When to Challenge a Conviction

After I posted Aversion to Thinking, JudyW, in more or less words, told me she has to draw the line somewhere when it comes to challenging her personal convictions.

I think that's true. You can't possibly challenge every conviction or belief you have every time someone thinks or feels differently than you do. If you did, you would probably never get anything done and would be one of the most emotionally unstable people on the face of the earth.

So: when should you (and when should you not) challenge a conviction or strongly held belief? Here are my guidelines.

1. Don't wast too much time on examining or challenging your trivial beliefs. For instance, one person believes body piercing is OK and maybe you disagree. Maybe you feel it's morally or physically "wrong". But what does it really matter? In the end, no matter which way you believe, your belief about body piercing will likely have no bearing on how you live your life.

2. Don't be distracted by people you don't respect. One of the first things I ask myself when I've been asked to examine a personal belief is, "Do I respect this person?" If I don't respect the person, then I usually don't respect that person's beliefs or convictions. Therefore, I don't feel the need to respond to any challenge that person may issue.

Now, based upon the two guidelines above, I can state my case in the positive.

If you respect another person and he raises questions about a personal belief that profoundly influences how you live your life, then I believe you are duty bound to at least examine the evidence your friend presents in his effort to influence how you think.

A few more notes. JudyW also asked the question, "Shouldn't some things never change?"

Honestly, outside of God, I can't think of a single thing that shouldn't change. Maybe that's not stating it quite right. Maybe what I'm really trying to say is that I can't think of a single thing that is eternal except for God.

I bet when Copernicus distributed his Little Commentary in 1514 explaining his heliocentric theory of the universe, there were a lot of folks thinking that the current belief should never change. But change it did...

Comments

[JudyW]

I appreciate your guidelines, they are well thought out and I agree with them. But here's a thought about Copernicus and God ... certainly God is eternal and never changes, but what about His Words? Obviously Copernicus's words were not *eternal* in the sense that they couldn't change, because change they did. But what about God's Words, can we view them as eternal and unchangeable as God Himself?