stone savage

“Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people. - Eleanor Roosevelt

We all know the phrase. It’s been with us for most of our lives. The guy next to you says what you’re thinking, your best friend blurts out the exact same phrase you just stated, or maybe you stumble across an author whose words echo through every fiber of your being.

I wonder then… if we really believe it. Do we not realize how much we condemn ourselves when we encourage division? If “great minds” really do think alike, then doesn’t the fact that we don’t think alike mean that we’re not all great minds?

[More:]

More than 15 years ago I sat in a ministerial setting with fellow Christians as we contemplated how we could invigorize the Baptist Student Union on our campus. I was the Publicity Chairperson on the Executive Committee, and I wanted to see us do more with less.

Specifically, instead of having four different Bible-study sessions, worship services, and Christ-specific gatherings… I was lobbying for more inviting events that spanned the gap between the believer and the non-believer. I’ll explain what I mean:

Our chosen motto for the year came from the book of Philippians. Chapter 2, verse 5 of that book states “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” (KJV)

I liked that passage, and indeed Philippians is one of my most favorite books of the Bible, but I was staunchly opposed to using the verse as our motto. Why? Because I preferred the idea of “Great Minds Think Alike” with the passage reference noted beneath it.

This struck my fellow chairpeople as odd. It was somehow “radical” to them and bordered on the line of heretical to purposefully not advertise our loyalty to Christ. I saw it differently. It is also why I suggested that instead of “Friday Bible Study", we tag that event with “Friday Focus".

It was a clash of two important but very different ideals: bringing non-believers to God vs. edification of believers. The two are not the same and cannot be. Unfortunately, instead of embracing both ideologies in separate instances for their similarities and interrelation, people choose sides and embrace one at the expense of the other.

You cannot give meat to an infant, and you cannot expect an adult to consume pablum. In the former the infant will die of starvation, and in the latter the adult will die of blandness.

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