Living Provocatively

I was challenged recently by a friend regarding the nature of my sometimes provocative statements. Specifically we were speaking about a recent blog titled 'Church and the Beast within'. The provocation in this blog lay in the link between Church and the spirit of anti-Christ, enshrined in the idea of the Beast of Revelation. As I was challenged, and I reflected back on what I was trying to say, a few thoughts came to mind.

Firstly I have to recognise that sometimes I do go out of my way to be provocative (no shock there)! Often my aim is to provoke people by some outrageous statement, which hopefully leads them into an exploration of why they were shocked, and to consider the points being made in the whole article. However, I realise that sometimes it's not the content that matters, but the headline! What do my headlines say to people? Are they provoked to exploration of the subject, or do they just get peeved off with the headline. I think if we are fair, we are probably all guilty of skimming the headline and not fully engaging with the text, so I feel there is a lesson in here for me.

Secondly, I have to ask myself is deliberate provocation a healthy thing. My modus operandi in posting provocative statements is to challenge people's perceptions. I think we have to acknowledge that each one of us has an unconscious bias toward certain things in our lives. As someone who is passionately exploring faith, I'm interested in what unconscious bias we may have when it comes to Jesus, faith and religion. I hope it's clear I don't have all the answers, and don't pretend to have my theology all neatly sorted. But I do have questions! And I do have an earnest and genuine desire to listen to and engage with others as we jointly explore what it means to be Christ followers in our context. I also like to challenge and be challenged!

So I'm left with the question of just how much is too much?! Does a provocative statement draw people deeper into the conversation, or does it turn them off? How much do I gain in being deliberately provocative, and just what do I lose? I recognise that for some, my deliberate provocativeness can be a barrier to what I'm saying. So in one sense I'm left contemplating how I absorb this and let it filter through my thoughts. On the other hand, there's a sense that I don't want to conform just to make people comfortable. Human history is littered with such stories, and by and large, it's not the conformists who make most impact on human history, but those who stood their ground and fought for what they truly believed in, even going out of their way to be non-conformist! Perhaps somewhere here there is a balance to be found? Lord help me to see it.