The Dishonesty of Advocacy Photo by Bank Phrom on Unsplash A political columnist one wrote this: Whenever A and B are in opposition to one another, anyone who attacks or criticizes A is accused of aiding and abetting B. And it is often true, objectively and on a short-term analysis, that he
I am guilty and need to repent- I don't always like the "other side", okay sometimes i flat out ignore them and in the past have encouraged others to not seek them out. I struggle with the tension of seeing what is good, holy and just from the "other side", when i did not experience that from them. Growing up (Canadian) extreme Right Wing Evangelical I have had to "recover" and seek Jesus in a fresh way. Dropping labels and terms about all of us has been helpful and seeking to really listen to those on a different side has taught me that, "hey, we aren't so different" , but I am still cautious and especially protective of young women who heed a calling to preach, they are in for an amazing Christ centered journey , but some of the journey will be horrible as they encounter many that say, they should not be there. I still need to mature in this area of seeking the good , holy and just for the other side! Through God's grace I will keep trying.
As a missionary in Japan many years, one watershed moment for me was when the chair of the mission board, originally an immigrant from Hong Kong and active in both missions and business, made this observation after sitting in on field leader discussions, where most leaders were Americans. "You usually approach the issues that come up as 'either/or' questions. But you know sometimes, the answer is both, and sometimes it's neither."
Having returned to the U.S. one way I've tried to contribute is by calling out what I call "forced binary choices" and sometimes, appropriately I hope, complexifying things for people.
" If you think anyone is wrong all the time you need a deep dive and conversion in your anthropology." One of my theology professors began each semester with this statement:
"If you disagree with everything I say, you are unteachable. If you agree with everything I say, you are an idiot." I am afraid there have times (too many) that I have fallen into one or the other of these catagories. Like pamela fitkin, I too repent.
Ideas and abuse are two different things entirely. As a woman, I cannot stomach a John Piper or a John MacArthur, however, that's completely different than mentioning a Ravi Zacharias or Mark Driscoll. Two of these have really bad theology on women and two have ongoing complaints of abuse against them. I would argue there needs to be a line between the "other side" and ideas that I think are dangerous, and people who have actually been dangerous. Those who have abused with more than just their sermons should be held to a different standard, than those who just spew ignorance.
The interesting thing about "the other side" is who decides where along the spectrum one side ends and another begins? Even the answer to that question is as broad as the spectrum itself. It's why we have a spectrum at all!
I find it more helpful to think of all of us humans on one side, but none of us able to see the fullness of a person from where we're standing. We'll only see the backs of some or the sides of others.
My work is to see their fronts, their faces, their eyes. Once we do that—as in sharing a beer on the porch with our neighbors on one side who are card-carrying strident progressives and sharing a meal with our neighbors on the other side who have displayed a confederate flag on their porch for the last decade—it's harder to see either as on a side at all. Now they are just humans who need help shoveling their driveways in the winter and weeding their gardens in the summer. And one day, we wake up, like we did in June, and find the confederate flag is no longer flying from their porch.
William Blake wrote about doing good in "the minute particulars" and I've always loved that. That's how we become more honest about our advocacy of all humans.
I highly recommend Tracy McKenzie's brilliant book, We the Fallen People: The Founders and the Future of American Democracy. It is extremely helpful for understanding for why we now live in a Manichean world, especially in our politics.
I am guilty and need to repent- I don't always like the "other side", okay sometimes i flat out ignore them and in the past have encouraged others to not seek them out. I struggle with the tension of seeing what is good, holy and just from the "other side", when i did not experience that from them. Growing up (Canadian) extreme Right Wing Evangelical I have had to "recover" and seek Jesus in a fresh way. Dropping labels and terms about all of us has been helpful and seeking to really listen to those on a different side has taught me that, "hey, we aren't so different" , but I am still cautious and especially protective of young women who heed a calling to preach, they are in for an amazing Christ centered journey , but some of the journey will be horrible as they encounter many that say, they should not be there. I still need to mature in this area of seeking the good , holy and just for the other side! Through God's grace I will keep trying.
Thank you for this Pamela.
We all have biases, and it helps us to know what they are, so we avoid failure to hear what would inform us. Thanks for sharing this.
As a missionary in Japan many years, one watershed moment for me was when the chair of the mission board, originally an immigrant from Hong Kong and active in both missions and business, made this observation after sitting in on field leader discussions, where most leaders were Americans. "You usually approach the issues that come up as 'either/or' questions. But you know sometimes, the answer is both, and sometimes it's neither."
Having returned to the U.S. one way I've tried to contribute is by calling out what I call "forced binary choices" and sometimes, appropriately I hope, complexifying things for people.
" If you think anyone is wrong all the time you need a deep dive and conversion in your anthropology." One of my theology professors began each semester with this statement:
"If you disagree with everything I say, you are unteachable. If you agree with everything I say, you are an idiot." I am afraid there have times (too many) that I have fallen into one or the other of these catagories. Like pamela fitkin, I too repent.
That's funny.
Ideas and abuse are two different things entirely. As a woman, I cannot stomach a John Piper or a John MacArthur, however, that's completely different than mentioning a Ravi Zacharias or Mark Driscoll. Two of these have really bad theology on women and two have ongoing complaints of abuse against them. I would argue there needs to be a line between the "other side" and ideas that I think are dangerous, and people who have actually been dangerous. Those who have abused with more than just their sermons should be held to a different standard, than those who just spew ignorance.
The interesting thing about "the other side" is who decides where along the spectrum one side ends and another begins? Even the answer to that question is as broad as the spectrum itself. It's why we have a spectrum at all!
I find it more helpful to think of all of us humans on one side, but none of us able to see the fullness of a person from where we're standing. We'll only see the backs of some or the sides of others.
My work is to see their fronts, their faces, their eyes. Once we do that—as in sharing a beer on the porch with our neighbors on one side who are card-carrying strident progressives and sharing a meal with our neighbors on the other side who have displayed a confederate flag on their porch for the last decade—it's harder to see either as on a side at all. Now they are just humans who need help shoveling their driveways in the winter and weeding their gardens in the summer. And one day, we wake up, like we did in June, and find the confederate flag is no longer flying from their porch.
William Blake wrote about doing good in "the minute particulars" and I've always loved that. That's how we become more honest about our advocacy of all humans.
This is wonderful, Scot. Thank you. This is one of those articles I'll be returning to for many a sermon.
Thank you
This article gives an amazing theory and greater understanding as to why people advocate and keep up the front to protect a belief… https://daviddark.substack.com/p/on-metaphor-and-kayfabe
I highly recommend Tracy McKenzie's brilliant book, We the Fallen People: The Founders and the Future of American Democracy. It is extremely helpful for understanding for why we now live in a Manichean world, especially in our politics.