The Wrong Way to Discern the Truth
Christians, all along the theological spectrum, develop their beliefs over time, taking positions on certain issues. But how do we determine our position, especially when there are so many issues and multiple interpretations about what is the right way?
I am going to focus here not on what to do, but on what not to do.
There is a lazy way of determining what position to take. This method is based on a conviction that the culture war between conservatives and liberals is the primary lens by which to look at reality.
What I have seen people do, and this equally pertains to liberals and conservatives, is to look at what the other side believes and then adopt the opposite position of that. The assumption is that our opponents are always wrong.
For example, if liberals say that fighting racism is important, then conservatives say that fighting racism is wrong. If conservatives say that the New Testament is reliable, then liberals must assert that the New Testament is unreliable.
I am someone who is an advocate for people with disabilities. I was once speaking on this and had a conservative Christian rebuke me for it because disability advocacy is part of the “liberal agenda.”
I have seen some liberal Christians adopt the teachings of some extreme biblical skeptics, not because that represents the best of biblical scholarship, but because conservatives embrace the Bible so tightly that it is convenient for the culture war.
This is very much lazy thinking.
I realize that it is a lot of work to determine a position on every issue. I also realize that culture war ideology provides a convenient way of providing quick answers without having to do the homework.
One of the dangers of thinking on our own instead of going with expected culture war positions is that we might find ourselves outside of the clearly defined categories and inside the messy middle.
We can find ourselves criticized by both the liberals and conservatives because we decide to go with a more nuanced position that is found in the culture war.
For myself, I would prefer to think for myself and please agnosticism on the issues that I have not sufficiently studied. It is not the popular way but it is the one that gives me the clearest conscience.
