Once I participated in a conference where they made us go through an interesting exercise. They made us write with the opposite hand that we are use to. Therefore the right handers had to write with the left hand and the left handers had to write with the right hand. The results were the worst calligraphies ever seen, practically unreadable. It is astonishing how we get so use to the way we have learned that when we have to do it differently we get disturbed.
While we were going through this exercise a sister shared that as a left handed young child, her teacher forced her to write with the right hand saying that the left handers were children of Satan. If this would happen in our days, the teacher acting in this manner is the one who would probably be considered the demonic one. However neither the girl nor her teacher should be considered diabolic.
The truth is that as the years go by, our understanding about the issues evolves and many times our opinion about these same issues can change radically. This happens in all areas including the spiritual one; with more light over a matter the more clearly we understand it. For example, slavery which today is considered by the church an abomination in the past was widely defended by it.
Christians cannot stay stuck to unhealthy mediaeval ideals nor embrace irresponsible modern concepts. The old cannot be naively rejected nor the new be unadvisedly embraced. The follower of Jesus needs to learn to develop a mind of critical thinking to be able to sift the impurities to stay with what is best. A mind without maliciousness or prejudices, the mind of his Master: the mind of Christ. Let’s go for it!
- Which past ideas should you keep and which should you abandon?
- Which modern ideas should you embrace and with should you reject?
(Renew the mind, Romans 12:2 / Examine everything, 1 Thessalonians 5:20-22)
Commissioner Torben Eliason is the Territorial Commander of the Southern Africa Territory.