Pastor Ed’s Blog

Agreeing Christians…and Other Rare Events

I know that you’ll find this hard to believe, but not everyone agrees with me on everything. Hard to imagine, huh? That’s right, there are some people who just don’t see things the way I see them; who don’t believe exactly what I believe; who don’t value the same things that I value.

For instance, there are some people who don’t like the Dallas Cowboys!? Can you believe that? In fact, there are some people–are you seated for this one?–who don’t eat pasta! No lasagna, no ravioli, no manicotti, no cavatelli, not even linguini! How in the world will they ever enjoy the Marriage Supper of the Lamb?

It didn’t take me long, especially living in the diverse northeast, to realize that most people some people almost no one agrees with me on everything anything. So I found myself this week asking myself this question: Why do I find it threatening when someone disagrees with me? After all, don’t they have the right to be wrong? Or, is that why it threatens me: they might be right.

I was thinking this week about the topic of agreement: Should we always agree? Why do we disagree? Is it OK to disagree? Can we disagree without being disagreeable?

When you think about it, our viewpoints are shaped by countless variables: personality, background, personal experiences, culture, upbringing, needs, gender, etc. We see life through a series of filters; consequently, we don’t really see things as they are, but as we are. The truth is that we are all hopelessly biased. It’s amazing that any two people could ever agree on anything at all (Maybe that’s why Jesus said that if any two or three of us agree on anything, He personally will show up for that!).

 Add to the equation this fact: none of us sees ALL of reality; even the wisest among us only sees a sliver of the whole. So, in addition to being hopelessly biased, we are hopelessly ignorant as well. Based on our tiny little sliver of biased perception, we adamantly declare the most dogmatic statements with an air of absolute authority.

We all see a limited view of reality through the tinted lenses of our personalities, our backgrounds, our experiences, etc. Think about some of the implications of this. 

Your viewpoint is unique, and therefore valuable. No one sees life exactly the way you do! You perceive life through your unique set of filters. So your perspective is valuable and potentially enriching. It doesn’t have to be threatening.

Your viewpoint is limited, and therefore you need others to expand your viewpoint. We all tend to be like the proverbial man whose one tool was a hammer, so he saw every problem as a nail. If you have a headache and you go to your family doctor, he’ll give you some Advil; if you go to a chiropractor, he’ll give an alignment; if you go to a neurosurgeon, he’ll send you for an MRI; and if you go to a dentist, he’ll pull your tooth! Because our viewpoints are so limited, we tend to evaluate every situation according to the same grid. We need to be exposed to the viewpoints of others in order to get the larger picture.

Your viewpoint can often be distorted, and you need others to adjust your viewpoint. All viewpoints are valuable, but not all viewpoints are equally valid.  How you view things can be distorted by envy, bitterness, fear, or prejudice. If you are open to the viewpoints of others, they will correct and adjust your own distorted viewpoints.

Finally, your viewpoint is temporal, and you need to see life from God’s eternal perspective. Wisdom is the ability to see life from God’s perspective. Psalm 36:9 tells us that we see light (the revelation of reality) in God’s light (the light of divine illumination).

We all have some room for humility.  Don’t you agree?