I'm gonna have to second that this is a good point about humility and conviction. .
Love this point from bethinking.org:
"Humble : bethinkers know that our understanding of some truths is fallible, and will not press a point beyond what the evidence allows."
Being less sure doesn't make you humble. That's just a plain fact. In the past, humility was the opposite of pride. But now it has become the opposite of conviction. Being sure of something is now often considered a character flaw. There are three basic reactions to being challenged. Reaction one is to turn the volume up. For example Fundamentalists seemed to have more "certainties" than they could every justify from Scripture. The next reaction is to turn the volume right down. This might seem humble, however, the danger might be that we overreact with equally arrogant assertions of uncertainty when God has clearly spoken. The third and final reaction is to turn the volume to a level so that you can actually hear the conversation or challenge and interact with it, but while you still keep the music on.
In the wake of all of this we should ponder carefully this question - Do we have the humility to doubt ourselves while having the courage to witness to the truth as it has been revealed?
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2 comments:
I love this one. This is a great self-evaluation proposal. "...will not press a point beyond what the evidence allows" certainly asks us to depend upon scripture rather than to make excuses for "bending" scripture to fit our needs. Honestly,I must admit that I am guilty of having been a "scripture bender". For some reason, this past week has seen change in that. Can't explain it, but it sure feels good.
It seems strange that being certain of something would be seen as a character flaw. However, I do think that everyone is certain of something....otherwise we would have nothing to talk about. Everyone would pick choice #2 and just turn the volume down. Thankfully, there are people...like the ones who comment on this blog and other blogs...who can have a point of view that they are willing to express.
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