Picking Sides

I’ve been wanting to start blogging much more regularly about topics that matter to me, mainly education, faith, family, and intentionality. I see Christianity in America giving up its strongholds scientific naturalism, apathy, and culture wars. As a Christian, it is so easy to start picking sides and creating allies and enemies based on political or philosophical ideas. However, we forget the bigger picture.

I was thinking about the somewhat recent debate between Ken Ham and Bill Nye, a video can be found here. In this video and in his ministry, Ken Ham argues strongly that the first chapters in Genesis are to be taken completely literally, and the story presented can account for all scientific discoveries. Bill Nye argues that young earth creationism (YEC) cannot account for the fossil record, observations in astronomy, or the age of the earth. Nye recognizes that many people of faith do not hold to YEC and merely argues against this very literal reading and the scientific perspectives that result. For quite a long time, I held to the YEC theory because I believed the Bible to be true. I thought that any reading besides the literal one was not true to Scripture and found it to be offensive. I saw anyone speaking against a literalist view of any part of the Bible as being anti-Christianity and doing a lot of damage.

In fact, I often saw people who disagreed with me as doing, and were vocal about it, as being against Christ. I thought that in order to properly love God, you had to agree with my political opinions, way of interpreting the Bible, and way that I expressed my faith (an early morning Bible study, prayer before every meal, and a judgmental look before a smirk at an inappropriate comment). Our culture has taught us to pick sides; we often define ourselves by the opinions we hold and the people with which we associate. When we befriend with the people who are similar to us, it becomes easy to look down on the differences of others and see them as bad. If you have less money than I do, then you don’t know how to properly manage your resources. If you have more money than I do, then you must have an issue with greed or selfishness. If you are thinner than I am, then you spend too much time on your body and have a vanity problem, but if you are heavier than I am then you have an issue with gluttony. Because I, naturally, have it all together. While I am, of course, being sarcastic, it is easy to slip into these ways of thinking about politics, money, wealth, generosity, anger, or patience. I create my own bubble of what it means to be a good Christian and anyone a deviation or two off of myself no longer loves Jesus.

But, when we are being honest, life is not that simple. Ken Ham believes that he is defending his faith, the Bible, and the Kingdom of God as he pours all of himself into preaching YEC. However, Hugh Ross, a Christian apologist, astrophysicist and promoter of Old Earth Creationism also believes that he is defending the faith, the Bible, and the Kingdom of God - even though his message is directly contradictory to Ken Ham. Both (presumably) love Jesus but are preaching opposing messages. So what are we to do? How are we to handle differences in opinion or perspectives - especially when these topics are close to our hearts and significant to salvation?

First, we must begin by setting Truth as the goal. We must aim at knowing and understanding the truth, and not just promoting our own perspective. No matter how fond you are of your perspective, or how important it seems to other beliefs, let truth be your goal. Take the hotly debated topic of evolution of the species. An initial reading of the Bible would likely lead you to hold a Young Earth perspective where God created the animals and then formed man from the dust. However, current science tells an opposing story of gradual change over vast amounts of time eventually leading to a variety of different species. If you are a scientist, or classroom teacher, or parent - let us examine what evidence we have and try to come with a coherent story that accounts for scientific theorizing, the story of creation, God’s actions in history, and the fossil record. Why don’t we often take the time to do this? Because it is HARD work! It is extremely difficult to look at the evidence and possibly have been wrong. The scientific and religious communities are so accustomed to ignoring one another that dialogue is awkward and we don’t know where to start. Science often is not open to examining the possibility of truth within religious claims and religion tends to ignore any science that is not in agreement with tradition. It is difficult to admit that some areas we don’t understand completely and might need to change our previously held interpretation (for both sides). Both sides cannot be completely right - and there was only one way that our world was made. Unfortunately, we don’t have an exact description of how this happened and it takes significant work to puzzle out what took place. However, we must be committed to seeking the Truth and being willing to adjust our lives as we come to understand truth more completely. Jesus said “I am the way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through me” (John 14:6). If God not True, then there is little point in following him. The goals in our theological and philosophical discussions must be truth.

Second, we must identify what our goal is in having debates or promoting an opinion. In the world of social media, it is easy to become upset at a ‘Friend’s’ post and need to add your opinion. Some feel the need to defend their position at every turn while others like to push certain agendas. Some posts and comments are helpful, but others are just a form of self-promotion. I try and ask myself why I am writing something, and whether or not it will truly be beneficial to those who see it. While I do not always succeed, I want what I write to be an encouragement, promote the Kingdom of God, or help others seek Truth. If any of these objectives are not met, then I really shouldn’t be adding to a debate.

Next, I want to be very careful how I pick sides. The Bible speaks of us being in a spiritual battle, and this is just as applicable today as it was 2000 years ago (Eph 6:12). Our enemy wants us to be deceived and fight amongst ourselves. The more focused we are on proper styles of worship music, writing rules for how frequently a woman can speak, or the less time we will have to spend on loving others, seeking truth, and promoting justice. Let us first ask the question ‘Do we both love God with all our hearts?’ and let the conversation move from there. Once we both realize that we are on the same team, then the debate may progress to areas of disagreement, but we can at least have some point of agreement that may guide our struggle towards truth.

So let us continue to debate the proper way to express sexuality, women in ministry, doubt within faith, whether hell exists, how to deal with divorce, the inerrancy of Scripture, or what to do about sex trafficking. We need to debate these issues because our culture and God’s way of living will always be at odds (Jn 17:14); one promotes self and the other requires death to self (Eph 4:22). But let us do so in a manner that promotes truth and love. Let us remember that loving means saying what is hard, but in a way that respects the other person and promotes them to do good. We are going to have internal struggles as a Christian community, so let us strive to do so in a way that brings light and does not just inflict damage. Remember that our goal is God’s truth and not self-promotion.

On this blog I will write statements that you disagree with. I will probably make you angry, but hopefully I will make you think. Let’s agree to disagree in a way that makes us both better and doesn’t just try to make the other look bad. Let’s be encouraging in our disagreements and not just sweep them under the rug. I’m choosing to draw the dividing lines here: Truth and Lies - and trying to work my own beliefs towards truth.