Easter Discussion

One of my goals at my family's Easter gathering this past week was to strike up an in depth political and ideological debate. I am proud to report that I accomplished that goal. My Dad, Kyle (brother-in-law) had a long and good discussion on Sunday afternoon. I discovered that my dad thinks more along my own ideological line than I ever knew. While he usually never came right out and declared this or that, he certainly hinted at things that lined up with my own thoughts/beliefs. It's funny that you grow up with one set of thoughts about your parents' thinking, and then discover down the road that somehow you either perceived their thinking differently than was the reality, or maybe you transmuted your outside influences onto your parents beliefs and made them theirs.

Anyway, I gleaned more than one good piece of wisdom from my Dad, but I particularly was impressed by this one. I had asked him how he deals with the reality that two people approaching the same Scriptures in complete sincerity, honesty, prayer, and intently listening to God can derive two different interpretations and meanings from it. And the real kicker is that they both firmly believe that God's Spirit led them to their thinking. How can it be that the Spirit can lead two people to two different thoughts on the same Scripture?

My Dad's understanding of this is that God is trying to tell us that seeking after one absolute truth/interpretation is often a mistake. There is no way that one person can get it all right. Instead, we need to listen to the variety of readings and not be so concerned with zeroing in on one absolute meaning.