Following a post on the CRC Network over Women in Office and Classis that I knew would be conflicted.

We all have our points of view and one of the things we desire from language and deliberation is the possibility of influence and shared perspective. Even in this comment stream we’ve seen that (and we knew it already of course) that words are often insufficient to change someone’s perspective no matter how much we try. Part of this amazing gift of agency we’ve been given is the decision to remain where we will.

So often we imagine “If I can only help them to SEE the world as I know it THEN they will agree with me and we will be together. We SO long for this, and sometimes it never happens. For me this is the greatest experiential proof we have of the existence of hell. Sometimes there is no talking us in or out of something. Sometimes we either can’t see or won’t see, which means we are left to ourselves.

I often remind my congregation that the LORD can make this vast universe with his word, and Jesus can calm the sea with a word, but look how even God gets frustrated, and speaks and speaks and speaks and how we resist him. In one short chapter God makes the world, but spends the rest of the long book of the Bible trying to talk us into seeing ourselves from His perspective.