Questions, Questions, and More Questions!

Dear Fellow Travelers,
Because of the responses to my recent perspectives, I have been spending an unusual amount of time answering questions: some from believers who, having no agenda, just want to know truth; others from believers, who are out to prove that “they are right and I am wrong”; and others from believers who, for the most part agree but are having a difficult time “putting off the old” and “putting on the new”. Amazingly, I am also receiving many responses from people who are in full agreement, and actually encourage me on! In either case, I trust that the dialogue will continue. It is my determined purpose to respond to your questions in a way that will encourage the dialogue, not discourage it, but it is not always easy to accomplish that, due to the nature of the thesis (opinion) I might be offering, especially when it involves election, predestination, choice, and grace.
Having said that, I can make this one observation: It is very difficult for Christians to relinquish control. For obvious reasons, it is very difficult for those of us who live on planet earth even to consider the possibility that God is God and He can, therefore, do whatever He pleases, however He pleases, whenever He pleases—all without any input from any of us. For some reason, we are fine with His being God, as long as He thinks the way we think and acts in ways that do not offend us. In fact, most denominational doctrines have been built around our attempts to fit God into our world view, rather than our fitting into His world view. In the end (and in the middle, too!), this means that God must also believe what we believe, not the other way around. As you know, we are quite adamant about this, as is evidenced by the division that exists between believers, rather than the unity that should exist.
No, I am not implying that Buddhists and Muslims and Hindus and Christians should be unified around theology, but I am implying that Christians should realize that what we have correctly identified as truth, is so infinitesimally small in comparison to the whole of truth, that there is plenty of room for all of us to be wrong, very wrong, and there is certainly enough room for us to live together in the unity of the Spirit and in the bond of peace. In other words, we should be able to discuss the most difficult of theological matters without becoming enemies, without judging one another, without distancing ourselves from one another, and (especially) without the fear of being rejected.
In other words, I really want to encourage you to ask questions, state your beliefs, argue with me, challenge me, jump up and down with me, and I want you to do so because, well because when Truth finds you, you will be glad you did.