As I was stirring chicken manure into my garden, It got me thinking about the fact that since the election, I hadn't posted on anything economic or political. Then I remembered why; Those conversations went n-o-o-owhere. That always bothered me. That, I think, is because when I was young and taking catechism class I was fascinated by the God of the Old Testament. He was a crazy dude, but never shied away from a good argument. Yes, He may be behind the pile of foreskins out in the parking lot, and yes, he seemed to value females less than males, but he did seem to love a really good argument. In Isaiah 1:18 he says “Come, let us reason together’. In Isaiah 41:21 we hear; "Present your case," says the LORD. "Submit your arguments," says the King of Jacob. Isaiah 1:17 He states, “…Learn to do right; seek justice and correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless and plead the case of the widow.”
“...Learn to do right...”, “learn to argue properly”, “learn to present you case”, just kept rolling around in my head. Learning is a process, often a very messy process. If our ego gets in the way, learning can be very stunted, as the ego hates being less than perfect, or worse yet, admitting it is wrong. And when we are first learning we don’t get a lot of things right. The last election certainly proved we haven’t learned to discuss (“argue” in OT lawyerish) sensitive issues with the goal of changing someone’s opinion.
So this got me to thinking, “What does it take to get someone to understand my conclusion on a matter?” What does it take to change an opinion? Pointing out that ABC is the incorrect solution to an issue, and the true solution is XYZ, is asking for a leap of faith on their part, and the last election proved “that ain’t gunna happen”.
Everyone has an opinion. And we all tend to believe our opinion is the correct one. And when it matters, we’re likely to try to persuade others to our point of view. We strengthen our case when we show our work and reason together. Back in math class, it wasn’t enough to simply give an answer to a problem. Even if it was the correct answer, we still had to show our work. Part of the lesson was learning how we arrived at our particular answers. And this is still helpful when we’re trying to persuade others to our point of view. It’s not particularly convincing to merely state the facts of our opinion. It’s still just an opinion of no more value than the next. But we open the door for a true dialogue when we show our work and explain why we believe what we believe. We’re not trying to force our beliefs onto others. But we are trying to provide convincing reasons for them to make a similar conclusion. And, in the end, it’s not us they believe per se. Rather, they believe for themselves based on the truth and evidence presented. We’re more likely to find common ground when we both remain open-minded and humble enough to truly listen and reason with one another.
Conversations are shutdown when our minds are already made up and we refuse to show our work.
It’s not that we don’t hold firm to what we believe. But we don’t have to fear questioning our beliefs either. Truth can withstand any amount of questioning. It’s okay to have many opinions. But show your work and learn to reason together. This paves the way for deeper understanding and harmony.
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