Debating Politics with Christians

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As I mentioned earlier, I have been engaged in conversations about politics with others who hold a different perspective than I do. Most (if not all) of those people were also Christians. I must say that through it all, I have been very impressed. In the back and forth, a very unique thing has bubbled up to the surface – Christian charity to one another. I have said some ignorant things, made assumptions about others, put them into pigeon holes, etc. Others have said things that I strongly disagree with. In the midst of all of that, though, I have had the pleasure to be witness to encouragement, building up, gentle rebukes (much less harsh than deserved), and an underlying unity that belies the vigorous debate at the political level. I have seen an amazing compassion expressed, love for one another, God, and our neighbor, and an incredible concern for others. I have seen an openness and willingness to struggle and strain toward a greater understanding of the truth.

I think that we all bring God’s spirit into the discussion that helps to infuse the conversation with grace, graciousness, and mercy. It has been an honor and a privilege to do so and I hope to continue to do so. It has been a witness to me and an encouragement to me.

Sometimes, I’m afraid that our political differences will become the most important thing and there will be no fellowship after the debate. However, I have seen a much deeper and stronger force beneath the debate – Christ Himself coming through. I am greatly heartened by that.

Of course, I still feel that I am absolutely correct on every single issue (tongue firmly in check)! :-) Seriously, I do still feel strongly about my opinions and I think it’s natural to some extent for people to think that the opinions they hold are the correct ones. From that, I will, of course, want to continue to debate and try to convince people to be come to what I believe are the right ideas on things. However, I pray that I will also be open and willing to honestly examine areas where other people also challenge me. And I will do my best to do so in a gracious and generous manner, not being judgmental or condescending.

I must confess that an honest gut-level assessment of how I generally feel about others who don’t agree with me is that they are either deceived or just missing some facts. To me, my opinions and beliefs are very consistent, make sense, and seem to agree with biblical principals. So, my first reaction when others don’t agree is to be astonished – “How can they possibly think that?” I’m beginning to see how judgmental and condescending that can be.

But I struggle as well. Being firmly convinced that 1) there is an absolute truth and 2) that truth can be applied to every area of life (including politics), it’s very difficult to simply be content with others just having a different perspective and let that be. My instinct is to want to convince them that I am right. In our post-modern culture where everyone has their own truth, it’s especially hazardous to work under these assumptions. But I am becoming more aware of these assumptions and wrestling with how to deal with them. I am definitely still on a journey with all of this and I beg your patience as I struggle with how to hold in one hand my strong opinions that I believe are right, with a respect and openness to what others say in the other hand. I’m pretty sure that in my humanness, I will drop one or the other of these many times to come. If I focus too strongly on banging away on getting my point made, I may fall into the trap of being judgmental, harsh, condescending, etc. If I focus too strongly on being respectful and listening to others, I may fail to challenge or make any sort of difference. I don’t want either one of those. I DO want to make a difference and challenge others. But I also want to do it in a gracious, open way, knowing that for every finger pointed outward, there are four fingers pointed at myself.

Given this context and feeling a stronger trust in God’s Spirit of unity among believers, I say, “Let the debate commence!”
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