Being Right in a Contentious World
I like to be right. In fact it would be fair to say, I’m obsessed with
being right. I certainly don’t like to be wrong, and just quietly, I have
worked hard to make sure I don’t find myself in that place where I might appear
to be without all the answers. And that is all well and good until some bright
spark pops up with a truly deep and disturbing question, the answer to which I
have not a clue.
Are you like that?
When I do come to the awareness that I might be wrong, I like to be the
one who comes up with the apology, as if it was my idea in the first place.
Are you like this?
It is at this point I realise I really need to look at my motivation.
Do I do what is right because I love God? Is it because I love other
people, and want the best for them? Or is it more a case of I don’t want to
look bad? Well, to be perfectly honest, I don’t want to look bad. Does anybody
like looking bad? This often leads me to the place where I become addicted to
being right all the time.
The older I get, the more I realise there are things I do not know. What
person on this earth can possibly be right all the time? How can any one of us
know all there is to know about everything—from the outer reaches of the
universe to the inner worlds of macro biology, no one can know it all. And that
doesn’t even take into account all the philosophical, emotional and spiritual
questions that could be asked.
So these questions exist and they beg to be answered: What is right? What
is truth?
I do not have a corner on truth and righteousness. Just because I want to
do what is right does not always make me right.
[When I first wrote this paper] I was well aware of a number of
contentious issues being highlighted in media and social media arguments. I
wanted to know the RIGHT answers, and wished I could contribute from a place of
some authority. But I am not an
authority on everything that needs to be examined—theology, psychology,
philosophy, scientific research etc. I know stuff, but not everything there is
to know.
I took out my notebook and began a list of contentious issues that are
bound to raise hackles, if not passions. Twenty-two issues were written down.
Over half of them were social issues represented by social justice groups. Now
despite the fact that you might wish me to publish this list of contentious
issues, I do not intend to, and this is the reason why:
Religious groups often feel they must take a firm and clear ‘position’ on
these issues, which often throws fuel on the fire, and manages to end up
burning not only the members of the religious groups, but also the folks
affected by the issues.
Let me draw a picture so we can have a look at what is happening in our
current western society.
For the sake of the exercise, I am going to label the corners as follows:
·
Right winged, conservative, fundamentalist
·
Left winged, secular, liberalist
·
‘I want to do what is right, but with so many
arguments I’m not sure’ (uncertain)
·
The footy is on. Have you ordered the pizza?
(indifferent)
From my observation of social media and some news reports, most of the
issues I have written on my list are not only contentious, they are polarised.
That is to say, extreme groups quickly form in opposite corners and are often
angry, aggressive and sometimes violent. Including right-winged conservative
Christians, who can sometimes use violent words. Folks in the uncertain group
seem to stand on the edges, anxiously wringing their hands, wanting to make
things right, not knowing how, thinking at best, they might avoid a fight.
Folks in the indifferent corner get busy with whatever they have at hand to
distract them.
That place in the middle is a war zone. This is a place where folks
should be able to come to discuss and reason, but alas, you enter at your own
risk. Some responses to blog posts and media reports that I have read have been
ugly and vicious, and certainly make me think twice before offering an
opinion. I have observed that when an action
or comment has been judged as offensive or insensitive by one group, the other
group rises up in anger—lighted torches and pitch forks in hand to kill the
beast. The various news media groups
replay certain words, pictures and footage over and over again, not to soothe
the savage beast, but to infuriate and stir the issue. It sells papers and gets
ratings—and it fairly burns in cyber world as the passions of social media
users boil over and spew acid and venom.
Here is another little secret, I not only like to be right, I like being
liked. I have opinions and ideas about various matters, but that place in the
middle is not a stable or safe place to talk. People lose perspective quickly,
and words are often said that become attacks on character. Sometimes I think it
is safer to just watch the footy and eat pizza.
Self-righteousness is not a
Christian problem.
Interestingly, over the years I have heard accusations against Christians
that they are self-righteous, and I won’t contend with that accusation. The point I would like to highlight here is
that self-righteousness is not a Christian problem. It is a human problem. Self-righteousness
seems to be a by-product of passion and commitment to a good cause. What a
circus? Of course we need passion and commitment to good causes (and Christ is
as good a cause as any other), but when, by default, we find ourselves sitting
on our moral high-horse, looking down on those who have failed to meet the
challenge, we have defeated the purpose of all that is good and right. This is
what it is to be human. A vicious cycle of doing what is right, and finding out
that righteousness doesn’t come that way. Righteousness only comes as a gift of
Grace from God.
To read the full blog, see appendix below
Appendix (Continued)
Come, let us reason together
I am traditionally conservative, but I have been hearing what some of the
social justice activists have been saying (particularly if they use a reasonable
tone). To stand in the uncertain corner, wringing my hands, seems like a cop
out when the issues are often real and they need attention, action and
resolution. So what can be done when many ideas and proposed actions are met
with aggressive resistance?
When listening to Bible teacher, Shane Willard, I was impressed by the
teaching he gave concerning Biblical Hebrew culture. The Scriptures were
studied thoroughly, meditated upon, examined. Interpretations were debated and
God’s thoughts on the matter were sought. The Hebrew elders would meet at the
gate to discuss, but a hallmark of how they went about their discussion was
that a debate should always involve loads of questions, and that it should
challenge. They believed God spoke through Scripture, but that there were
thousands of ways He might speak through one Scripture. It was considered good
form to ask intelligent questions. Author, Lois Tverberg, says in her book:
‘...debate was a central aspect of study—the rabbis believed that a mark of an
excellent student was his ability to argue well.’
Further, she adds: ‘...we are not called
to...unquestioningly repeat whatever we learn from a favorite teacher...we are
to exercise wisdom and discernment, continually asking questions, weighing
answers, seeking understanding and grounding our beliefs within the context of
God’s Word...’ This culture is the culture that Jesus was immersed in, and in
which he operated. This was a culture that represented a meeting of the minds
to determine what God’s mind was on a matter.
Somewhere in the dark ages, following the conversion of the Emperor
Constantine to Christianity, the idea of asking questions and debating an issue
got lost. It was the will of the Emperor or it was death. The known world of
the time was established by brute force, and the Christianity that emerged from
the 4th Century on was highly ordered, controlling and used fear of
death to keep everyone in line. This did not foster a culture of debating an
issue, and finding God’s mind. This fostered fear of being found a heretic and
being tortured and/or burned at the stake. Dogma that emerged was inflexible,
and Scripture was deemed to have one meaning, and that meaning was dispensed at
the will of the clergy. Truth as decided by the clerical authorities was
clearly written and proclaimed into the emerging Christian culture, and it was
set in stone. This state of affairs continued for a thousand years before the
period of enlightenment – the Renaissance and the Reformation.
Hebrew culture was about asking questions. They seemed to be inspired by
questions, not afraid of them.
Our western Christian culture, though having emerged from the time of witch-hunts
and burning heretics at the stake, still at times seems to be afraid of
questions. A curious mind is still somehow regarded with suspicion, and yet
history has told us that if the many researchers and scientists (who were often
men and women of faith) hadn’t been curious and asked questions, then new
understanding would not have been gained, and we would still live in the dark
ages. There seems to be a residual fear that if we don’t hold to a traditional
position, we are somehow a heretic. Almost as if all that is to be known is now
known, and there is nothing more to be gained by further investigation. With it
comes this idea that I need to have a position, and I need to be right—I have
to know the truth or that won’t look good for the Gospel.
Remember, the gospel of Christ is not a political campaign, where we
canvas for votes, so that people will vote for Jesus, based on what our
policies are.
Is this how Christ asked us to win the lost?
We are afraid of questions, but why? Why are we afraid of not knowing it
all—of not having all the answers? After all, it is not possible for anyone to
know it all. Not the most studied scientist or philosopher, not the man they
say is the smartest man who ever lived, not the most educated theological
professor. Not you, not me. No one can possibly know it all.
Once you come to a place where you can accept that you don’t know
everything, and that you will never know everything, and that is OK, then you
can relax. We can all relax and not be so quick to defend an idea, a position, or
tradition.
When it comes down to it, in life we all have opinions and positions, and
sometimes we do hotly defend those positions. It is called being dogmatic. But
did God ever ask us to make sure we knew everything, and to make sure that we
were always right?
Or did He just ask us to seek Him?
Psalm 105:3-4 ‘...let the hearts of
those who seek the LORD rejoice. Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his
face always.’
Remember, when it comes to seeking truth, truth is not a what. Truth is a
who. Jesus said: ‘I am the Way, and the
Truth and the Life...’ John 14:6 (NIV)
I am forever grateful that while I speak and write and hope to encourage,
that God is gracious. He doesn’t sit up in heaven and fume about all the things
I don’t have right, or the things I’ve said that I have not understood
correctly. He is pleased when we seek Him and love Him. Just as when a small child draws a stick
picture of mummy and daddy, and writes in messy writing, ‘I love you’, the
parent doesn’t punish the child because the drawing doesn’t look as it should
if a master painter were to have done the portrait. The parent just loves being
loved, even if the picture looks ridiculous. This is what God’s love, grace and
mercy is about.
How hard is it to give up being
right?
John 13:35 does not say, they will know we are His disciples by
what we approve of and what we disapprove of.
It does however, say: “By this everyone will know that you are my
disciples, if you love one another.” (NIV)
God didn’t call us to be right.
He called us to be kind.
Colossians 3:12-15 (NLT)
” Since God chose
you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with
tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make
allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you.
Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above
all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect
harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your
hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace... ”
