Thursday, May 14, 2009
No Limits
Dan Edelen at Cerulean Sanctum went on a bit of a rant here a while back. The essence of his complaint:
I don't get quite as worked up about actual unbelief as Dan does. When I encounter that, I find need to pray and ask where I have failed in ministry to help my brother have sufficient faith. But the short hand statement gets me just as worked up as Dan. Let's examine why.
First, it implies that I lack sufficient understanding to "get" the complexities of the others thought process. I am a lot of things, but stupid is not one of them. Explain it to me I will get it.
Secondly, it is simply dismissive. It says, in essence, that I am not worth your effort. That's just unbiblical. It often implies that the speaker has not, and does not want to, take the time to formulate an articulate argument. It's a power play. It implies that the speaker does not need to be bothered to articulate an argument.
Finally, it sometimes implies a lack of articulative ability in the speaker. Which means really, "I'm losing this argument and don't want to." It is, simply, an unfair rhetorical tactic.
Look at those three things - they imply much about character - spiritual formation if you will. Is that unbelief? I think that is too strong a word, I like immaturity better. Three things Christians should grow in - knowledge, grace, and reason.
It would be nice to work on those.
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Frankly, I’m sick of fellow believers telling me what is and what is not possible. I’ve had it with Christians telling me, “Well, that’s just the way it is.”I agree with Dan on this up to a point. I do think Christians suffer from unbelief when they try to tackle certain things, but I also think that the argument "Well. that's just the way it is," is short hand for some other things as well. Sometimes it means, "I disagree but don't want to be bothered with arguing with you."
I don't get quite as worked up about actual unbelief as Dan does. When I encounter that, I find need to pray and ask where I have failed in ministry to help my brother have sufficient faith. But the short hand statement gets me just as worked up as Dan. Let's examine why.
First, it implies that I lack sufficient understanding to "get" the complexities of the others thought process. I am a lot of things, but stupid is not one of them. Explain it to me I will get it.
Secondly, it is simply dismissive. It says, in essence, that I am not worth your effort. That's just unbiblical. It often implies that the speaker has not, and does not want to, take the time to formulate an articulate argument. It's a power play. It implies that the speaker does not need to be bothered to articulate an argument.
Finally, it sometimes implies a lack of articulative ability in the speaker. Which means really, "I'm losing this argument and don't want to." It is, simply, an unfair rhetorical tactic.
Look at those three things - they imply much about character - spiritual formation if you will. Is that unbelief? I think that is too strong a word, I like immaturity better. Three things Christians should grow in - knowledge, grace, and reason.
It would be nice to work on those.
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