Some Things Should Be Defeated

A couple of years ago I was in an all day workshop which on balance was very good however; one of the exercises we did divided us into two teams put us in different rooms and forced us to make decisions about a particular board neither of could see receiving updates on what the other team had done.

When it was finished we came together and talked about the experience and our mindset going in. The facilitator was trying to make the point that we immediately went into an adversarial role and tried to “win” which was bad. Why do we always need to win?

Though I understand what he was trying to prove he would not admit some things need to be defeated or that compromise isn’t always a good thing.

Side not: I do believe we can work together without compromise.

The word “tolerance” has always been problematic for me. It is true our speech must be filled with courtesy and respect (1 Peter 3:15-16) but I don’t see tolerance anywhere in the Bible. I also understand that’s why some of you reading this dislike Christianity. I’ll address that later.

David C. Parks has an excellent article at the American Thinker entitled “When Tolerance Trumps Principle” In it he says:

In a world of social and political tolerance, we do not inquire, we do not reason, we do not communicate…we do not respect…we tolerate.

We need to take a strong, principled, reasoned, stand on things that matter. Like life, the size and reach of government, taxation, and many others.

I am a Conservative because I am a Christian not the other way around. These are issues of faith not politics. As Christians we must stand for righteousness and defeat that which is evil especially in the political arena. Not demonizing those who are in opposition but also not tolerating destructive ideas. We must not be afraid of the arena of ideas. If truth is our aim what is there to be afraid of.

Let’s make sure we are informed and principled in our ideology and gracious in our speech with the intent of defeating destructive ideas and policies.

No apologies.

I’ve asked the question “Have We Polluted Christianity With Conservatism?” on my other blog. Would love your thoughts.

Filed under: Personal Responsibility, Politics, Social Issues, Confrontation, Principle, Tolerance