Disagree Without Being Disagreeable
Comments Become Articles
The best inspiration can be found in the fertile grounds of disagreement. Not to say that debate and argument are the best places to find inspiration alone, but good places in addition to prayer and reason.
When other people challenge ideas we hold dearly, we look for ways to rationalize what we think and believe to settle our minds in case a point we hear causes dissonance, a dissonance that we'd rather live with than change. This article addresses comments challenging what represents a fellow writer's saying “an invitation to understand and know that your faith does not automatically mean you are right.” [1]
When people challenge ideas to which we hold dear, we look for ways to rationalize those beliefs to settle our minds in case a point we heard causes dissonance...
Follow Jesus’ Example
To defend a point of view inspires mental powers to wrap reason around that cherished point of view until it stretches to the point of breaking. Jason R. Capp challenged,
skeptics have a hard time just accepting "faith and beliefs" as an answer. It does not seem like a person who says that is really willing to listen to other points of view, and again, it is also not very Christ-like. Jesus engaged, embraced, challenged, listened, and talked to just about anyone, even those that disagreed with him. … your faith does not automatically mean you are right. [1]
The truth of the matter is that Jesus embraced ONLY those people who agreed with Him! He may have engaged naysayers in conversation, but He did not have a discourse where the exchange of ideas ensued. Jesus was, according to the majority of the leaders of religion and politics in His day, an inciter, revolutionary, heretic, and usurper!
Since Jesus died by crucifixion, we know that he was killed by the Roman authorities (Jewish authorities did not practice crucifixion). And while Jesus did not exercise conventional kinds of political authority, his actions and his message included threats to the status quo. [2]
When He met people on the streets, He told them to believe it His way or it is the wrong way! He interpreted the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible in such a manner that He wanted to change Judaism on its head to form under His idea of what the Faith should be!
There was no peaceful interaction because neither side would ever concede that the other was correct.
The Accidental Faith
Jesus never meant to start a new religion. He informed those who listened to Him during His mortal ministry,
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law [of Moses], till all be fulfilled. [3]
Those Jews who believed Him were excommunicated from synagogue and the Temple at least(!) when found out by the high priest or the Pharisee and hunted, beaten, imprisoned, and occasionally killed at most(!) as Luke attests in the Book of Acts.
“Saul… made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.” [4] Luke mentions that one of the seven presiding Bishops of the church, Stephen, was stoned by loyal Jews for testifying of Christ as the fulfillment of the prophecies in the Tanakh.
“And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judæa and Samaria,” [5] unable to meet with other Jews who decried their interpretation of the Scriptures.
Christianity, as a separate faith, was born out of necessity for the safety of the believers! There was no peaceful interaction because neither side would ever concede that the other was correct! Judaism’s Jews still waited for their Christ. Judaism’s other Jews found Him in Jesus, becoming Christians.
The best inspiration can be found in the fertile grounds of disagreement.
When it comes to the right to believe something different than what I believe, I will defend the atheist to the death to have his or her beliefs just as fiercely as I do mine.
— Rodric AnthonyI'm Right in My Faith.
Everyone who agrees with me is right also. If my faith isn't right, then why would I follow it? I assume that most people of any particular faith agree with me about their particular faiths. Being a Saint, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the right choice to make in mortality. I am right. I do not accept the possibility that I am wrong, which is the logical point of view of any such individual who thinks of his or her faith as more than a tradition or heritage.
Muslims also feel that their faith is the right faith to follow and all other faiths are not. Granted, there exist faiths that teach that all religions are good to follow and that all beliefs lead people to whatever heaven they imagine. I partially agree with that, but it is normal for people of faith to have the sentiment of Joshua:
Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods... And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." [6]
When it comes to doctrines and ceremonies, I will defend my beliefs as the only correct teachings and modes. When it comes to the right to believe something different than what I believe, I will defend the [insert faith/religion] to the death to have his or her beliefs just as fiercely as I do mine.
Conclusion
All that written, being that I am right, it is against my faith to disparage the faiths of others to cause them to disbelieve in all the good things in their faiths. There are those who stand in the street as people of my faith and others walk by and tell them that they will go to hell if they do not accept their point of view. That is their privilege.
To effect a change in others to share my faith, I invite people to come to a conclusion based on their individual experience with God as did I. Prayer, solitary prayer with the expectation that God answers prayers independent of a priest, preacher, rabbi, or soothsayer.
No. I will not tell a person to believe it on faith in my presentation, as that was not offered to me. I say believe it because God Himself told you in the quiet of your soul. However, there is no reason why we can not share our Faiths with each other and how they came to be what we accept as reality.
As Jason Capp put it,
There needs to be an attitude of humility and openness when engaging in discussion, and it is really hard to do that when one side is clearly cemented into the ground and is unwilling to break themselves free. [1]
That will always be true.
Believe it because God Himself told you in the quiet of your soul. However, there is no reason why we can not share our Faiths with each other and how they came to be what we accept as reality.
References Cited
- Comments Section of When Comments Become Articles: The Myth of the Garden of Eden?
- Mary Hinkle Shore - Was Jesus A Threat To The Roman Empire?
- Matthew 5:17-18
- Acts 8:3
- Acts 8:1
- Joshua 24:2,15
© 2019 Rodric Anthony Johnson
