Being Right Has No Meaning If No One's Listening

Interesting blog article here about the August 10 NPR story that mentioned former Calvin professor John Schneider in the context of the origins debate among evangelicals.

Blog Commentary, "Evolution, Evangelicals, the Historical Adam, and NPR"➚

NPR Story, "Evangelicals Question The Existence Of Adam And Eve"➚

However, IMHO if the writers (and prior to them, storytellers) of the Genesis account didn't believe the story "necessitate[s] an historical Adam and Eve," I'd be inclined to agree.

Unfortunately, I believe they believed the stories they were telling were literally true; and in a world where everything is relative (including literary criticism), there is no foundation for convincing anyone that one particular perspective has more merit than another.

Don't get me wrong I think the author, Amy Julia Becker, is right: fiction (or parable or metaphor or whatever you want to call it) often presents more helpful insight into human nature than nonfiction; but divorcing the reader from the factual substrate leads to unexpected consequences, like agnosticism or atheism, which is often the acceptance stage of a frustrated Christianity.

Calvin is failing to keep pace with a changing church and student body, many of whom are now my age, where more years have passed since we graduated than had come before. And by "keeping pace" I don't mean compromise, I mean intelligently and sensitively dealing with widely differing opinions in the Christian community, rather than simply expelling those we disagree with because we can.

Being right has no meaning if no one's listening.