QuakerQuaker

Primitive Christianity Revived, Again

Being Right isn't what it's cracked up to be

I was walking out of my Dr.'s office when I remembered I hadn't paid my Co-pay. When I mentioned it to the nurse she said I didn't have to pay because I had Medicare. I explained that Medicare was my secondary and I was pretty sure I owed her $20. She called the insurance company and announced that I was right. I told her I would rather have been wrong.

Being right isn't necessarily a good thing. Once I got very upset with my first wife and stalked out of the room and mumbled to God that it was impossible to put up with her and that it was clear that I was right only to hear in my spirit that He wasn't interested in who was right, only in who was loving.

I think we have to remember that. Perfecting the saints isn't teaching them the correct theology, it's about encouraging them to love God and their neighbors. In my small circle of friends whom I consider to be Christian I don't argue theology. I tell them my belief, I listen to their belief and then we go our ways trusting God to correct the one who is wrong if necessary. This generally works. Of course most of the time the difference isn't important enough for either of us to care about determining who's right. The important thing is to love our neighbor as ourself. Not having a creed is a good thing. We just have to remember to love our neighbor even though theydon't understand the things of God very well. :)

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Comment by Forrest Curo on 9th mo. 21, 2011 at 5:27pm: I really really like this! You may be right!

Then again, it's often important for me to be right-- not because I need the points, but because of what I need to be right about: the reality and ultimate dependability of Spirit!

Comment by James C Schultz on 9th mo. 22, 2011 at 5:03pm: I think it comes down to respecting the other's walk. If you truly believe he is seeking the truth you have to trust the "dependability" of the Spirit to reveal to him or her what the Spirit revealed to you. This can take time and in the overall scheme of things such as a revelation that could uproot your friend from his or her existing culture, timing could be important to God which would account for delaying a revelation. If you don't respect his or her walk you could just be tossing pearls before swine.

Comment by Forrest Curo on 9th mo. 22, 2011 at 6:32pm: If I truly believe the Spirit is seeking him/her-- as I do-- then I don't need to 'win' whatever verbal disagreement we might be having.

I am responsible for holding up my end, for being truthful about how it looks from here...

In one of Lord Dunsany's stories about the edge of the world... the witch who lives there owns a garden, maintained by poets, whose main job is to feed the pigs. What do they feed the pigs? Pearls, of course. Do the pigs like pearls? Not particularly.

I've been through a few changes, where at first some author made no sense to me-- Jacques Ellul being a prime example-- Then I'd run into something really intriguing by them-- in his case it was a book of Bible commentary I found once visiting Anne Friend's house in Los Angeles. There's something about God bringing me to a state of mind where what they're saying suddenly fits into place. Before that ripening, their stuff is likely to be wasted on me... Maybe us swine should just be given some nice swill, for now.

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