Blinders

by My Anonymous Friend

I've been thinking about this concept for a while now. It comes up in Luke 9 as Jesus asks His disciples who people say that He is. People actually think He might be John the Baptist who was beheaded only days before??? What about the blinders of Christians after Christ? Augustine had so much right but he believed women had the same value as cattle. The Stoics had a supreme reverence for God but completely missed out on the joy of celebrating the life given to us here and now. The reformers dismantled the evils of the church and affirmed the doctrines of justification by faith but were happy to execute Christians if they believed in a different mode of baptism. The modern church made such a helpful commitment to the inerrancy of scripture and absolute truth but often quenched the Spirit's work as a real experience. The emergent church brought community, relationship, humility, and dialogue to the forefront of Christian practice but moved away from the firm foundation of biblical doctrine.

These are only a few examples; there are many more. How about my own blinders? I have teetered back and forth on some philosophies, some doctrines, and pragmatics of Christianity my whole life...a new book, a new set of influences, a new church, a new job, new life circumstances, etc. I think the reality of Christians' blinders is that if we major on one aspect of the faith, we are susceptible of missing out on or simply getting another aspect wrong. We shouldn't disregard everything Augustine or Luther said because of their blinders, but we should seek the truth in what they said, and add it to the toolbox of our Christian thought and practice. In terms of what they got wrong, we should identify it, and renounce it. If history shows that even the greatest Christians had blinders, how am I to proceed on my journey of redemption? I still come back to the two concepts I want to build my life around--humility and fierce resolve. Humility to accept my own blinders and shortcomings, but a fierce resolve to stand firmly on the aspects of truth I know to be absolute.