A foul mood is spreading across our society and the world these days. Dialogue seems to have been replaced by name-calling that is little related to truth. Broadcasters fill the air with divisive labels designed to wound. Sometimes we see the same malice in the arena of faith and religion. This kind of talk reduces difficult issues to slogans and stops us from seeing others as worthwhile individuals. However, each of us has the choice and ability to move beyond labels and categories. (F. Richard Garland, “Labels and Categories” The Upper Room May 16, 2012).
Taxonomy: The science of finding, describing, classifying and naming organisms (Wiktionary).
We
are faced with a dilemma – the powerful tool of categorization can
greatly assist in promoting understanding; however, it can also
function to close off thought. It can be based on careful,
painstaking objectivity; or it can be based on fast and loose
subjective prejudices. It can arise from knowledge, or it can arise
from ignorance. Today's Sunday school lesson focused on the fast and
loose variety of labeling and categorization. This variety 1) brings
a cheap and unearned sense of closure, 2) functions to allay
deep-seated anxieties with a Band-Aid (leaving one prone to
defensiveness), 3) places one in a family of like-minded true
believers, 4) sets up a factotum authority custom-designed to
reinforce prejudices based often on ill-will and arrogance, 5) and
offers perverse and evil grace. Unlike classification buttressed by
objective evidence established through a careful process that can be
replicated, we are here asked to kowtow to self-appointed, volatile
and infallible authority. The obvious question is: how can we extract
ourselves from this vicious process? The answer lies in Scripture:
(Deuteronomy
30:19 -NIV) This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses
against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and
curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.
However tempted to take the broad and easy path – essentially based
on selfishness and sloth; we must remember at base vigilante, rogue
characterization embodies death itself.
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