Circuit Thoughts

I remember reading a story of a man who had traveled to Imperial China, (this was before the revolution). While he was standing on a street in Hong Kong, he noticed two men arguing quite vigorously. They were dressed as scholars and had their hand clasped together in front of them hidden by their sleeves. Their discussion got quite heated, and it looked like they would come to blows, but no punch was thrown.

They eventually moved on and strolled down the street. The visitor asked his interpreter why the argument did not come to blows. The interpreter stated that the first one to strike had admitted losing the argument.

Disagreeing is not a bad thing. It becomes bad when both parties let the disagreement devolve into hate. Discussions from differing points of view should be encouraged, but in today’s atmosphere, it is condemned. A differing point of view is more likely to be shouted down than to be heard. In my opinion, the first one to try to shout over a differing point of view, is questioning their point of view.

We should not be afraid to hear other points of view. Nor should we be afraid to question our own understandings and beliefs. I do believe that fear causes most of the arguments in the world.

When I happen to turn on a major news network, I find that I don’t get the news, I get opinions. These pseudo news hours invite guests to “discuss” current events. Eventually it turns into a shouting match, and nothing is learned or changed. I have seen instances where speakers are shouted down because they believe something that someone else does not. Our churches are having the same problems.

So, what do we do? Well according to 2 Timothy 23-24 we, “Don’t have anything to do with foolish or stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servants must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful”.

In other parts of the Bible, we are instructed to listen first, and if necessary, respond in love. That is really what the problem is. We have so many people shouting, because they have the right to, yet very few are listening. Maybe it is time to turn that around.

Maybe we need to first off realize that there are followers of Christ on both sides of most disagreements. Keep in mind, Christians died on both sides of the Civil War, WW1 and WW2. Christians are in all the parties of our political process.

We need to stop taking things so personally. I know, we often have personal attacks thrown at us because of our stance on a given subject. But ultimately it isn’t personal, it is convenient. As a pastor I have been attacked, not because I did anything wrong, but because the attacker needed a place to release. Followers of Christ need to realize that it isn’t always about us.

Often arguments come out of hurt, and the world is hurting a lot. As followers of Christ, we need to listen and pray for those who are hurting. We need to listen and not get upset if what they say doesn’t agree with what we believe. We need to love and show Christ at every opportunity.

That’s just my opinion.

See you in church.