The eCrozier

Descartes once whimsically concluded: “Good sense is the most fairly distributed commodity in the world, because nobody thinks he needs any more of it than he already has.” Methinks there was a tongue firmly planted in the Cartesian cheek when he said that. Descartes was on to a common human reality. It is similar to the observation that everyone seems to think they are above average drivers. Like Yogi we think we’re “smarter than the average bear” (that dates me!).

Hubris is nothing knew. While the ancient Greeks did not invent it, they sure gave it a lot of play in their writings. We all, more often than maybe we care to confess, believe we are lot more reasonable, sensible, and right-thinking than those people (whoever the particular “those people” are at the time). “If they would just be reasonable like I am, then everything would be a whole lot better,” we might find ourselves thinking (bishops, especially, oh my!).

This is a growing malady in contemporary American life. In the clash of competing ideas, philosophies, and approaches to life, the malady is somewhat unavoidable. Of course, we hold the beliefs we hold. And of course, we live the way we do. We wouldn’t believe and live the way we do if we thought it was nonsensical, now would we?  So, how might we as Christians, while not retreating one step from our beliefs and practices, seek to address this persistent affliction? Well, by being more committed to our baptismal vows, that’s how.

To “love my neighbor as myself” I do not need to agree with him or like him. I can even think she is a bit crazy for holding the beliefs she holds. To “respect the dignity of all people” I do not have to buy into what I might believe is the snake oil they are trying to sell me. You see, our baptismal vows are not about what other people think or do. Those vows are about what we believe and do; who it is we “follow and obey as Lord.”

We must avoid falling into the trap that says: If I love my neighbor who is different, if I respect her dignity, if I pray for her well-being even if she remains different from me, then I somehow am wishy-washy on my own beliefs or a “relativist” of some sort. That makes our human experience way too binary. We make a dangerous bed for ourselves if we adopt such a Manichean worldview that sees only a zero sum between differences.

A Rabbi friend of mine once said to me: “You know, Scott, we Jews would never have to be afraid of you Christians ever again if you just did one thing: Take Jesus seriously and follow his teaching.”  He is right. Yes, we live in a pluralist society full of competing beliefs and truth claims. And it is perfectly appropriate for us to say we believe and act in different ways from Jews, or Muslims, or agnostics because of our particular beliefs and practices. After all, if we did not believe with all our heart, mind, and strength that Jesus was “the way, the truth, and the life,” then we’d be something else.  If our discipleship is that serious, then our neighbors, whoever they are, will find peace in our midst. And who knows, that peace may extend farther out among more people.

+Scott