I’m not sure where this post is going. I’m thinking through a thought I had this morning. I hope it will be short.
So I’ll do my best to be superficial.
It seems to me, too often in the church, we disagree in the wrong way. When someone suggests a new thing, our response tends to be, “This is un-Christian. It’s unscriptural. It’s heretical.”
In fact, very often the idea is just stupid.
(These thoughts were inspired by this post over at “Stuff Christians like.”)
Wouldn’t it be better to say, “That’s a stupid idea,” than “That’s a heretical idea?”
It would move the disagreement out of the realm of matters of faith, into matters of judgment.
We’d just be insulting the other person’s intelligence.
I guess that doesn’t help much.
Conflict resolution has never been my strong suit.
I’ve been called out for dropping the “H-bomb” at least once–but I think, at least if one claims the IDEA is heretical (rather than the person), it actually does stimulate discussion.
People respond, quickly, eager to show how they are right within a Christian theological framework. And a lot of times, they have some very good reasons to show they are reasonable if not just downright correct.
If you think an idea is opposed to your religion, you should call it heretical. If you think it is a bad idea because it wouldn’t work, you should call it a bad idea and explain why. Either case, be charitable and acknowledge you could be wrong.
And don’t be too afraid to try new things. I’m saying it as a member of a true “old time religion”. We were around when Rome was seven uninhabited hills and Troy was a going concern. We now have Web sites where you can download MP3 with religious training materials. That’s part of the reason we are still around.