Could you just shut up?

I’m listening to NPR on the way home from work yesterday and hear an interview with Richard Dawkins, noted atheist and author of The God Delusion. I’ll admit that people who don’t think like me can be very interesting, especially when you have thought out your point of view as thoroughly as he has. I don’t know if it was my 4 Laws training or just human nature, but I found myself reflexively trying to mentally refute or respond to his arguments about why he does not believe in God. With every statement, I would come up with a counterpoint. But then I realized what I was doing. I was not listening to the man’s position. I was only setting myself up to swat the ball back into his court. I was not trying to understand, because I was not taught to do so. It seems imbedded into the evangelical DNA since so many of us seem to be guilty of this kind of response. The radar is always scanning for thoughts to take captive, for fear that if I don’t, I will be guilty of some sort of treason. Future Pastor, this is my point I’ve been trying to make that the Church of the Future will not feel this need to impulsively be defensive. As I was listening to Dawkins, I kept asking myself if I could just listen to him and try to understand where he was coming from. But for some reason, to do this has become equivalent to compromising your faith. Solomon reminded young people like you that speaking before listening is not a good thing. He went so far as to call it foolish, even shameful. I don’t know anyone with whom I’ve argued that changed their position because I refuted it, but I do know plenty of people who have said, “Thanks for listening.”