I wanted to let everyone know of a new site that a friend of mine (pen name: Arthegall) has just set up called Just Words. The title has a two-fold meaning, as Arthegall explains in the About page: “These pages are about words alone, not personalities. It also signifies the just nature of the cause of Christian civil liberties.”
My involvement with the site started when I was asked for some advice on the WordPress/HTML/CSS side of the site and then I was asked to read/critique the first post. It was a somewhat jarring post, admittedly, because, as I told Arthegall, “Maybe I’m just not used to anyone saying, in public, ‘X is right, Y is wrong—no compromises—stand and deliver!‘ without some form of verbal padding.” Our conversation brought up the question of how Christians should be framing debate on moral-political issues… how Christians should define terms and who sets the presuppositions for debate in the public arena. It’s been very enlightening. Are Christians really speaking truth if they never come out and say that sin is evil? Are we communicating accurately God’s position on the issues when we don’t portray both His wrath and His love?
It’s churning up things that were already swirling around in my mind since late summer. How involved should I be politically? I absolutely despise politics, but that’s not really an excuse, is it? How do you sift through all the lies without spending your life researching? How DO you frame the debate—what kind of tone and language do you use—when you’re talking to people? Does that change when speaking in public vs. speaking in private? How drastically, if at all? What is my responsibility to a larger audience in an age of instant, mass communication? Is my little blog public or private communication?
Along with these questions, how do you debate someone when there’s no common ground of truth? We’re constantly looking for common ground to discuss or to compromise on… but what if there is none? What happens when you must argue for policy but there’s no underlying morality to appeal to? What do you do publicly, in the political arena? What do you do privately, talking to someone living a lifestyle you know is wrong? How do you keep company with unbelievers, yet have no fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness and even expose them? If I know someone cheating on his wife, what’s my response? Is it a graduated scale based on what morality I think they do know? Or is it always the same unflinching righteousness? Do you see what I’m getting at? This is that Schaefferian dichotomy again: show deep, abiding love for people while maintaining absolute doctrinal integrity. No one likes to be told they’re wrong, but do I need to first build the world-view foundation for stating that they are? Or should I just draw the line in the sand and state what’s obvious to Christians but maybe not so to those who don’t believe in Jesus? Or is morality obvious to everyone regardless of what they say?
Well, I’m sure these are some of the things Arthegall will be talking about on Just Words, so head on over and read the first article.
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