When someone who supports the slaughter of babies in the wombs of their mothers tells me about humane cattle practices, I am morally obligated to not let them take authority in my life. They are saying, in effect, “Listen to me as I tell you what is evil and what is good.” For me to listen to them is for me to give them an authority in my life that they have no right to.
Rachel Jankovic
Thoughts on Scripture, interpretation, and what Scripture might have to say about contemporary issues.
Monday, 6 May 2013
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Yes, while I think I appreciate what is being stated here, I have a question still. How do we then begin to engage with such people any any redemptive sense?
ReplyDeleteI doubt Rachel would say one cannot engage such people, and I think we should. But many Christians listen (pay attention) to people with little moral authority or use their material to convince others.
ReplyDeleteTo take this example, we hear about mistreatment of animals which is a real issue, but digging a little deeper some make no distinction between cruelty to animals and eating meat; that is they consider carnivory an evil. They are morally confused, but then is this surprising when they justify the killing of children? They are in the process of searing their conscience.
That means we can listen to what is said, but all the while knowing that their reasoning is likely to be errant (even when we are not certain where it is errant). It also means we engage from what we know to be true, not what they claim is so. So one method is to find common ground and then show what that implies about further conclusions, or what must be assumed for that position to be so, and demonstrate how such a position is consistent with theism.
It is best to engage the culture from a position of a strong Christian worldview. Everyone wants to engage, but some would do better with withdrawing from engagement and learning from Christ as they are too immersed in the cultural perspective currently.