Everyone has to remember, while we, as individuals, think we are right about our opinions concerning what is going on in our country, so does the other side. Both sides are emotionally convinced that their position is correct and both are equally passionately convinced. We must realize this first: just because you are passionate about something does not mean you are right.
Then, we have to truly and personally consider that we might be wrong. Whichever side you are on, you have to walk the frightful road of fallibility. The reality is, the possibility of error is present within all of us. Blindly trusting our preconceptions quickly leads to the fall of truth.
Next, we have to set our emotions to the side. It is not wrong to have them, we just have to realize they can be misleading.
Then, and only then, do we engage our rationale at the deepest level, doing everything we can to understand, research, and find the rationale for our position and the position of your opponent. Why do they think this way? Why are they so passionate? What are the fundamental arguments lending credibility to their beliefs?
People did not become the way they are in a vacuum. They have reasons. People are not inherently stupid. Learn their reasons to such a degree that you can argue for their position just as well as yours.
Next, you must change if the evidence warrants it. Whether you are liberal or conservative, you must adapt and adjust, and follow the evidence *wherever” it leads. No matter what your friends and family say, no matter what is more accepted by your race or gender, change! Follow the truth, not your preconceptions. And remember that the palatability of what you find does not arbitrate truth.
We must be people who use our minds along with our passions, otherwise we are merely animals.
1 Response to "Navigating Political Narratives"
Thank you. The biggest struggle I have is trying to communicate with Christians who are so absorbed in the worldly mindset that I cannot even speak to them of matters of true significance of our spiritual walk of faith, our loving others, serving the poor-needy-orphaned-disabled, and &c. Some of them in my own family are “missionaries” even. One relative actively despises the poor, but then catches themselves if they find we heard her to which she says “oh, but I didn’t mean you two”. I still don’t believe her. Her husband does nothing about it. Family gatherings have become ordeals, and this among folks who are “Evangelicals” in the truest sense, Teachers of children-teens-adults, missionaries, church leaders, and of mixed ethnicity even.
If we are not teachable, if we are not truly humble before God, if we do not do justice and love mercy, how is the love of God in us? How has God transformed our minds? I cringe whenever my wife and I must be around them. It breaks my heart.