ChosenRebel's Blog

Pointless Words

Questioner:

• “What do you believe about climate change?”

• “What do you think about global warming?”

• “Where do you stand on EV cars?”

Answer: “I believe the earth is warming. I am leery of saying much more.”

Questioner: “Why?”

Good question. Upon reflection, here’s my answer.

The reason I am leery is because if you don’t give the answer that one side of the political spectrum or the other currently espouses, the conversation is going to devolve—in the next sentence—into accusation, name calling, interrupted thoughts, unfinished answers and the growing sense that the original questioner is only interested in defending their position, right or left, and not really interested in your position. It’s not a conversation; it’s a evangelistic moment for the particular “climate-religion” the questioner espouses. You must have their position or you are considered stupid or anti-science, leftist or rightist, uninformed or insular, red-pilled or blue-pilled, backward or a country-bumpkin, a “rethuglican” or a socialist. Along the way, you may also be accused of being a racist, white-supremacist, Marxist, authoritarian, totalitarian, anarchist, or fascist. Nothing positive is likely to come of it.

The person, by the question asked, has declared their religion, and their intent is to either convert you are cancel you. But what they don’t want to do is have a conversation. They want to win an argument and convert you or at least pat themselves on the back for having “proved” (to themselves at least) that they have the moral high ground, and you, having staked out a position as different from theirs, are inferior and worthy of their dismissal.

This is not how it once was in a more recent past. And it is certainly not the way it ought to be among the people of God. Here are some verses to guide our interaction with regard to such questioners:

Remember these things:

Ephesians 4:29:  “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification, according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear it.”

Philippians 2:3: “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;”

James 1:19-20: “This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.”

1 Timothy 2:1-2: “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.”

1 Thessalonians 4:11:“and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you,

Titus 2:7-8: “In all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds . . . sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.”

Romans 13:8: “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.”

Colossians 4:6:“Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.”

Maybe, if we bathe our conversations with the grace flowing through all of these verses, and saturate our conversations in prayer, we can avoid speaking pointless words that do nothing for the cause of Christ or friendship with those with whom we disagree. 

Oh, and the answer to how to start a conversation poorly is very simple. Avoid everything taught in these verses.