Listening to Learn (#604)

As a society have we learned only seem to week out information that confirms our biases? What's our first inclination when we hear a conflicting voice? Is it to research their ideas and see if it reshapes the way I think, or is it to mount an argument to discredit those we consider our adversaries and prove to ourselves how right we are? Learning to listen to others, whether we end up agreeing with them or not, is an important process to learning and growth personally, and finding a pathway to consensus and collaboration in the culture. Unfortunately we're becoming a culture that only preaches with factions that preach to their own choir and becoming increasingly polarized.

Podcast Notes:
Wayne's Travel Schedule
Helping with Agriculture in Pokot
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10 Comments

  1. You know, when you both were talking about how people disagree nowadays and how the person with the opposing opinion is considered an idiot and no common ground is sought, it occurred to me that we’re going to have a generation of people who will only know this divisive climate and way of discourse. That’s sobering.

  2. great – ?r?t/
    adjective
    1. ?of an extent, amount, or intensity considerably above the normal or average
    synonyms:
    considerable, substantial, significant, appreciable, special, serious; More
    2. ?of ability, quality, or eminence considerably above the normal or average.
    synonyms:
    prominent, eminent, important, distinguished, illustrious, celebrated, honored, acclaimed, admired, esteemed, revered, renowned, notable, famous, famed, well known.??laugh·ing·stock – lafiNG?stäk
    noun
    noun: laughing stock; plural noun: laughing stocks; persons or entities subjected to general mockery or ridicule.
    synonyms:
    butt, dupe, spectacle, figure of fun, stooge, fall guy; “their nation has become the laughingstock of the world”????Our nation, our leaders, us . . . We can contribute to either. Sadly, we are increasingly becoming the latter. #THEANSWER – God, but we would not have it, Them, LOVE.

    There is more good going than we can see, and in it, in LOVE, we are far richer than we know. That we cant see or know is a tragedy. Instead we choose anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, violence of all kinds. We veil it, but ultimately it rears its ugly head.

    Why I choose to follow a very different King, and be a subject of His Kingdom.?
    ??

  3. So I wanted to push back against the idea that equality and “fairness” isn’t in scripture as part of heathy society. When laying out the law for Hebrew society, He put in place the Year of Jubilee. When he divided up the land, everything was equal and He put into place the mandate to return to that every 50 years. All debts forgiven. All land returned. All slaves freed. Return to the place of equality. This shows us that our Father isn’t interested in maintaining power structures and gains. And in the EARTHLY society He was shaping, He put in that reset every 50 years.

    Another push back for consideration, God has zero intrest in our pathetic versions of fair. He demonstrates that in the parable of the workers who start at different times of day. Inherently unfair, to our understanding of the term! But He shows us that good leadership operates from a place of wisdom and lavish generosity, and not score keeping and exacts. He does it again as the Father to the older brother. We LOVE things to be “fair” and get super bent out of shape when we are the older brother and the all day laborer and we think we’ve been jiped. But when we are on the receiving end of that extra grace and support, fairness isn’t on our mind. The point being, we need to be really self reflective when the reaction starts coming up in us that something is off about fairness or equality – because the very reaction usually that means we’re the ones feeling short changed somehow and that someone else is getting extra. That should be our signal to adjust our perspective and see where Grace is moving.

    • Hi Rebecah, this is Wayne. I do appreciate your comments and passion here. And I love your observation of how self-based our feelings of fairness often are. Yes, I believe justice and fairness are in Father’s heart and will grow in ours as we find greater freedom in his love. I think our point was that demanding equality and fairness from God when we compare our lives to others, usually doesn’t help us. Life is grossly unfair in a broken world, which gives us something to overcome with him, not something to fruitlessly demand from him.

  4. Well said. The “White Privilege Video” is not truth. It’s propaganda. And it’s actually, one of my hot buttons coming from the fruit of the “Religion of Multiculturalism.” So, please be patient as I share these words. I share them with an old friend and a pastor who posted this very video. He holds a doctorate in psychology, and was also a former college professor and multicultural educator and facilitator. Upon reading my comments, he messaged me and thanked me for challenging him to think deeper and wider, and that he really missed my passionate biblical discourse.

    Here are my words in short:

    Is the video about race?
    Is the video about income?
    Is the video about the family unit?
    Is the video about parenting?
    Is the video about marriage?
    Is their intentional political and social, godless, propaganda in college campuses?

    I’ve see this video many times. The headers are often switched up. Sometimes it is titled “Racism,” sometimes “White Privilege” or “Privilege” etc.

    Are we in a free society now going to define those who choose to do their job, exercise self control, prepare and live responsibly as a ‘status quo’ now going to be called privileged?

    Does God call obedience Privilege? When people work hard to work out marriage issues to save their families, while overcoming their own challenges, poverty, family cycles of abuse and demons, is this called privileged?

    Is abstinence considered a privilege? Are we as Christians going to perpetuate the stereotype all minority’s are underprivileged, poor and fatherless? And the lie all white kids are privileged when 40% of European descent kids live in poverty in the USA?

    Kindly and respectfully, I’ve got a lot to say about this. First, this is not science. It proves nothing. I could come up with opposite results with a different sample. And my husband, a white male, could only make two steps forward in this exercise. ?

    ?It’s truly a harmful exercise–a psychological experiment. That’s unlawful. And, yet it is spreading through people homes, via internet, cell phones, and distorting their minds. It grieves me so. ?

    ?Hardships come in many forms, very few questions are asked which leads to a very presumptuous conclusions. ?

    ?Wisdom tells us we should honor our parents, yet this facilitator like many in this business destroys them all; then adds commenting “you did nothing wrong, don’t feel bad.” Yet, making everyone feel bad!?

    ?Pinning people against each other, dividing others without their pre-consent. Trust me, these people were never the same. It’s abusive. No matter what angle you come from, the participants were not allowed to even speak. In seconds they were all taught wrong, and deceived easily. Which of them walks in truth today? ?

    ?Some may think I was privileged; but both of my parents worked and was a major latch key kid. I grew up with a blended family of eight. My parents made money and lost money. We got one choice at McDonald’s: coke, fries or burger; one item. Dollars were thinly stretched. Many things happened along the way in life good and bad. I’d rather not publicly comment on these things. ?

    ?And yet, it would appear I had a head start, right? ?

    ?I almost didn’t graduate high school because my parents weren’t involved and very busy working many long hours. I even had to take emergency night classes to finish. Blah blah blah.?

    ?That’s the problem with humanism and it’s conclusions; men think they are God and have the scales of knowledge and equality in their hands. They don’t. We have zero idea what each child in this video has faced, nor can you presume it reflects greater populations. That’s terrible science. (And can I tell you the truth, having adversity makes you fierce in adulthood.) ?

    ?We live in a country with many income ranges. ?
    ?Not one single person chooses their parents, skin color, neighborhood or nation. Yet, Adults can do much in their favor to change their incomes, for more or less. ?

    ?And I can’t think of any true believer who does not intentionally and mindfully offer a hand-up to those who are in need, disadvantaged or suffering–PLUS they do as God’s heart IS without discriminating over ethnicity, gender or background. ?

    ?Immigrants leave nations, their families and friends to start a new life. Any adult in the USA can do the same–many choose not to leave where it is unsafe or no work. But they could, we have so much help in this nation funded by charities, churches and government programs. ?

    ?We must honor those who choose well. Thank those who sacrifice their immediate wants for the long term good of their families. Poor communities are not ignorant of poor choices; wealthy communities are not ignorant of poor choices. ?

    ?We can choose. ?
    ?Honor each other.?
    ?Love one another. ?

    ?Our communities reflect our homes. A nation with strong families, creates a strong nation. Strength comes from within, step by step. Conscious loving choices. We can together make every community great–we have to do the holistic work. ?

    ?What’s happening in families? ?
    ?Therein is the solution.?

    ?I will honor my parents, who I love dearly. With a sixth grade education, and illiteracy, they overcame violence and abuse, much more. You have no idea!!! And I overcome so much myself. And I know how to live on a dollar a day. ?

    ?Be Mindful of Facts:?
    ?42% of those living in deep poverty are white.?
    ?Less than 10% of the total USA population attends a private school.?
    ?55% of families are divorced.?

    In closing, I wholeheartedly agree with Wayne , “it’s not truth.” Comparing one another with another is foolish, but it also sows the roots of bitterness. The fruit we are seeing in our culture.

    We do need to speak and teach and about this and that, all of it. However, as Christian leaders we have to address the lies, hate and anger being taught in the educational institutions and college campuses. I’ve lived through it all. One of you have no idea what a generation is actually going through, and the deception at play.

    • To me, the video meant those who have much, can love much those who have less. I am grateful my parents’ marriage lasted 66 years and they modeled a way of loving and living for us that is bearing fruit in the generations that follow. Nothing to be despised there. But I can still look at someone who never had those advantages and ask what I can do to help their family establish a better heritage as well.

  5. I’m listening to the rest of this show, may I add that truly only the west is obsessed with diversity. The USA is only 240 years old, it’s not the default of mankind nor root of all social ills. Do you think people in India are concerned about white dolls? How about Ethiopians and Ethiopian art? Iranians upset by the lack of Chinese representation in their society? No, they aren’t. In the name of diversity, we can be so ethnocentric. Some of these trendy viral videos and social tests can teach some things, but they are not in themselves truth–rather a tool to be more mindful of cultural messages. It’s not universal, let’s be open about this fact. Everyone is harsh on the USA but the majority of the world is homogeneous.

    • Sandra, you seem so reactive to things we’re not even saying. You seem to have been hurt by others, and talk as if we are siding with them. We’re not. Why is celebrating the diversity of others a round us a reflection of our Father’s heart to love all into his reality? I don’t see diversity as America-is-bad, but that we are carving a path to respect that ALL are created equal, and it is the brokenness of human society that despises some while exalting others. Do you really want us to take our social cues from India or China?

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