Should All Opinions Be Respected? - a podcast by Jonathan Michael Jones

            In
our current societal discourse in many facets, e.g. political, theological,
cultural, etc., the church should be an agent of unity rather than disunity.
Often, the opposite is true; yet, God calls us to primarily exemplify the unity
of Christ among each other but also to love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark
12:31). Jesus’ command here is in the greater context of giving us what to what
he refers as the two greatest commandments. The Greek word for neighbor here, plesion, simply means someone who is
near and does not suggest a specific group of people such as other Christians,
i.e. Jesus implies that everyone is our neighbor. Our love for others is
derived from the greatest commandment: to love God above all else with all our
heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30), for when we love God above all
else, our love for others increases because we begin to view others in the same
light as God himself. How then are we to handle dissonant discussions of vital
material among all people in our society? The church is given the
responsibility to love everyone so we are not exempt from that command in any
situation including tense dialogue. The question at work here is this: should
all opinions be respected? I shall argue that all opinions should be respected
in scope but limited in application, i.e. everyone is to be loved, heard, and
even understood while absolute agreement is not necessary. Before continuing,
it should be noted that everyone is different and, thus, possesses different
opinions, which is okay and good. Without diversity, we would not need to have
important discussions as we so often do. We should enter our dialogue with
other believers and even non-believers realizing this fact. To properly engage
in tense dialogue as Christians, I have three imperatives to bear in mind.

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