Our spiritual landscape is changing. You can feel it in the air, and see it in people’s faces. What was once familiar and comfortable, is rapidly starting to change and transform into something different. This new landscape isn’t all negative by the way, God is still doing things today. People are experiencing an awakening in many respects due to the fact that we are now being forced to examine what we really believe. The stakes are high. In fact, I’ve never been more certain that belief can directly impact behavior. What we once laughed off ten years ago, we may now find deeply offensive, and often this is the result of someone acting out what they deeply believe (it just so happens to be different than what we think and feel). There has never been more of a need to both stand up for what we believe as Biblical Christians and Methodists, as well as to extend grace to those who don’t espouse the same ideas we do. The next few years will solidify what role the church will play in our ever changing political and social climate.
I often find myself repeating the mantra “give God an audience first, before you make up your mind about something.” Take the time to read what the Bible actually says, prior to forming strong beliefs on certain hot button cultural issues. Are we taking time to listen to Scripture, or are we collecting our beliefs based mainly on slogans or emotions? When most people witness change occurring around them at a faster rate than they are comfortable with, the knee-jerk reaction is to resist. Sometimes this is good, as in the sense that we must cling to Jesus and the Gospel message no matter what. Sometimes resistance to change can also be detrimental however, such as when we allow conceptual evolution to stop us from growing in our faith.
Our words also have deep meaning and consequences. I hear a lot of a priori arguments being made lately. This term simply means that people hold to a belief that they consider to be true from the beginning, without necessarily backing it up with empirical data or evidence. For example, we might conclude that a certain person or group of people are automatically ‘Godless’ or foolish, because they don’t hold the same core belief that we do.
I think this often leads to comments or arguments that begin with the statement ‘can you believe how ignorant so and so is?’ We may be postulating the a priori view that what we hold true, must intrinsically be true for everyone else, and we don’t need to look any further for evidence which may contradict what we already think. This is a safe place to be philosophically, because it allows us to think that we are always right. It’s a dangerous place to spend too much time though, because it doesn’t allow for adaptation or growth. If our spiritual landscape is indeed changing, then we can choose to look at it from the perspective of listening to these groups we don’t agree with first, and then waiting for ways to interject God’s truth into the conversation once an opportunity avails itself. It is this patient approach that is needed today.
Christian author and philosopher Greg Koukl is fond of saying that most people aren’t used to having their foundational core beliefs challenged, so when that happens, they react with anger and vitriol. The conversation typically stops there altogether, or simply turns into more of a debate. Both of these scenarios do not lend themselves well to changing hearts for Jesus.
We need not compromise our Christian morals or values, but the current landscape seems to demand a different strategy for evangelism: listen first, speak last, and love regardless. James 1:19 says, “My dear brothers, take note of this: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.” In this fashion, I believe we can win the person even if we lose the argument. We can plant the seed of Christian truth, but then step back and let God do the watering.
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