I am Tony Jones

Josh and I are in Hesston for the Anabaptist Vision and Discipleship Series where they have brought out postmodern guru Tony Jones (who is a spitting image of our very own Todd Ramsey!).  And I stole Tony's name tag, much to his approval.

 

Tonight was just an intro.  Some great stuff though!  Other than some young kid flaming about being brainwashed as a creationist and biblical literist.  Don't get me wrong, I get what he's saying.  But he needed to pull the ejector seat badly! 

 

Tony shared about the idea of Globalization.  That there are three options:  Secularism (which is dead), Fundamentalism & Ethnocism(?), and what he believes is the only answer, postmodernism.

 

A couple things he said were key to this conversation.

 

#1.  Didactic Tension.  As in, holding two things that don't really go together, but holding them much like a paradox.  As in, how can I be a robust Christian, believe in Jesus, love Jesus, etc. and also be truly authentic, open, and interested in another's viewpoint, regardless of view point, because he is a child of the Creator.

 

#2.  Epistomological (?) Humility.  As in, understanding the process of thinking and how we think and believing that we truly do not know everything, do not process information the same, we do not fully understand nor comprehend the process of thinking, as in, we truly may not fully understand.  We don't have the corner.

 

I felt like I butchered both of those.  Maybe Josh can add something here.

 

Nevertheless, he ended with a sweet story about his son that is a great illustration of these, especially the first.  It reminds me of my sweet boy Noah.

 

His son was in first grade and they were at home doing the dishes when his son asked, "Dad, how come kids at school call each other 'kid'?" 

 

"What do you mean?" said Tony.

 

Tony had his son repeat the question to which Tony replied the same.   This led his son to explain.

 

"Well, like today.  I was at my locker putting on my backpack when this fourth grader bumped into me and said, 'Hey, Sorry, Kid.'  Like, why would a 4th grader call another kid, 'Kid.'  Why wouldn't he say, "Hey, Sorry, friend'?"

 

Tony of course got a couple laughs with this.  But what a great illustration.  We are not enemies with everyone.  Everyone is not against us.  Instead of starting off against each other we should start off with "Friend."

 

Jen Rawson, my sweet wife, totally gets this.  I struggle with this.  I am always so defensive.  Hard of listening.  And many times when I'm listening, I'm really just looking for loopholes in someones logic so I can throw them down.  I have to be proven wrong. 

 

What a bad attitude.  I need to listen more and start off with "Friend."