My first day of student teaching was nearly over when a student approached me at the end of the final class period. He had an odd, self-righteous smile and proclaimed to me and my cooperating teacher that he had a problem with the textbook. We asked what the problem was and he stated that he did not believe in chapter eleven. Sure enough, it was the chapter on evolution.
In my head I'm thinking "Really, kid? I won't even be here when that information is covered in second semester, and I almost made it through my first day without incident." I had been expecting to have this conversation one day, but I hadn't expected it so soon.
My cooperating teacher proceeded to begin explaining that we were not looking to change his mind, but that he would be responsible for understanding the material for our test and it was likely to come up on other standardized tests that he would need to get into a good school. I had a longer conversation with him, too, about how hearing new ideas doesn't threaten you, that keeping on open mind can help you reaffirm your position or change your opinions if necessary. Either way, you're growing and developing a mature understanding rather than regurgitating something.
When I was in high school, I had my parents' opinions. When I went to college, I changed my mind on some things and grew stronger in my understanding and agreement on others. I have never had much of an issue with my religious beliefs and evolution. In fact, the more I studied biology, the more I believed in God, marveling at the wondrous detail put into our world. I have developed my opinion and changed it when new evidence persuaded me that there was a need. I don't begrudge this particular student for being the same way, but I sure hope that he can grow in his understanding, one way or another. Continuing to regurgitate opinions without thinking through them is not a mature opinion. God asks us to have faith, which is not the same as believing in things blindly and without thinking through them.
I've been thinking about this experience for a few reasons recently, one of which is the controversy with the Kentucky County Clerk. In a nutshell, I agree with the tweet that's been posted everywhere, that "No one is being jailed for practicing her religion. Someone's being jailed for using the government to force others to practice her religion."
What's frustrating to me is seeing posts quickly turn to bullying or a screaming match rather than meaningful conversation. I don't like wasting my time hashing through ideas with someone if they're only interested in brow-beating me into their opinion. Politics have a certain flavor of angry, but there's something about religious arguments, when we start talking about how MY church should operate or how MY church should look that turn nasty really quickly.
When it comes to LGBT rights, I hear a certain verse in Leviticus passed around. But no one is spending as much time obsessing over Leviticus 11:10-12 that forbids shellfish or Leviticus 19:19 that forbids wearing polyester-cotton blends. And it wouldn't surprise me if you've heard that before either. The end problem is the same: picking and choosing what you want to follow out of the Bible is shallow theology.
It's not supposed to be easy. You're going to find parts of the Bible that challenge you. People have used the Bible as evidence for why hippies shouldn't have long hair and to reinforce racism and slavery. You can pull so many pieces out of context to back up many, many things. Instead, take the Bible as a whole, look at the context of the people of the time (what it meant to them), and then apply it. Anyone can twist the words to fit their cause. I can take another example out of the Bible: in Matthew 4:6 the devil quotes scripture--let me say that again: the devil can quote scripture. When I hear a single Bible verse to back something up, I stop to question whether this verse fits in with the biblical context. Jesus said a lot about loving people--he didn't do a lot of discriminating, instead calling all of the "undesirables" to him. What I've told my Sunday School class as a take away message is that if you're using the Bible to hurt people, you're using it wrong.
I don't know how people have framed their specific understandings. I cannot assume that someone has or has not done their research and come to the their conclusions through careful consideration. I have talked to people who would rather shout and I have had meaningful discussions. Any time I run into that knee-jerk response, though, of raising the voice and turning to accusations, it never inspires confidence. It seems that the less evidence and/or reasoning a person has, the sooner they fall into attacking.
We talked about some of these aspects with my junior/senior high Sunday School, that taking the Bible out of context does not relay the actual intent, that using the Bible to hurt people is wrong, and that unfortunately sometimes those with the most extreme views scream loudest. I imagine, with no specific evidence, that we feel about WBC the same way that most Muslims feel about extremists. We discussed situations where someone learns that you identify as Christian and their whole manner toward you changes or at least there are some comments about whether or not you act like how they think a Christian should.
Christians have a terrible reputation overall as being judgmental and being exclusionary. I've seen both Christians and non-Christians that embody these traits. Essentially, all humans like patterns and we try to predict behaviors on what we've seen before. It's when we let these assumptions affect how we treat people, where we fail to give people the benefit of the doubt and only have these suppositions as evidence, that we run into trouble. Judging people is not a uniquely Christian problem--it's a human thing--and it's a really hard habit to get out of. Perhaps what makes Christian judgement different is that pulling out a Bible and brokering no further argument is a rather frustrating side to be against.
When dealing with issues of morality and justice, it's easy to jump onto a Facebook bandwagon. We tend to read and follow those with similar opinions because we like the validation. When secure that others are in agreement, sometimes what we say becomes vicious and judgmental of the opposition--they must be stupid/misguided/uneducated/etc. But looking into the other side of the argument is what will actually give your understanding and your position strength. And how will we deal with being judgmental? By remembering that the other party has agency and won't necessarily fit into the boxes we put them in. Again, looking at their side of the story will create a deeper understanding, either to reaffirm what you know about them or change your mind. People have reasons for being the way they are--not excuses, per say, but reasons.
So the takeaway message, I suppose, is not to take anything completely out of context. The Bible, people, situations, etc. all have contextual background that can change the conclusions that you draw. Keep a healthy dose of skepticism and an open mind before assuming the worst or accepting something blindly. And once you've figured out how to do that all the time, please teach me how.
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