Given the amount of times that Israelites are rebuked for being “stiff-necked”, I tend to think that it’s a liability. My “stubbornness” was something my adult companions tended to rebuke me for as child.
I think this is inherent in all from the Fall. We have a default disposition to rebel against God.
Over and over, I’ve been told that being open to new ideas and giving careful consideration to them before rejecting them is a good idea. That way I have a logical or Scriptural basis for what I reject that I can defend in the court of public opinion.
Yes its become tricky with all the rationalisations. We can even rationalise the truth into a lie and a lie into the truth. We have become very good at it. The best ones at it in the church are the wolves. Don't be fooled.
You can tell by the fruits of the spirit if you look carefully using that critical thinking. But that needs a ground. Christs fruits are the ground. Not human rationalisations according to enlightened thinking which has no spiritual ground.
In addition, I have also been conditioned to just ignore any hard disagreements where the person will not change and just walk away rather than continuing to get frustrated and angry. I work around and accommodate the disagreement or just act in accordance with my viewpoint to heap negative consequences on them (this only works IRL).
Jesus told the disciples and they told other disciples that when they go into a twon or city to bring the Gospel that if the people reject you to not stay and move on to another town that may be open to the Gospel.
I think this is true today. It is about belief at the end of the day and no rationalisation or logic or scientific test will prove that. Todays postmodern philosophical worldview is based on relativism. The idea is to find a fault, find a reason why its not the case or the fact or truth. Because everything is determined by narratives which come subjective experiences.
So its a mindfiled and theres fake news and facts and all sorts of different claims and counter claims. All professing the truth to the point of culture wars.
So yes its best to walk away sometimes. You sort of get a feel for when that time comes. But as they say you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. And thats not making a demeaning comment on those who disagree. Its just how it works because its about a belief. A belief change comes from a complete mindset change.
That may happen quick sometomes but its usually a chipping away. You may have a arguement over something you believe is the truth but have to accept the other person is not going to agree. But you don't know that later something you said was something helps a person see things differently. But really its Gods spirit. I think we can give signposts or we ourselves are corrected where we at first don't see the truth. But later our eyes are open to it.
But: is this type of morality Biblical/Scriptural? Or is it just secular programming from the American state that works for adults’ convenience to insert knowledge into kids’ heads and keep them under control?
I think in todays culture wars there are a lot of ideologies being promoted. All with a moral aspect. You can hear it in the words and language. Thats because we cannot order society without some meaning and moral code. So the culture war is really about which basis should we use as the meaning and moral code.
As God has now been rejected from the public square as the basis as in the past. The void is open to whatever idea dominates. As its just one idea in the market place just like anything its open to a war on ideas in the end. Because this is not just selling cars. Its life, morality and reality itself. Well at least that is how it has evolved to be today. Everything has become a matter of serious consequence and the opposing groups are threats.
So I reckon run for the hills and find a nice quiet place lol. Seriously I don't think as you say anything can be changed. Really the gospel is simple and I don't think the early church engaged in politics or culture wars.
Just a plain simple truth of the gospel and then exampling that. The example speaks volumns. Especially in a world where theres 1,000s of convincing, manipulating, decieving, objecting, accusing and screaming voices everywhere. The contrast would be radical and there could be no arguement against it.
