[...] to a post and comment on the Without Wax blog that lead to a second post, as well as a comment on Parchment and Pen.  The comments on each of these blogs were critical and harsh if not unequivocally hurtful and [...]

Transparency and vulnerability are huge ice breakers. I respect Michael for laying it out there.

Lisa,

Who are you? Your post is well thought out, supported by Scripture, eloquent, humble and poignant.. It’s useful.

Thank you. You’ve echoed a burden that has weighed on my heart for years. Hebrews 3:13 is one of my life verses. From what I can find in Scripture there are three things that should be daily activities in any Christian’s life. Prayer, Scripture reading, and daily confession/exhortation.

The fight against sin is won when we enter into a family of fellow sinners willing to invest in our lives while we invest in theirs. I know this to be true, for Scripture says so. As emotional confirmation I have also experienced it first hand.

Do you have a blog site?

Cadis and Minnow, sadly I think you are right, hence, the need for wisdom and discretion lest we spew out our ‘emotional vomit of confession’ as TU&D said, to those who would trample our vulnerability underfoot. I have experienced that as well. I guess the point of the story is to at least find somebody to confide in vs. being a stoic reservoir of inner destruction.

Lisa, a poser is a person who habitually pretends to be something he is not or thinks he is better then someone else.

It is so much easier to open up with others in a church where everyone is exposed each Sunday (with an uncompromising preaching of the law), instead of a church where they try and use the law to make you better. The latter only creates Pharisees who will think quite highly of their own obedience and look down their noses at everyone else.

That’s just the way it works.

Cadis–Sadly yours is the experience I have most often had in the Church as well. Although it is nice to hear what Lisa has said here I have found it to be so rarely practiced that I am sure God’s heart is broken.

Lisa,

I enjoy your writting. I like the open honesty of Michael’s posts as well. When in comes to confessing our faults on to another I think we have lost the art of doing that. One of the things that surprises me more than Michael baring his worries and struggles and short comings is his ability to even see them. I have to ask my husband about my short comings and he’s afraid to tell me(and that’s the way I like him)
I think that is one of the primary reasons to keep under cover our faults is it exposes you( I know, I am brilliant ) I am currently dealing with such a situation where I have exposed my weakness and fear and it opened me up to criticism, pity, and made me a stepping stone for others to make themselves look better. I have stopped talking to two other professing believer’s and the lesson I’ve walked away with is…don’t expose yourself like this again, smile and shut up.

Yo, what does that mean? Just curious

Patton is a poser