About 3 - Analytical Perspective
December 13, 2023
February 14, 2025 edits
About 3 - Analytical Perspective
The About series is an optional website position statement. For a description of the About series, go to the end of the article.
Is this Website Right for me?
This website approaches spirituality from an analytical perspective.
The formal areas, Distant and Conflicted, are a primary focus of this site. They are a response to people’s expressed needs. Other parts of this website are generalized and intended for all readers.
Some people naturally tend toward analytical understanding, including faith. The hope is for all Christians to experience God, and we predict that to remain external to the human capability for analysis. Christianity can and should support everyone in their spiritual journey, filling spiritual, emotional, and cognitive needs for peace with God. The target audience for this website is:
- People who are experiencing problems with or in the Christian faith
- People who want to add an analytical perspective to spirituality
- People feeling unfulfilled after seeking help through their usual paths
This site intends to offer a unique perspective, combining analysis and faith, a feeling of understanding with our minds as the Holy Spirit enlightens and, through God, an experience of God.
This website may not fit what you are looking for, but you may know someone whom it does fit.
How the Ideas are Presented May Not be Effective for Some People
- This website exists in one language, English.
- A narrow range of problems are addressed.
- Only some possible causes of the addressed problems are discussed.
- The approach to problems is intended for an under-served but rapidly expanding part of the population, technical workers, and all those who are technically inclined.
“Infirmities” Beyond the Present Site Scope
People are complex. We all have needs that spiritual salvation may not directly fulfill, such as physical needs. Some examples are the need for sleep, compensation for human imperfections, such as reading glasses, and the need for good health practices. Additionally, emotional requirements must be addressed through multiple spiritual, physical, and medical modalities (avenues or approaches). One example is stress, which may require appropriate treatment. Ongoing stress can cause problems in what we think to be completely unrelated areas. Another example is therapies for people who do not enjoy life most days.
God can heal any wound, any imperfection, any emotional need. God has and can perform miracles. Sometimes, however, we must also take action, such as seeking help from trusted friends or professionals. We may require help from someone to determine which problems are correctable with medical intervention and which are spiritual. Although God can correct all ailments and imperfections, this website focuses on specific problems with a unique perspective, a combination of faith, experience, and analysis. Some people must try a combination approach to meet their need.
The Population is Changing
There is an increasing percentage of the workforce who are in technical jobs. Are we making this group our brothers and sisters in Christ? Christianity is intended to work in the real world for every person.
This website was motivated by people who have faced or are facing issues in Christianity and have yet to find help through conventional sources. More than one Christian has told me that a spiritual guide taught concepts that did not make sense in one context or another. For a time, this was a stumbling block to them. This website accepts that other perspectives exist, which are valid alternative perspectives.
(1Co 3:6-7 NKJV) I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. (7) So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.
Purely objective Christianity was never intended by God. If all we do is view the command to love God and others as a commitment and not a heartfelt emotion, we become only a noise to everyone. If Christianity is only a legal approach to the need for salvation and salvation applied to a person, then we greatly miss the point. From the opposite end of the spectrum, if God had intended our faith to be purely subjective emotion, we may be convinced by every eloquent orator that the religion or doctrine they promote is as correct as Christianity.
(1Jn 5:6 NKJV) This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.>
Mark 12:29–30 (NKJV) 29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.
How we spend our time shapes us. If we have analytical jobs, we will likely apply analysis to matters of faith. We are not trying to reduce Christianity to a set of doctrines or beliefs we understand. We hope for an intuitive sense of understanding, along with or through Holy Spirit enlightenment.
This website depends on several tenets.
Some of them are as follows:
- Everyone has sinned at least once and needs a savior.
- We are to respect God by having a submissive attitude toward Him.
- God wants from us a child-like faith.
- Christianity works in our world, the actual world that we experience.
- Christianity is intended for everyone, not just people who tend toward certain personality types or ways. It works for people regardless of genetics and life experience.
The above statements are all beliefs and are some of the underpinnings of this website. As we progress, let us keep one of these in mind: A child-like faith may be the single element underpinning much. However, the intent is not to suppress cognitive thought by trying to experience Christianity as an emotion.
Summary
This site is intended to contribute a unique perspective that includes a combination of analysis and faith. We hope for a feeling of understanding with our minds as the Holy Spirit enlightens us and an experience of a God who loves us.
Purely objective Christianity was never intended by God. If all we do is view the command to love God and others as a commitment and not a heartfelt emotion, we become only a noise to everyone. We are followers of a God who loves us how only a perfect father can. Our heavenly Father has good intentions for us. If God had intended our faith to be purely subjective, we may have listened to every religious idea and thought Jesus was not the only path to salvation.
(1Co 3:6-7 NKJV) I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. (7) So neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. >
(Mat 18:3 NKJV) and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. >
(Mar 10:14-15 NKJV) But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. (15) Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”
Bible Versions
A goal for site content is to be independent of the Bible version. See Bible Interp - 1 in BnB section.
The “About” Article Series is Optional Content
Each church participant has a different role, so you must decide whether the About series interests you. Some challenges in the faith existing in one perspective do not exist in another, or there is a straightforward solution when viewed differently. The About series does not contain core content for which this website exists. Consider these articles as optional, providing context for this website.
The context is predominantly protestant with a hope to be compatible with Catholic perspectives.
About 1 - Strategy
This website exists to help Christians who are struggling in matters of faith or whose faith has become a mediocre experience. The article About 1 - Strategy, explains the website’s approach.
About 2 - Intersection
A Venn diagram has circles where parts overlap, defining the region of intersection of two or more parts. This website exists at the intersection of several conditions. These include the availability of help, the availability of the author or authors, and other time factors, along with insight into human strengths, frailties, weaknesses, and more.
About 3 - Analysis
This website approaches Christianity from the belief that Christianity is real, for today, and makes a difference in people’s lives. Therefore, most Christianity can be codified as a set of tenets (assertions) that pass some test of reason.
About 4 - Error
This is a brief statement on Christian cults, and Cult group social dynamics.