2012.09.24 Monday Morning Message

 Thinking Allowed....or is it?

"Let's get one thing straight right from the beginning. I'm right and you're wrong. It's just that simple."

It seems to me that as a culture we are moving more and more in the direction of distilling everything down to simple formulas that eventuate in the "I'm right and you're wrong" mentality. We see it in abundance in the social media. People choosing sides and stating with great vigor their opinion, chastising anyone who disagrees. We hear it 24/7 from the talking heads on the television. To many of them it's all black or white, right or wrong, plain and simple.

I struggle with this approach for many reasons. I'll list a couple of them.

• First this "I'm right and you're wrong" approach seems dishonest to me. I don't believe many of the issues we discuss are that simple. I think there are more than 50 shades of grey and I believe we are called to find our faith in the midst of the tension that is created by these grey areas. Life is just not that clear cut. I wish it was. I want it to be. But neither my experience nor my understanding of the Scriptures leads me to believe it is.

• Second, this approach fosters division rather than community. After determining which "camp" we're in, it's not that much of a stretch to decide that those in the other camp are now enemies. This seems so contrary to the message of the gospel.

So, today I am going to try to take the advice of the Bible and listen more, speak less and try to foster community in midst of all the ambiguities of life. I think it was the Reverend Grady Nutt who said 

"the best thing about community is I can put my spots next to your stripes and we can celebrate being on the same quilt." 

 May it be so.

"A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, only in expressing his opinion." Proverbs 18:2

"Know this beloved, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger." James 1:19

Blessings,

Ken Bailey