I surf through a few tags in the blog world every now and then: church, Christianity, faith, cats. The cat posts are generally cute or sweet or enjoyable – encouraging mostly. Apart from the possible argument of “inside” vs “outside,” there isn’t much to fight about in the cat world. Oh, people should spay and neuter and be responsible pet owners for the life of their pet as opposed to the life of their convenience or cuteness, but you know, for the most part, cat posts in the blogosphere seldom digress into rants. Church, Christianity and faith on the otherhand, well, it’s embarrassing.
I’m “inspired” today by one particular post I read a few weeks ago. I don’t remember where it was or who wrote it. If I did, I wouldn’t provide the link anyway. A new one can be found in several of the twenty posts that come up in any Church/Christianity/faith tag on any day. The author is always right, anyone who differs is wrong, and the proof texts backing up their argument are amply and aggressively provided — usually in bold type.
The post I read was written by a man consoling those of us unfortunate to have been created female. He was sorry that Scripture doesn’t allow for women to speak in church and he expressed his understanding that submitting to our husbands as God commands must sometimes be a difficult burden to carry. He continued with his list of things women are clearly not allowed to do based on Scripture. He even provided the Biblical proof texts in bold type so we could be certain.
His topic and content are not the focus of my post. The problem really is proof text arguments in general. My experience has been that these arguments typically begin at the back end of the argument first – the ass end so to speak. Those presenting them already hold some deeply entrenched position on a perceived issue in the church or American life or whatever and then scurry about through Scripture finding all the choicest texts that support said position. They are right. Everyone else is wrong. The weakness in this approach is simple: you show me your proof texts and I’ll show you mine. It just seems all around uncomfortably wrong somehow doesn’t it?
5 Comments
April 6, 2007 at 9:00 pm
Chickenherd,
Great arguments in this post… got any scripture to back it up? (I’m kidding, of course!). I think the most poignant thing here is your observation that you will find less nasty back-biting in most non-Christian arenas than in Christian. Sad, really. I just went to an Indigo Girls concert and the vibe there was really great, yet I wondered how they would be treated if they went to a Christian concert. Ah, but it’s late, too late for these kinds of dangerous musings. Keep up the great stuff, I look for new Chicken Droppings all the time!
April 7, 2007 at 12:05 pm
sadly, you are too right, Chickenherd. people seem to make up their mind about an issue and then look to Scripture to back it up. the Bible provides answers to life’s questions, we need to be open enough to find them. sometimes we need to get out of the way of ourselves.
April 7, 2007 at 6:55 pm
well said, john. thanks for taking the time to post a comment.
April 7, 2007 at 7:05 pm
And, Sprocket, nicely done. You had me there for a second with the request for Scripture verses. “Did this guy even read what I posted??!” : )
April 8, 2007 at 9:09 pm
Reminds me of the papers we wrote in college. Choose a topic. Then take a position that has easy or strong evidence to support it. Or should I say: find some evidence that is clever or well written and then create a position that fits the proof. Makes for a great argument but what does it really prove? Your point is well taken. The approach is all backwards.