The Lust for a Place at the Table

 Many of us have memories of the adult table/children's table divide that was necessary for big meals. We didn't want to be relegated to the little kid's table. If tattling was the key, then tattle we did. Even more so, in high school, we wanted to sit with the "cool kids" at lunch. We sometimes paid the admission price of dumping a socially undesirable friend to gain admission.

An article by Daniel Sillman in Christianity Today, "Carl Henry's Temptation (And Ours)" explores a grown-up version of the syndrome. I have observed the phenomenon often. I have felt the temptation on numerous occasions. I have succumbed more than a few times. I have seen the resulting compromise. 

The article is worth reading. Unfortunately, it is only available to subscribers. If you find out otherwise, please correct me in a comment.

Absolute surety about absolutes:

I remember decades ago being at a meeting that was set up as a interface for counselors--not only of the Christian variety--and clergy.
Ironically, I was in the city where the one-day meeting was being held because I was visiting a church member who was in a psychiatric hospital, receiving care that I could not in good conscience all-together endorse.
One of the participants in the meeting said something that has stayed with me: "You need to be absolutely sure, that you absolutely sure about your absolutes."

On another occasion I shared with a friend what is, for me, somewhat of a credo:

• An absolute commitment to the absolutes of God.
• A commitment to meet the needs of others.
• Everything else is negotiable.

My friend replied, "Yes, but some of what you regard as negotiable I regard as absolute."

Which puts us back to the first comment.

If there is no external, objective standard then we are simply left with dueling opinions.

Today, one can hardly read or listen to the news without the word "bipartisan" jumping out all over the place. That word has a wide range of meaning, however, depending on what one regards as absolutes, and what one is willing to negotiate. I can be very bipartisan about the use of my wheelbarrow. I regard who is allowed to kiss my wife in a highly partisan manner--Me and not you! In our world those who refuse to participate in bipartisan endeavors are frequently labeled as obstructionist, stubborn, or as those who place personal agenda above greater good.

I am of the opinion that absolutes ought to be as few in number as possible (Make sure you understand that word "possible" before you jump on me for that statement.) How about weighing-in on what Bible believers ought to regard as absolute. Feel free, in good taste, of course, to challenge any entry. We might help one another to identify those principles about which we must be "mono-partisan."