Robert Lowery

I believe it was Edmund Burke, British statesman and orator (1729-1797) who argued that when it was not necessary to change, it was necessary not to change.  I thought of his exhortation while reading an article in the August 4/August 11, 2008 issue of U.S. News & World Report, “The Political Perils of Changing Your Mind” (see p. 20).  Kenneth T. Walsh reflects on the accusations of flip-flopping by  two presumed presidential candidates, Senators Barack Obama and John McCain.  There are several interesting statements:

“Suddenly, flexibility is all the rage in the presidential race. . . . [The two candidates] are refining, recalibrating, and shifting their positions left and right, trying to show they are pragmatic leaders in an ever changing world.”

“One person’s constancy is another person’s integrity.  One person’s flexibility is another person’s vacillation.”

“So what is acceptable as a reason to change one’s mind?  More information.  Additional time to reflect more deeply about a problem.  Changed conditions.  Most of all, Americans consider a flip-flop acceptable if they trust a leader to do the right thing.”

As I read the article I was reminded once again that in preaching and teaching Scripture for nearly forty years, I have certainly changed my mind many times.  Years ago I read an observation by Daniel Taylor in his book The Myth of Certainty (p. 18) that resonated with me:

“Reflectiveness, then, is a character trait deeply rooted in what one essentially is.

. . . The life of a reflective person is more likely to be interesting, less likely to be serene; more likely to be contemplative, less likely to be active; more likely to be marked by the pursuit of answers, less by the finding of them.  The result is a high potential for creative, curiosity, and discovery, but also for paralyzing ambivalence, alienation and melancholy.” 

Taylor argues that issues concerning life and faith are complex.  God is infinitely more than a collection of verifiable propositions.  Too often we are all guilty of equating our ways and our thoughts with God’s.  Many times when we defend ideas (doctrines) we fool ourselves into thinking that somehow we are standing alongside God with our denunciation.  Humility and caution should always be our attitude when we make our stand.  This is not a call for a weakening of conviction, but a recognition that any stand must be made with humility of spirit and also a temperament of gentleness.

I pray that humility and integrity have been two marks of my life as a contemplative professor.  In particular, I pray that I have and will always avoid imposing my agenda on Scripture, be it an agenda inherited by my tradition or a theological system that I have adopted.  We must strive to come within the understanding distance of Scripture, seeking to hear God and not seeking support for our positions, practices, or prejudices.  Of course, humility must be wedded with integrity.  If I come to an understanding of Scripture that clashes with what I inherited and I am convinced that the “new” understanding is the correct one, then I must preach, teach, and act upon the those new convictions.

There are many of my lectures notes students possess that I would like to see shredded.  There are many sermons and lessons on CDs stored in our library’s media collection that I would like to erase.  There are many of my personal study notes that will never see the light of day.  They keep me humble.

I can remember the time when I thought that a person was “disqualified” from serving as an elder if he had ever experienced a divorce in his life . . . a time when I thought women should never teach when men were present . . . a time when I fervently held that the so-called supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased with the creation of the New Testament canon . . . a time when I thought that John wrote what happens next and I failed to see that John wrote what he saw next (a big difference, by the way!) . . . a time when I believed that the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948 was a fulfillment of biblical prophecy or that Jesus was indeed going to reign in Jerusalem for a thousand years, no more and no less . . . a time when . . .

But as I have studied Scripture privately and in community, my views have changed.  I recently wrote an article in which I said that I don’t like labels.  Am I an evangelical-Christian?  A Christian church-Christian?  How about an unhyphenated-Christian seminary professor?

May I not be afraid to pursue the truth to the best of my ability, realizing that I will never have the final word on many questions, but realizing that all God demands is that I do my best in the study of his word (II Tim. 2:15).

Do you remember a time when . . . ?