagree honors Him...problem is, I tend to think that any disagreement is not-nice and therefore shy away from it. That's my sin, actually, wanting to be nice.

Anyway, the other thing I want to do as a lover and follower of Jesus Christ is disagree in specfic ways about specific things so that through my disagreements I can share insights with those around me.

Conferences always reinforce this for me...I go and hear a ton of stuff with which I disagree, and then - usually first with Jvo, then the staff, then the elders, then my friends, and sometimes with our church - process my disagreements.

I feel God convicting me of not disagreeing publicly enough...usually for fear that I cannot disagree in healthy ways. This, by the way, is usually why I don't blog any of the specifics of my disagreements (because I can't control who hears me and whether or not I can trust them to hear me generously).

But, I feel (increasingly) like God is calling me to be a kind of mad scientist...like some Christopher Lloyd who is out of sync with the larger community of flux-capacitor-manufacturers.

The world needs more mad scientists...But mad scientists like myself need to become increasingly attenuated to the Spirit and do what God is calling us to do instead of being shy and private with our burdens.