Get out of the echo chamber
To do their job, Christians must listen to everyone—especially those they disagree with
Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. —Genesis 37:5
We often tell the amazing rags-to-riches story of Joseph, the patriarch in the book of Genesis who gained Pharaoh’s favor and rescued Egypt from a famine. But we rarely study his 11 brothers who sold him into slavery. They must have been tortured by inner anguish, because years later, when something went wrong, they immediately concluded that it was punishment for their mistreatment of Joseph (Genesis 42:21).
Why did they commit their heinous deed? They didn’t like Joseph’s message, so they got rid of the messenger.
This tendency to silence messages we don’t like continues today, especially on social media. The hostility is so widespread that comedian Brian Regan can get laughs by claiming that he saw the target of a Facebook assault respond, “That’s a good point. I’m changing my mind.”
Today, the proliferation of media voices makes it possible to listen only to voices we already agree with. Christians should do the reverse. We should seek out voices we disagree with. How else can we expect to grow, understand others, or persuade skeptics?
Venture capitalists refuse to live in an echo chamber. To avoid making bad decisions or missing the next chance to invest early in a Google or Zoom, they actively promote disagreement among team members, such as by appointing a “devil’s advocate” to argue for the opposing view or making everyone submit their evaluations before they know what the leader thinks.
Jeff Myers of Summit Ministries, which runs 12-day summer programs in Christian worldview development, encourages young people to challenge program staff with their toughest questions. Myers isn’t afraid of dealing with unanswered questions; his bigger concern is when people rely on “unquestioned answers,” such as simplistic clichés that sound comforting but keep our faith at a shallow level.
When people challenge my faith, I often respond enticingly, “Go ahead. I’ve committed my life to Christ, and if I’m wrong, I’d like to find out now before I waste the rest of my life.”
Much dissension among Christians occurs because people are unwilling to critically examine their “sacred cows”—that is, beliefs and practices they received from their family or culture and have accepted as the only way.
Similarly, many ministries decline because they do what’s comfortable for them without listening to their changing audience or the younger generation. In all these instances, we improve our quality when we invite others to point out what we’re missing.
I’m addressing this topic today because I want my “gently provocative” messages to stimulate your thinking, not chase you away, in these abnormal times. Donald Trump has created arguably the biggest set of worldwide shockwaves in human history. Not even World War II or the British Empire threatened so many parts of the world at once. As a result, the early weeks of this blog are offering more bonus posts on politics than expected. Next week, I will share two competing perspectives. Read the one you disagree with. More importantly, commit yourself, in a spiritually grounded way, to listening intently to competing views in every part of life. It will deepen your faith and make your ministry more effective.
You are welcome to challenge me too
I want to thank the many readers who are keeping me out of the echo chamber and contributing to this blog’s effectiveness by sending me information from a variety of sources.
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