ANOTHER THOUGHT ON THE “FEAR” MEME that ran through several speakers at Annual Conference:
Liberals cannot imagine themselves into a way of thinking in which conservatives do what they do and believe what they believe for good reasons. And since they cannot believe that conservatives are motivated by rational beliefs and admirable motives, they must appeal to darker, more primitive impulses to explain their behavior. [From Timothy Dalrymple, on a different subject, but still relevant.]
Such as “fear.” But the only fear I heard at Annual Conference was from the liberal side. They are deathly afraid, and sense in their depths, that Annual Conference will affirm the 1983 Statement on Human Sexuality. The rant given in the On Earth Peace Insight Session on Sunday evening, and the relentlessness of the Monday evening sermon by Earle Fike, are clues to that fear.
I also thought there was a telling moment in the Standing Committee model hearing on Tuesday night. One of the scarf-adorned liberal members of Standing Committee, when asked if she would support the Annual Conference decision next year at Grand Rapids even if it went against her viewpoint, demurred by saying, “We’ll let the spirit lead.”
In other words, “No.”