I began reading this week 'Papa Don't Pope' by Douglas Wilson with Todd. I have enjoyed the approach that Todd uses when reading and that is to Plod through a book a little each week. (For him I think it would be more accurate to say a little each day, or maybe even a little each hour - he does some serious plodding - and reaps the rewards.)
This week we are in the introduction through chapter one. In the introduction I came across an interesting phrase: " Good fences make good neighbors"
At first glance what do you think this phrase means? I asked some peers in the office and the general response went something like: "Boundaries are good for relationships" which in its own right is a very vague statement.
What Doug meant by the phrase however is that when two parties come to a disagreement, before they can reach an agreement they have to go through the in-between phase of clearly defining the disagreement. Clear distinctions help solve issues.
What are some of the more public disagreements many have in our country?
Covid: Vaccines? Government Overreach? If we could clearly define what we disagree about which actually has really nothing to do with the Virus itself and everything to do with The state claiming 'In loco parentis' making decisions for autonomous families across the countries as if it were everyones father. My savior is the God of the Universe, not the United States Government.
Also currently enjoying Webster's 1828 Dictionary and studying biblically based definitions of words. Foundations are so important.
Many today argue for equality that is 'guaranteed to us by our constitution' but forget the foundation of our equality which is stated in the very document they cite.
"We hold these truths to be self evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among theses are...."
Psalms 11:3 "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?"
Great point. Healthy boundaries are needed to know where one ends and the other begins, but before that can be done, we must agree on what we disagree about. I too found that a great point. There is, let's say, a disagreement over which doctrines are essential to Christianity, but the first debate to settle and get straight between both parties is that there are essential Christian doctrines. Some would not even agree to that and your argument would be "what then is Christianity?" rather than rushing ahead to "what makes someone a Christian?" First things first. Looking fwd to more of this book.
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