Heidi’s Objection

This evening, Heidi and her dad were praying together about visiting colleges. She wanted to study law, which Jim felt was okay, but he wanted her to be open-minded to the Lord’s guidance. Of course, to him, the Lord’s guidance was administered through parents; especially parents footing the bill. He had some ideas of where she should go but was willing to entertain alternatives. Cost was an important consideration, but so was the atmosphere on campus. Party schools were out of the question. Although he favored a Christian environment, he was open to other possibilities should a school have a strong program and a good reputation, and Heidi commits to finding a good church. They reached an agreement, prioritizing three schools, and put some dates on the calendar to visit them.

Heidi valued praying with her dad, but recently she was praying for him more than usual. Maybe it was because of his recent accident at work, a near miss they called it, or maybe it was because of what she saw in Sunday School class. She was privy to her classmates, sitting among them, making it easy to catch sight of their reactions to her father’s teaching. Jim was never bothered by this in the least as long as they understood the lesson. Whether his students bought into his lessons was none of his business, which was his way of looking at it, and this was where Heidi’s objection began to take root. He respected agency, yet he also tried to get them to discern the Lord’s witness. Most of them were well behaved most of the time, and this was good enough for Jim who kept in mind that they were only teenagers. A few, as there always are, were more independent minded, and they were the one’s Heidi was reacting to. She felt these individuals took advantage of her father’s openness and his willingness to permit opposition, which he regarded as feedback, gathering in what they were thinking, how strongly they held their views, and how well they understood their own arguments. Heidi took issue with their disregard for truth, that is, not demonstrating a proper respect for God’s word. To her, their opposition in class was opposition to the Holy Spirit. Her dad was much more gracious on this point, and would never go so far as to insist the Holy Spirit was on his side. If students occasionally held to a more liberal interpretation, then it was fine with him. The book of Genesis would soon amplify such differences.

Jim taught because the Elders asked him to do so. It was their job to oversee all the offices and functions at 1st Baptist. He and Heidi often discussed the imperative role of the Holy Spirit, but he maintained less confidence in one’s ability to discern the Spirit’s affirming witness than she did. This may have been because of her dad’s fuller exposure to denominational distinctions, for he respected them all from Catholics to hyper-conservative Protestants, from mainstream Evangelicals to Spirit-filled Charismatics. Or, could it be that she really was more in tune with the Holy Spirit? Jim often stressed how important it is to be keenly sensitive to the Spirit’s witness, yet he also granted that the Holy Spirit may be doing more to sanctify than to intellectualize with correct doctrines. And, even if some students did oppose his teaching, every once in a while, he regarded it merely an alternative point of view. It was Heidi who judged it more severely.

For all her father’s deference, she was also aware of his more serious beliefs. For one, he believed he was to weather a more critical judgment than non-teachers when it came time to meet his maker. This was biblical. He held that his own judgment experience would reveal how well he had responded to the Holy Spirit, which is why he took it so seriously; but here’s the catch, she also knew he actively tried to detect God’s divine presence in others. This was in accord with John 5:19 that taught observing God’s work in others was his invitation to join him in that work.

All this was fine and often amounted to good discussions between them, and an occasional argument, which she couldn’t help thinking was his way of testing her composure under pressure. The confounding thing for her, though, what she most objected to, was his logic for handling opposition. Granted, the Holy Spirit’s role was to convince, so be it, but this didn’t resolve her protest. Why should this mean meekness in the midst of opposition? Not that meekness is weakness, but a sort of relinquishing the matter to God. How much must he tolerate in order to respect agency? Especially from students who were in his class to learn!

“If only he would just use his wit against them when it was called for,” she thought. How else, she wondered, could her classmates be kept in line? Oh, and what exactly was the basis of his logic? He thought it wasn’t his battle to fight, telling her that if he didn’t detect the Holy Spirit’s witness in their arguments, then he felt no compulsion to join a work that God wasn’t in. On the other hand, if he did detect the Spirit’s witness, then all was well. He shouldn’t interfere. How can that be? He can’t have it both ways! It was this ‘no win’ combination that Heidi just couldn’t abide.

Nevertheless, she was quite versed in his logic and had shared it herself with Sally, who liked her father’s un-domineering style of teaching; and moreover, she thought the opposition in his class was mild. “You should come to my house. My parents put up a fight like you wouldn’t believe,” she’d say. Was it really so wrong for her father to be at peace with opposition? Winning arguments is one thing—Jim would tell her, but winning souls is another.

Her father was on her mind, thinking about him, praying for him. Perhaps this is what would eventually prompt her idea in Mr. Devon’s class to suggest her father’s name as a candidate to participate in his debate. She had to place blame somewhere for the idea. She didn’t think it was right to blame God, as if he had inspired her with it. Yet, how ironic, to say the least, that she should volunteer him in light of her misgivings about his logic for handling opposition.