Adults Aren’t Children–and None of Us is God

Last updated on: May 30, 2007 at 7:51 am by John Shore

Adults Aren’t Children–and None of Us is God 2007-05-30T07:51:01-08:00 John Shore

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I get a lot of the same argument against my idea that we’re working against the Great Commandment by persisting in our efforts to fulfill the (already fulfilled, in America) Great Commission. That argument goes … well, here, from two recent comments on my postings on that matter: “. . . a parent can love a disobedient child but that doesn’t mean any behaviour is accepted,” and, “For example, good parents LITERALLY tell their child that they must change certain behavior becuase it is BAD. Yet they maintain a loving relationship with that child.”

So lemme just say: The very common “nonbeliever as child” analogy is critically flawed, and (I’m afraid) smacks of exactly the kind of condescension that keeps nonbelievers from us. Nonbelievers are NOT children.

Okay? So can we stop with that analogy? Nonbelievers are not children; we are not God.

This is about peer-to-peer communication. If a peer asks you for advice, of course you’re free to give it. But if , before you’ve been asked for it, you just start volunteering advice–you start telling that person who they should be, and what they should believe–then about the last thing they are ever going to suspect you of being is morally superior.

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