Agree To Disagree, But Keep The Dialogue Open

Word-Of-The-Day: (7) When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (9) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) (10) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” (23) <Jesus replying to the woman,> “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. (24) God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”  (25) The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” (26) Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”’ (John 4:7, 9-10, 23-26)

Sometimes, we hear of a person who we believe is wrong on almost everything they say make a comment that we find to be somewhat reasonable (‘the broken clock being right twice a day’ statement may apply). Don’t let this be ignored; this is an opportunity to open a dialogue to who we may have a hard time agreeing with most of the time.

We should find areas to use to open doors and begin dialogue to reach those who disagree, but we should not and cannot in good conscience support actions that are antithetical to Christ as they stand, though they can be good starting points to open dialogue and attempt to convince those who oppose us to do what is truly best.  For example, we may agree with an opposing viewpoint on revamping Congress and ‘draining the swamp’ as a great idea, but changing it to aid socialism and not democratic-republican virtues would be more disastrous to the nation than helpful. 

This is the danger of finding ‘partial agreement’, though we must find some common ground to start a dialogue.  We also cannot compromise on morality or what is right; good ideas and intentions with immoral applications lead to grave issues.  Did Jesus run into these things when He was with us?  What did He do in these situations?

We can go back to when Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the local well. Jesus, being Jewish, and the Samaritan woman were 99% opposite of each other.  Jesus was a Jewish male, pure in Spirit, sinless and the Son of God.  The Samaritan woman was (of course) female, an adulteress (having married 5 times and living with another man out of wedlock, per John 4:18) and likely someone who was agnostic in worship. 

There would be no reason for either to have anything common with each other; in Jesus’ time on Earth in Israel, males and females who were unrelated did not normally associate with each other.  This separation is compounded by the animosity Jews and Samaritans had between each other, as Jews and Samaritans did not socialize between themselves and normally would not help each other, thus Jesus even asking the Samaritan woman to give him a drink was ‘triple dog dare’ on the ‘socially inappropriate’ scale at that time.

However, Jesus saw there was common ground in a very slim area between the two – both were in need of some water.  Using that small portion of commonality, Jesus began a dialogue with the woman.  He was able to use their need of water to begin to witness to her and provide her His Gospel message.  The woman believed in Jesus, accepted Him as Messiah, and brought her Samaritan neighbors to Him.  Jesus stayed with the Samaritan village the woman belonged to for two days and the villagers came to Faith (John 4:40-42).  Jesus did not compromise his morals or accept the Samaritan worshipping practices in a compromise, but was willing to use the common ground to begin the discussion and brought this woman and her town to Salvation. 

We too will find those who we are diametrically opposite with.  If we find common ground with those we disagree with, we can open up discussions to bring the Truth to those who may be hardened against it.  We often speak of those who we disagree with in derogatory terms but if we reach out to them respectfully and start a dialogue with them by sharing a commonality, we may be able to have a fruitful discussion; one where we do not compromise our morality or the Truth but are willing to share the Gospel of Christ with.