Direction

This is what the LORD says: 
"Stand at the crossroads and look; 
ask for the ancient paths, 
ask where the good way is, and walk in it, 
and you will find rest for your souls."

–Jeremiah 6:16

There are very few things that my wife and I argue about, but nothing increases the volume and sets my foot so heavily on the gas pedal like getting lost while driving. Such events set us in diametric opposition, as I will be positive that the destination is just ahead, while my wife will argue that we left it behind. Compromise is an impossibility since our vehicle can only proceed in an either/or direction.

There are also fewer things that seem to divide our political spectrum quite like direction. We certainly differ on issues such as taxes, health care, gay marriage, abortion, and even the very nature of government. But these are all peripheral issues.

Likewise the church suffers from the same division. We may all label ourselves "Christians," but we view God, the Bible, and all of creation differently. However, the root of much of our conflict stems, not from our desired destination, but the direction in which it lies.

Is it in a progressive path forward, or a conservative look back?

A progressive perspective is set on the future as the goal. Eden lies ahead, a grander paradise than before. Evolution (not necessarily cosmic) is central, as each generation yields some type of intelligent or moral superiority. Life is forever morphing, forever advancing. Therefore, the outdated ideas of yesterday are discarded, and newness is treasured in hopes of bringing us closer to enlightenment.

Contrarily, what the progressive discards, the conservative embraces. A conservative perspective thinks highly of tradition and history. It cherishes the wisdom of age, firmly resisting anything "new." While the conservative may agree with micro evolution (such as development within a species, personal growth, or societal advancement being built on the discoveries of previous generations), the idea that humanity fundamentally changes over time (macro evolution) is rejected. The conservative clings to Ad Fonte (latin), looking "back to the source."

In all, these tend to be the two extremes of thought, in politics, in religion, in all of life. There can be no both/and, for we can not gaze in two directions at once. So which is correct?

Here is my conclusions:

The problem with the progressive is that he commits "Chronological Snobbery" (C.S. Lewis). It's foolish to believe that the rules of yesterday are no longer applicable today. If you hold tradition and history in little regard, you doom yourself to repeat the mistakes of the past. Its the progressives that continue to lead us down the same dead ends we've been down a hundred times before. Furthermore, the idea of evolution destroys humanities distinctiveness and  equality (whether based on race, sex, age, consciousness, ability, or period in history).

As for the conservative perspective, his mistake is that he may fail to look back far enough. For example, the KJV only crowd has forgotten that they too work from a translation, and that the so called "newer" versions are translated from OLDER manuscripts. So it is with those that cling to traditional hymns. They forget that their music falls over a millennium short of being foundational. Even when Christ increased the standards of morality, he wasn't giving new instructions, but taking the people back to the original standard–before Moses and the law (example: Matthew 19:4-6).

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

–Ecclesiastes 1:9

Perfection is the peak from which we fell, and the scaling of other mountains will never yield the same result. The right direction is back the way we came.

"The hope of our future lies in the past."

–Rev. Tom Nelson