Big Question #4: Am I willing to yield?

"In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion."

Carl Sagan

This topic has been on my mind a lot.  I think it shows in the history of this blog.  The nearly two years of this blog are littered with topics on the dangers of our insistence on being right.  Our refusal to compromise.  Our refusal to admit when we are wrong.  And our refusal to admit when we don't know.

More recently, Brother Paul's sermon brought it back to the forefront, with the passage in James showing that true wisdom is willing to yield.  It is open to reason.


"Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.  But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.  This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.  For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.  But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason [willing to yield], full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.  And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace."

James 3:13-18

This makes me pause and reflect.  Am I willing to yield?  Is my wisdom of the type that could be described as pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, willing to yield?  

Am I willing to debate?  And not in the sense of screaming at each other, with entrenched positions, designed only to make myself look better, smarter, more informed?  Am I really willing to engage in conversation?  To hear other points of view?  To actually consider them?

Am I open to having my mind changed?  Even on things that I may have considered sacred?  Am I willing to evaluate those sacred cows to see if they are essential, or just preferential?

And this goes in every realm of life.

Am I willing to admit that Republicans have good policies and Democrats make mistakes?  For entrenched conservatives, are you willing to admit that Democrats make good policies and are acting in what they believe is the best interest of this country?  Likewise, are you willing to admit that Republicans overreact, make bad policies, make mistakes, and sometimes look out for personal interests over country?

Am I as a Christian willing to concede points to atheists on theological debates, when the matters concern non-essentials of the faith?  Atheists, are you willing to concede that there are matters far beyond our comprehension, and questions that will remain un-answered regarding spiritual issues?

Am I as a person of faith willing to admit that science may better explain how the universe was created and functions?  And as a person of science, am I willing to admit that faith offers a better explanation as to why?

With issues of faith, am I willing to discuss differing interpretations and positions with fellow believers without drawing a right/wrong line?  Without falling into an us versus them trap?  To recognize that we both may be right and we both may be wrong, and possibly all at the same time?

As a white person, am I willing to yield to people of color when it comes to issues of racial disparity?  To acknowledge that the issues they raise do exist?  Such as those raised by black lives matter?

Am I willing to judge other groups by their best examples and myself by my worst intentions, instead of the other way around?

Am I willing to listen to traditionally oppressed groups and treat their concerns with validity and respect?

I hope I am.  I hope that my willingness to ask questions reflects a willingness to engage in meaningful dialogue and debate.  That I am open to having my mind change.  I believe I am, but I also know and recognize that I have biases and blindspots that I may not recognize (another question coming up).

We as a society need to be able to compromise again.  To be able to have our minds changed.  To be able to grow.  To learn.  

It makes our world bigger and opens new possibilities.  I pray we have not become as hardened and as entrenched as it first may seem.  I still believe in the power of conversation.  Maybe not on a mass scale; that dialogue may be lost thanks to the commercial based news cycle.  But individually, one-on-one, I have to believe we can help each other see the other side.  To understand each other.  To reach each other.

If we are just willing to engage in a meaningful way.

“How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, “This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant?” Instead they say, “No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.” A religion, old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the Universe as revealed by modern science might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths.”

Carl Sagan

Willing To Yield

"Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.  But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.  This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.  For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.  But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.  And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace."

James 3:13-18

This section in the book of James is labeled the Two Kinds of Wisdom for good reason.  It contrasts an earthly, selfish wisdom, one that inflates ego, one that is used to divide, with a higher wisdom.  One that makes peace.  

The illustration was given about the kind of person who is always right.  Always having to show and prove their intelligence.  And then the person who admits how much they don't know.

The Dunning-Kruger effect writ large.    A cognitive bias in which people assess their cognitive ability as greater than it is.  Put simply, the less you know, the more likely you are to believe you have a higher ability, a higher intelligence than you actually do.  The more you know, the more likely you are to recognize your flaws and to often undersell your ability or your intelligence.  

We see the effect in a lot of different ways, particularly now on social media.  "Well, actually..."  Mansplaining.  Misinformation and disinfomation campaigns.  Truly fake news being shared on a mass scale.  Sharing single source news.  No matter the issue, there is always an expert ready to comment.  Ready to inform.  Ready to "set the record straight."

A wisdom ready to build up selfish ambition.  Ready to prove how right the person is.  How smart the person is.  Shared to collect likes and loves to stroke the ego.

Or a wisdom shared out of bitter jealousy.  To prove someone else wrong.  To pull support away from someone else.  To shame.  To shun.

What should break our heart, is that it's probably at its worst within the Church.

We share posts, we share information to show how right, how "righteous" we are.  We have the right theology.  We attend the right type of services.  We hang around the right kind of people.  And stay completely separate from everything else.

We share posts and think we are safe because they contain Biblical quotes and information.  We think we have wisdom from above because we are using the Bible.  But how often are we sharing that information for selfish ambition?  To get likes because of our right theology?  To display our bona fides?  How often are we sharing out of bitter jealousy?  To silence our critics?

James shows us that the wisdom from above has very specific characteristics.  It is pure.  It is peaceable - it leads to peace.  It is gentle.  It is full of mercy and good fruits - it is beneficial.  It is impartial, it carries no favor - not to us, not to our "church", not to the exclusion of anyone else.  It is sincere, without hypocrisy.  It is open to reason.

Open to reason.  I love that entry.  Other translations list it as "willing to yield."

That means it's willing to admit when it is wrong.
Willing to concede when someone makes a valid point.
Willing to admit we don't know.
Willing to admit when we question.
Willing to admit what we struggle with.

This seems so antithetical to how we present ourselves.  How we preach our gospel.

How often is our wisdom haughty, presumptive, proud, arrogant, determined to show how the world is wrong?

How often do we sho our wisdom to prove how we alone (or our team) has got it right?

How often do we share an article to prove our wisdom?  To prove our agreement with the "right" side?

How often are our statements meant to be emphatic periods or even exclamation points, designed to end discussion rather than continue the conversation?
"God says it so I believe it..."
"If you have a problem with that you have a problem with God..."
"Somethings you just have to take on faith..."
"The Lord works in mysterious ways..."

Those are all statements with truth in them.   But they are also all statements we use to end conversations.  To side step questions.  To avoid actually struggling with some of the implications of the Bible and our faith.  To avoid wrestling with faith.

How often are we really willing to continue the conversation?  To continue the dialogue with doubters, with strugglers, with the lost, with the hurting, with the un-churched, with the de-churched, with those hurt irrevocably by the church?

How often are we willing to be humble, to admit we don't know, and wrestle, and struggle with them?

That is a meek wisdom.  That is a wisdom from above.

My intent with this blog is always to foster and continue conversation.  It's why I'm more interested in questions than answers.  It's why there are a lot of question marks in this particular entry.  It's why I will play devil's advocate and will take positions unpopular in the modern church.  It's why I'm hardest on the church.

We as followers of Christ should be the most approachable people in this world.  The ones most easily able to have conversations with, especially the hard ones.

In the coming year, may we all make that our resolution.  Our commitment.  Our calling.  To have a meek wisdom that seeks and creates peace.  That fosters continued conversations.  That reaches out.

Lord willing...