Okay now that I got those thoughts in post #245 off my chest I can respond to
this quoted treasure trove above of a delicious paragraph. (yummy)
To learn and unlearn and relearn.
Once we are full of the church learning that told us what we believe, SOME of us encounter moments
when we have uneasy thoughts about what were given as "truth". Suddenly the truthfulness is in question.
Since we were TAUGHT that unbelievers end up in eternal conscious torment, we need to proceed with caution.
We don't want to lose our
Get-Out-of-Hell-Free card! What to do, what to do... ???
So we look into it. And perhaps we find other believers that share our concerns. This is a great relief.
We collect the appropriate apologetics (chapter and verse) and are ready to make a stand.
Which will most likely be met with disapproval by those on the other side of the issue.
I love that you call this process "self honesty". Being honest with oneself.
But I believe it is Spirit-directed. That being said, it brings into question the belief we are putting aside.
Does it mean that what we put aside was NOT Spirit-directed? Or does it mean there is some latitude in this
matter of ones own beliefs? Is it really an issue if we differ in the non-essentials?
We can't even all agree on what the essentials are. Much less the non-essentials.
/ cc:
@Augustin56