Warning: The title of this blog contains terrible advice. I was just thinking of Wilco’s song, “How to Fight Loneliness: Just Smile All the Time” - advice so backwards it forces you to think. People often ask me if the philosophic world is a tough place to be a Christian. The general answer in is “no”, only because everyone dislikes you if you are dumb, but everyone likes you if you are smart. Any disagreements are kept professional for the most part.
Except for the time one of my professors started talking about how harmful foreign missions were. I know this isn’t something she said thoughtlessly, as she has published an article called “Missionary Positions”, ridiculing the enterprise of missions as a whole. Since it was the end of class when she brought it up, there was no chance to respond publicly, and so I thought about talking to her directly because I was so disturbed by her comments.
I thought better of my strategy, however. Most Christians raised in the “Case for Christ” or “Evidence that Demands a Verdict” school would think of my decision as foolish. The thing to do in the face of such hostility is apologetics, as they see clearly. In contrast, I believe that reason and argument have little or nothing to do with a person’s worldview. When a person’s mind is “changed” by some argument, it is not the argument doing the changing, but the Holy Spirit – the argument is just the excuse. In a situation like that, the person I would have spoken with was far too bitter and angry to really listen to anything I had to say. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how sophisticated your argumentation skills are: when people want to remain blind, they will remain blind.
Instead of fashioning a convincing argument, I went back to my house and pledged some money to my favorite overseas Christian organization (Opportunity International). And of course, I pledged in honor of my professor. I don’t think that’s exactly what Paul meant by ‘hilarious giving’, but I sure was making myself chuckle. The only way to refute a bitter argument like that is by doing something. My (very small) contribution helps ensure that Christian missions will be alive and well long after people have forgotten her arguments.
