by Breakaway

Life is hard.

Yes I know, what a shocking, mind blowing statement. I can see all your reactions right now - ‘Whoa… no way! Seriously? Life is hard? I would never have guessed!’. Yep, you’re right. This statement is nothing shocking, nothing earth shattering, nothing overly deep or brilliant or inexplicable. Life is hard. We all know this. But have you ever thought about this – we make life harder than it has to be.

Now before you turn off your brains and think ‘Man, this guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about’ or ‘Are you blaming me for my own struggles’, let me clarify. Life is hard. But we make it more difficult that it needs to be. How? By our pursuit of pleasure, at the expense of experience. 

So often in life we pursue what we desire, and try to avoid the work it takes to actually get what we want. We see this avoidance all throughout our culture - we want microwavable instant pleasure and expect it to be just as good as the real thing. You wanna be rich? Just win the lottery! No need to work hard and save well! You wanna be less lonely? Just watch porn! No need to put in the hard work of building a relationship with people. No need for hard work at all!

"We live in a culture obsessed with receiving pleasure at no cost of self"
You see, we live in a culture obsessed with receiving pleasure at no cost of self - we feel entitled to what we think we want, and are wiling to do whatever it takes to get what we want. Or as James would put it, “You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight” (4:2-3, NIV). In more modern terms, you want what you don’t need but are willing to kill to get it, and you desire what you cannot get, so you are willing to fight for what you think you deserve. 

You want something good? You want happiness? You want to be rich? You want to be famous? You want to be loved? You want to feel pretty? You deserve those things - so just take them! Do whatever it takes to get them! Fight people, steal money, take what you want, grab what you want from life and be done with it! 
But is that the right way to live?

James calls this idea of living “Friendship with the world”. Or in the Message translation, “Cheating on God” (v. 4); but the concepts the same. We live a life seeking our own pleasure, never asking God for anything (v. 2), or only asking because we want to further our own pleasure (v. 3). And believe it or not, God is not a fan of this way of living. 

“Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God” (James 4:4, NIV)

To be a friend of the world means to seek out the pleasures of the world at whatever the cost, settling for a cheap substitute of happiness, a cheap substitute of love, and a cheap substitute of sex in order to get the pleasure we seek. But that’s not how God wants us to live - no, He wants us to findtrue happiness, and true love!

James goes on to say that God “is a fiercely jealous lover. And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you’ll find” (James 4:5, MSG). Our meager substitutes for what God can offer in full - our substitutes for love, for sex, for happiness, for fun – they’re merely shadows of what God has to offer. Yet we fight for them - we struggle and we fight and we try to take what we think we deserve; when all we need to do is put aside our sword, and ask God. “Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet.” (James 4:10, MSG). 

“God just wants us to stop searching the world for the things He is freely giving us."
You see God wants us to be happy. He wants us to feel loved. He wants us to enjoy life. God isn’t a spoil sport who wants to bore us to death - no! He just wants us to stop searching the world for the things He is freely giving us. But He leaves that choice up to us. He lets us choose. We can continue to struggle and to fight and to try and attack others and attack the world and fight life to try and get what we want; or we can give up our sword, hand it over to God, and let Him give us what we want. 

The choice is yours. 

Breakaway is a movement determined to empower a community of spirit-filled believers live out their identity as Christ-followersIt's time to breakaway from Christian stigma and legalistic mindsets, and to realize the true nature of our loving Father. You can follow breakaway directly on tumblr and twitter.

When I was a kid, I always had a hard time sleeping the night before Easter. To me, it was just like Christmas. I was anticipating something great, wonderful, exciting. In my case, a basket full of candy. When I came to really understand the meaning the holiday, my anticipation at Easter grew.  You couldn’t keep me away from the sunrise service, and that’s no small miracle for a teenager who loved her sleep. The night before Easter in the Bible story, I imagine that the friends of Jesus has similar sleeping troubles, though for different reason. They were left with grief in the shadow of the cross and perhaps shame at their own fear and cowardice in the face of Jesus’ arrest. They were left with the pain of losing a dear friend, and not even being able to perform the proper burial rituals before his body had been hurriedly cast into a borrowed tomb. So they came, on Sunday morning, with spices, with oil, ready to pay this one last respect to their beloved master, only to find that everything was changed. This is a great story. It inspires. It shines a light of hope on a dark world. It brings me a deep sense of value to think about how Jesus was willing to entrust his good news to some women, whose testimony wouldn’t even be valid in a court of law. But yet, this is not the story that I want to talk about here. ​

There’s another story of two disciples that takes place just a little later in Luke 24. A story that always makes me think back to a painting that hung on the wall of my grandparents’ house: The Road to Emmaus. 

Evan Wain is currently graduating from the University of Alberta with a Bachelor of Education. A self-described cinema-phile he is more than willing to talk about movies and pop culture references. Saved by His grace, and forever grateful.

There’s a common theme that I have been finding is running through my interactions with people recently:
“I’m so tired.”

I’m a student. Most of my interactions are with students. A student’s life is full of midterms, projects, and assignments, and trying to keep them all under control can be extremely taxing - physically and mentally. So it’s no wonder that this is usually everyone’s response to, “How are you doing?”

But I know that this isn’t limited to students. Not at all.

Everyone has something that they’re doing everyday. And eventually I think it gets a little repetitive and exhausting. Whether a person is attending class everyday, or going to work, this is likely their answer - their general state of being.
Now, there are a lot of physical reasons for being tired: we get home late, we didn’t really get any “me”-time so we turn on Netflix and watch The Mindy Project or Suits into the wee hours of the morning, and then wake up a few hours later to go to school or work and are already tired. (Notice the specificity of the shows I have chosen here; I’m just as guilty as anyone else once in awhile.) Of course, we then rely heavily on our good friend, Coffee, to get us through the rest of the day. 

But honestly, I believe that the biggest factor causing this general “tiredness” is not purely physical. It begins in our mind - our spirit. We all have a sense of this looming heaviness upon us. It brings us down all day. I don’t know what it is for you, but I guarantee that it’s made larger in your mind. Even if it’s not a specific thing, our mind is consumed by it all day. And it’s really tiring. Oftentimes it’s difficult to identify what it is, so we don’t really know how to deal with it.
I want to offer a thought.

I read a line in a book that I want to share with everyone: “Relentless hope is what gives us energy.”

Relentless Hope.
I can’t speak for everyone - maybe this isn’t true for you - but in those people that are tired, exhausted, drained, I can see in their eyes a lack of hope. It just seems that there’s nothing to look forward to - nothing to put hope in. So we have no energy. Because what’s the point? Why be excited about nothing? And it’s true. 
So find something to be excited about. And be relentless about it.

Don’t pick something wimpy. For me, I used to just be excited to go home and watch Netflix. I thought that would energize me because it allowed me to rest and have “Cole”-time. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a time and place for watching television, but it’s not strong enough to deserve your hope. It’s got to be bigger than you - bigger than your life right now. It has to push you to something different or new, and has to have meaning. I know people where this is their job. For example, I’m in education, and I know people (not a lot, but a few) that wake up every morning full of energy because they have a relentless hope in their opportunity to change kids’ lives as a teacher. 

For me, my hope lies in my faith. I wake up every morning so excited to just be alive - not everyone gets that opportunity. I get excited about what amazing things I will experience, and what fantastic things that God will do through me. I know that He loves me, and I know that He wants to bless me. And he absolutely does. How do I know? Because I’m looking for it. I’m relentless in it. I’m always actively expecting God to make my life unbelievably great, and He hasn’t let me down. 

It’s days where I don’t take into consideration my gratitude to God and what He’s done for me - or don’t choose to view things in light of the hope God gives me - that I feel tired or heavy or weak. I notice it in the little things. I smile at fewer people. I laugh less. I stop really caring about myself or thinking that I’m any good. 

My relentless hope - my faith in God, who He is, and what He has done for me - changes everything. It gives me energy. Both physical and emotional. My spirit is filled, and I’m willing to take on everyday. I don’t want to stay in bed, because I’m so stinking excited to experience what God has in store for me! I know it sounds so cliche, but I wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true.
​
Find your hope, and be relentless in pursuing it. You were made to be more than just tired.

In my last article, I spent a lot of time unpacking the idea of intellectual honestly and humility. Actually, I have spent a lot of time in the past few years speaking on the idea of healthy and helpful dialogue and in most of my posts I push towards the ideas of listening, respect, and the art of understanding. I believe this is for a good reason. For the most part, people are not lacking in the ability to have an opinion and when we voice that opinion, it can easily become loud and proud (in a manner of speaking). But, it does make me wonder if sometimes I come off as saying that having an opinion or speaking up is a bad thing. So, in a way, this article is a kind of response to myself, a rebuttal, or better, a balancing of the extremes (to counter balance and keep us in tension). In a lot of ways, these two articles are two sides of the same coin. I do mention in most of my article that we should have confidence in our views and be able to fight for those conviction, but I want to expand on that a little more. 

What is it about a disagreement that can put people on the defence so easily, or worse, causes an offence? No matter the topic, there can be this undertone of sensitivity when someone chooses to push back towards what we hold as a deeply held belief. It is almost as though our opinions and beliefs become an extension of our actual persona and having them challenged makes us feel as though we are being attacked. Are we are unable to divide the fact that the person is challenging our stance on a topic and not us personally? Or could it be, we are so scared to be wrong that a challenge will show us that we have flaws, that we can sometimes be wrong, or worse, it crumbles the comfort and stability of the certainty of our beliefs? There is something to be said in thinking that we have everything arranged perfectly and things make sense. 

But, I wonder if there is a greater thing at work, under the surface. Flip to the other side and it is almost as though unity and agreement is the ultimate and possibly the only goal. It would even seem that the Apostle Paul would challenge us towards this end when he wrote to the Corinthians saying, "I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought."  (1 Corinthians 1:10).

I mean, why wouldn't we not want this? Should we not make every effort to live in harmony with each other? Unity and harmony is definitely a honourable thing to pursue after and in a world full of conflict, hatred and disagreement, it is no wonder this thinking now permeates our ideas, culture and relationships. Though the sentiment of unity is a great one, we should never confuse unity  and uniformity as the same thing. 

Let me drive this home with this story. I asked the question to a room full of 100+ students: What is tolerance? And the answer was telling. It was almost an agreed consensus that tolerance meant that we agree with each other. With unity being such a high value in this crowd of students, it was almost as though it meant we needed to be uniform in our understanding of the world. That to tolerate someone's belief, we need to agree with it, or at least we are unable to have a differing opinion. It is almost like disagreement is the carnal sin of this generation. But as I explained to this group, tolerance actually demands we disagree. If we didn't disagree with their idea, we didn't need tolerance because we agree. To the contrary, tolerance is being able to give freedom to disagree while also respecting the person and their opinion as their own. It is almost as though a culture of uniformity was being formed. 

This culture of uniformity can be a very dangerous one. Instead of holding everyone as equal and free, it has the potential to create systems of division towards those who believe differently than us and could quench the actual freedom it wishes to protect. It really beacons the question: if everyone should be in utter agreement, who's understanding of truth should we all be in agreement with? Now of course, not everyone of this generation holds to this definition of tolerance, but the story above still makes the point about the fear of holding a belief contrary to popular opinion. People can become scared to share their thoughts, ideas and opinions, for fear of persecution for those thoughts or the fear to offend someone else who holds a differing perspective to our own. Should we be so guarded and sensitive in hearing criticism? Should it be so hard to share ones opinion? What ever happened to being able to agree to disagree? Though we should make every effort to dialogue with humility and respect for others, the ultimate responsibility of how a person reacts (being offended or not) is up to the listener, not the speaker. We cannot control someone else's response, only our own response to criticism and how we deliver our thoughts and opinions. This is about mutual respect and openness for dialogue, is it not?

In other instances, this culture of uniformity is what can drive people to surround themselves with people who think the same way as them, dress the same way, speak the same language, vote accordingly to their party line and hold the same values... no mater what. It is safer and easier to stay in a conversation where people will have your back, echo your ideas and say amen! But in this reality, there is little chance for true challenging, or worse, can stifle new/different ideas to our own. It is here that tribes are created, and we war against those tribes that don't look like our own. So, when we interact with someone of another tribe, and propose something that exists outside their tribes agreed framework, we can be seen as dissenting of truth, a bigot or worse, hate filled. It is no wonder the term heretic gets thrown around with no real regard. 

Back to the passage quoted above, when Paul speaks of agreement, it is in being unified in Christ instead of arguing over minor details of their favourite teachers: "Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?" (1 Corinthians 1:13). For Paul, it was about being united in the highest things (in Christ) and liberty in diversity. As the old saying goes: "On essential things, unity. On doubtful things, liberty. In all things, charity".  Unity is never about utter agreement, but unity despite our disagreements: 

I grew up on Vancouver Island, in a city where there were many beaches and lakes for us to spend our summers at. Whether we felt we needed a day at the salty sea or boating on the lake, it was a place where we gathered quite frequently throughout the hot days of summer. Some of the beaches would have a roped off “safe area” to swim in, and either a notice of a lifeguard or a notice of no lifeguard on duty. The “safe area” was really just a roped off space that would allow the lifeguard (or guardian in the case of no life guard) the ability to easily see all who swim within it, and the ability to reach someone if they began to drown. I was thinking about this the other day as I sat in my house watching the snow fall… wishing for warmer weather… well, and a real beach. I thought about the actions of the lifeguards and how attentive they had to be with kids like myself stirring up trouble. They were constantly watching over us, ensuring that we played safe and leapt into action in a moment’s notice of trouble. They were constantly on guard, and the only rest they had was when their shift was over.

Every church has at least one lifeguard. Someone who comes to the rescue every time the church needs a volunteer, and usually, regardless of the ministry. They are the ones to always volunteer or run in to save the day when no one else decided to help. They are lifeguards because they are constantly watching over the ministries of the church, ensuring they are operating properly, and ready to leap into action even if it is at the cost of their own physical, mental and spiritual exhaustion. Because the fact is, that if someone is constantly volunteering, or jumping in to save the day, exhaustion is inevitable. And when (not if) these lifeguards exhaust themselves, the ministries that they were supporting begin to drown… the ones who kept them a float no longer have the stamina to keep themselves swimming. 

Most likely you are already thinking of the lifeguards in your church… Many of those you thought of are leaders, people who are deeply invested in the mission/vision of the church, others will be the ones in the background, making sure all the technicalities run smoothly on a day to day basis, and lastly (and unfortunately) some of you have thought of your pastor. Why do I think it’s unfortunate for a pastor to be a lifeguard? Because pastors are not meant to be lifeguards… they are meant to be swimming instructors. They are the ones teaching, studying God’s word and conveying His message. The last thing a pastor should be worrying about is jumping in to save the ministries… He has his flock to worry about. 

So if a pastor is not supposed to be a lifeguard… and a lifeguard is not supposed to save everyone… then where does that leave us. Well folks, it leaves us with the bystanders on the beach. The ones standing, and watching while others do all the work. And frankly, as Christians, we are not called to be bystanders… whatsoever. In fact, we are called to participate in our faith not just sit there while it is spoon fed to us. So let’s examine Serving in the Church, starting off with some of the major misconceptions as to why we don’t (or can’t) serve.

1. There Are Limited Ways To Serve In The Church 
​Out of all of the reasons, I can easily see why people would think that all there is to serving in the church is programs to do with Children/Youth or programs that involve Leadership… Ministries like Children’s Ministry, Youth, Worship Team, Elders, Deacons, Nursery, Sound/Projection, or other programs like Gems or Cadets.

I get it, you look at this list and say to yourself, I’m not gifted in any of these areas, I don’t like working with kids, I’m not a leader and can’t carry a tune in a bucket so there is no place for me.  People hugely underestimate the amount of administrative, physical and mental preparation goes into a Sunday. Those bulletins do not just appear on paper, someone writes them up. The building is not just magically cleaned or decorated, people have to do that! Greeters, Coffee Team, Information desk, filling of mailboxes, helping people to their seats, setting up or taking down, these are all jobs that happen EVERY week! Not to mention the administration jobs to help with the children/youth ministries, treasurer, shopping for supplies. I mean the list goes on and on… and this is just for Sunday. Did you know that your church is also open Monday through Saturday??? With events and rentals and various other ministries taking place! ​

3. I Am Not Gifted To Serve
So because of our “limited scope” view of the available areas of ministry to serve in, we think that if we are not gifted in those areas, we cannot serve at all. I want to remind you of the fact that we are called as the body of Christ, that means in order to be effective and efficient in fulfilling the great commission we must work together, each of us doing our part. Think of your hand for instance, and pretend that one finger just doesn’t work. Nothing is wrong with it, it just isn’t doing its part. The hand still functions BUT it is limited in movement and mobility, it is not as effective or efficient as it could be if all fingers were contributing. There is ALWAYS a place for you to serve in the church… and if you cannot see it (or do not seek it out) then you are CHOOSING to not fully participate as a member of the body of Christ. ​

I was cheering for Leonardo DiCaprio to win his Oscar as much as anyone else. I saw The Revenant, and I have to admit, my favorite character was the scenery, which made me vaguely homesick for Canada (but not so much for Canadian winter). 

Contrary to my belief going in, The Revenant was not a zombie flick, but rather a deep treatise about human nature apparently based on a true story. I had to check with Hollywood vs. History when I go home, and I was surprised to read that the truth in the story was not so much in the revenge as in the survival. In fact, Hugh Glass may not even have had a son; much less seen him killed before his eyes. According to the site, he apparently forgave those who abandoned him rather than “exacting violent revenge.” But somehow, I don’t think that version would have played out as well in Hollywood. 

But it made me curious about why they chose to make such a fundamental alteration to the tale. Maybe they had an idea of the ending and knew it would take an extreme act to bring about the drama on screen. The murder of a son seems so unforgivable, and in fact we wouldn't have forgiven the directors if he had faced Fitzgerald just to let him go.  Perhaps that satisfying ending reminds us of those times when we couldn't or didn't get justice from those who wronged us and we are vicariously justified in a visceral way. The movie is popular internationally because the themes are common to the human experience. See, the power of story is in how it appeals to either our human nature or divine nature. For example, I am a huge fan of The Lord of the Rings. And I believe it appeals to something within us that knows that no matter the odds, good must win over evil in the end. 

But at the same time, in our current culture it seems that revenge sells: the anti-hero is bringing audiences out like never before, and portrayals of a person’s descent into darkness seem to be much more prevalent than themes of redemption. Maybe we feel a sense of relief when we see someone who is likeable but has done horrible things get away with them, because in a sense, that is who we are, or hope to be. The dilemmas of justice presented in the stories of our time invite us to decide whether law is truly a standard by which right and wrong can be measured. 

I believe our sense of justice is a remnant, however often twisted, of God's image within us. However, until in humility we face our divine sentence and the awe of divine forgiveness, we are more than happy to be the judge, jury and executioner. Again and again we are satisfied with violence where God is satisfied with mercy. Christ’s response to his torture and murder was "Father, forgive them". We are not superhuman, but it might be time to stop covering our guilt up with self-righteousness, with church attendance and financial giving and kind words to friends and family, and sharing uplifting posts on Facebook, and at some point, face the fact that we are the true “savages”. In fact, that was the scene from The Revenant that broke my heart and has stayed with me more than the brutal revenge: the hanging of the only one who showed kindness on a tree, with a sign above his head. It was a reminder to me that in any quest for justice, we’d best keep an eye on the mirror to make sure we’re not becoming the same kind of monster we’ve been condemning. 

Consider your teachers, preachers, authors, and public speakers, are they:
 
Men?
White men?
Old white men?
Heterosexual old white men?
Protestant heterosexual old white men?
Protestant evangelical heterosexual old white men?
 
It might be time to expand our horizons.
 
I’m not saying that protestant evangelical heterosexual white men have nothing of value to contribute, but that they are only one story in a vast library. I only want to point out that women and people of all races, creeds and orientations have important things to say because they have experienced life differently. It is important to recognize the uniqueness that everyone contributes to society.
 
More than anything else, I am preaching to myself here. I honestly thought that I was making a commendable effort to read and learn outside of my traditions. I thought I was taking in differing opinions and nuanced perspectives. I thought that I was being fair to those I disagreed with by actually reading the words they had written.
 
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
 
To understand just how deep my bias was I decided to go through the books that I have read and record some statistics. I tallied how many books were written by men or white people and whether I disagreed with the premise of the book before I read it. What I found astounded me.
 
Do We Read Books Only to Experience Solidarity Within Our Own Tribe?
The variety of authors that I have read is abysmal. 97% of the books I’ve read were written by white people, 89% of them by men. Of these books, I read 54% of them because I knew that I agreed with the premise. Only 6% were read specifically to get a better understanding of a view that I disagreed with (the remainder were novels or nonfiction that I didn't know enough about to have an opinion beforehand). It appears my efforts to diversify my bookshelf had failed.
 
My bookshelf is filled with books by authors like Roger Olson, Scot McKnight, Brian McLaren, Greg Boyd and Philip Yancey. Their words have enriched me and their perspectives have positively shaped my Christian walk. It isn't my intention to discard the wisdom of these men simply because of their orientation, race or gender. In the same way, though, how much am I missing by not listening to homosexual, female or non-white voices? What am I missing by not listening to differing theological positions? I don’t want to discard the wisdom that can be found in diversity.
 
Sure, I have many books on my bookshelf by authors that I intend to read: Christopher Hitchens, Diana Butler Bass, Efrem Smith and RC Sproul, but, for some reason, they haven’t been read yet. It isn’t enough to intend to read them either,  because that accomplishes nothing. I need to read what other people say and intentionally listen with an open, inquiring mind.
 
I urge you to look at your own bookshelf (or iTunes podcast subscriptions, or favorite blogs, or downloaded sermons, or...). It was eye-opening for me, even as I was counting the books I thought “wow, I am sure putting a lot into the ‘white’ and ‘male’ columns”! Not to mention the column I labelled ‘agree with’ seemed stacked compared to the ‘disagree with’ column. For someone who considered himself open to new ideas, this was a humbling, but necessary, experience.
 
Can we see how always learning from the same people might become a problem? I think we lose perspective on other views and disregard other experiences when we only listen to our own tradition (or culture or gender or...). To have a better view of humanity as a whole we need to better understand those in different tribes and we can only genuinely understand those tribes when we take the time to understand their stories.
 
In the past, fitting into a tribe was necessary for survival. As such, it was essential to espouse our own ideologies and undermine our neighbors. After all, our lives could very well depend on fitting in. While that is probably still true for many people around the world, we — as westerners — live in a time and place when that should be unnecessary. We find ourselves in a situation where it is easier than ever to get detailed information about other people's beliefs without the usual propaganda. We can understand other views without resorting to straw men arguments based on ideologies taken to the extreme. Why aren’t we taking the time to fully appreciate and learn from other cultures and beliefs?
 
Take the time to understand everyone’s story. We can all learn from listening to anyone if we give them the opportunity. Please don’t listen to their stories as told by our culture leaders because that is bound to produce discrepancies. Listen to the stories as told by the people who have actually lived them. Get to know what people actually believe, and better yet, get to know why people believe it.
 
Now, this doesn’t mean that we always have to agree with differing views. This isn’t a call to operate in some hyper post modern, relativistic and syncretistic wasteland. In fact, listening to a variety of people will probably frustrate and could even anger you (as it probably should sometimes), but, at other times, it will also enlighten and convict you. It may point out your own bias and you may grow on your path to absolute truth.
 
By branching out and consuming media, art and literature from different people groups we can become more empathetic to their opinions. We may learn that people's perspectives are driven by their personal experiences and that most times we don’t understand their perspectives because we haven’t lived their experiences. The contexts of people's lives can be so vastly different that it is normal not to understand the differences. To put it simply, we do not understand the nuances of other lives because we have not lived them and we cannot fully understand them until we authentically engage.
 
This happened to me with one of the 6% of books I’ve read simply to get a better understanding of a theology I disagree with: ‘Become a Better You’ by Joel Osteen. There was a time that I was cynical about Osteens message and, ultimately, his motives. Having read one of his books though, I will admit that my attitude has changed. I still don’t agree with much of what he says but I have a greater appreciation for his motives. I have come to respect the love that I believe he feels for people. I would have never changed my mind unless I took the time to actually read to what he has to say, instead of relying on his critics to inform me of his theology. I let him speak for himself.
 
I think honestly listening to dissenting opinions has that effect. In fact, all the books I have read by people I disagree with have had a positive effect on my opinion of their motives. As another example: I now have a greater respect for Calvinists commitment to God’s sovereignty even though I still fundamentally disagree with them on what that means exactly. I suspect that this is the case for most people. We should strive to better understand those we disagree with because it produces a more balanced perspective.
 
Do We Only Listen to People that Reaffirm Our Own Beliefs?
For many of us we listen to the same preachers every Sunday, the same radio evangelists while driving, and the same podcasts while exercising. We read the same books and magazines and socialize with the same types of people. I think it is our natural human tendency to seek things that affirm our established beliefs. To that end, we find people that look the same as us and espouse the same ideology. It’s a radically safe way to live because it means that our beliefs will never be challenged. It means that we don’t get to refine our own views and we can exclude those that may have important insight. This reminds me of a recent Canadian political event.
 
Much to the chagrin of critics everywhere, Canada’s Prime Minister appointed a gender balanced, racially diverse cabinet. Without even looking into whether the new cabinet ministers were qualified (hint: they are) armchair political scientists on the internet erupted into a chorus of “I don’t care about their gender and/or race as long as they are qualified”. On the surface this seems like the right way of thinking but it exposes a major problem: no one says that statement when the cabinet is made up of only old white dudes because we assume that old white guys think and act the same way we do, therefore they are qualified by default. They have no need to ‘prove’ themselves in the same way that women or minority groups do. I’m following a rabbit hole here but the point I want to make is this: Sometimes, simply being in a minority group qualifies people because their unique perspective, crafted by their life experiences is something that we are missing in our own theology, culture and lives.
 
I get it though. It’s hard to step out of our cultural comfort zones. It’s difficult to trust people that don’t look and act the same way as we do. In fact, our xenophobia might be a completely natural reaction. So, how can we authentically engage differing viewpoints when every fiber in our beings wants to tell someone they are wrong, exclude them from our society or discount their experiences?
 
I don’t really know the answer but my commitment is to branch out of my niche even more. I am going to interact with dissenting voices. I am not going to listen only to tear down their beliefs. I am going to try to listen with an open mind and empathize with their story. I won’t always agree but I will always consider the context. More often than not, I think I will find that my enemies aren’t really enemies at all.
 
What was the last differing opinion you engaged with and how did it change you?