Essence

My mind is soaked through and through. For the first time in my 25 years of living I’ve faced two different groups of well-meaning Christians on the same day. I was open to talking because, well, they meant well. I primed my mind and mouth ready to take in arguments and toss some of my own, because if it were a true conversation, it would be two-way. And your way of viewing the world, the Christian worldview, may not be the ONLY way. That has to first be something fathomable to you before we can proceed.

But you can’t seem to see pass that, to entertain for a moment that the REASONABLE things that I’m putting forth as arguments may have a kernel of truth, even a small one. That the argument may fit within the existing paradigm of logic and reason that you are yourself living in (which means it makes sense) is something you can’t fathom. Because only your god speaks the truth.

If you come into a conversation with a preconceived notion of how the world works, that’s fine. In fact, we all do, Christian or not. But if you come in with a mind shut airtight that you’re right (and thus your way of thinking is superior, and I will “eventually come to see it”), then you truly are wasting everyone’s time. Forget your well-meaning evangelicalism – you become an affliction on people. If you want others to be open-minded with you, which happens to be the only way anyone is going to even listen to you in the first place before they go to Church with you, you first have to be open-minded yourself.

Otherwise, we’re just talking pass each other. All the time. And time is limited and I hate wasting it.

So if you’d like to have a humanly conversation about your religion, please first realise that our society is built on reasoning and logic. If you don’t talk on these terms, then what are we even talking about? Non-sense? To put it bluntly as I’ve heard someone put it, god gave you a brain – use it.

If you’ve read this far into the post and you’re worried about the potential backlash from it, please read it again. I’m not insinuating that Christianity or any other religion is false. You are entitled to your way of thinking as I am to mine. We can’t both be “right”, only one of us are. But the fact of the matter is that nobody can ever ascertain who is anyway. All I’m saying here is that we ought to know the ground rules before proceeding into any kind of discussion, for without sticking to these rules, there would be no discussion – only preaching.

Ground rule #1? Have an OPEN MIND.

Rule #2? Always stick by #1.

There is a multiplicity of possible problems that can arise when a person shuts his/her mind to every single possible alternatives, something which I must leave you to ponder over. God gave you a brain. Think.

Leave a comment