Myopic Folly

Myopia is a condition that the dictionary describes as both physical and mental.  Physically it is a defect in the eye’s retina that causes distance objects to be blurred.  Mentally it is a deficiency of foresight, discernment, or perspective that causes one’s perception of reality to be skewed or distorted.  In both cases, it is dangerous.  If physical vision is blurred, we may not see the truck in our lane as we top the hill.  If mental perspective is distorted, we may live with a less than true discernment of reality and thus unable to respond to the challenges rounding the corner.  Both can be deadly.

The cause of mental myopia is a singleness of focus on and uncritical commitment to a particular version of reality.  In other words, the manner in which we have been taught to see life is deemed as absolute or superior, and any other way is inferior and possibly a threat.  This condition manifests itself with the following symptoms -

• a fear of perspectives that might challenge our way of thinking
• a need to constantly reinforce or defend a particular perspective
• a tendency to state a certain perspective in dogmatic, black and white terms
• an attitude that is arrogant or dismissive toward other perspectives

Those with mental myopia are not always malicious or intentionally arrogant.  Many are infected with the condition and not even aware of it.  Since the way in which we view the world isthe only reality we have ever known, our perspective rules.  If all I have ever known is flat, dry, desert conditions, then there is no way to even conceive of a tropical place that is lush, green, and humid.  If I have grown up hearing the gospel propositionally reasoned as something I only believe as an intellectual experience, then I may not realize that for many the gospel is about liberation from evil spirits or release from mental and physical bondage.  Myopia limits vision of the wider reality.

The cure for both physical and mental myopia is corrective lenses.  We increase the possibility of seeing the world as it really is, in all its possibilities, as we put on other perspectives.  We do this as we stop talking about and promoting our way of life and actions.  Rather, we learn to ask questions and to listen with empathy and love.

Basic to my cure is the admission that I am a fallible, culturally-conditioned man.  I confess that I need to overcome a myopic view of Christian faith and the church.  My view is who I am - white, suburban, conservative, North American, wealthy, and powerful.  While it is a perspective that offers many positives, it is not the only perspective nor is it superior.  In fact, in terms of world Christianity, it is the minority perspective.  I desperately need to see what power, privilege, poverty, immigration, spirits, disease, family, church, prayer, worship, discipleship, witness, and faith look and feel like from the viewpoint of believers in Africa, India, Asia, south Texas, and 15th Street in Waco; from lives and traditions that are radically different from my own.  It is not so that I become who they are.  Rather, it is so that my view and experience of reality is made more complete and appreciates the richness of others. 

Latin American historian Justo Gonzalez challenges me with the following words:

The fact is that the gospel is making headway among the many tribes, peoples and languages - that it is indeed making more headway among them than it is among the dominant cultures of North Atlantic.  The question is not whether there will be a multicultural church.  Rather, the question is whether those who have become accustomed to seeing the gospel expressed only or primarily in terms of those dominant cultures will be able to participate in the life of the multicultural church that is already a reality. (For the Healing of the Nations, 1999, p. 91).

The North American variety of Christianity which dominates my understanding of God and faith needs the enrichment and instruction that can come only through living among and listening to the dominant, multicultural church around the world.  To think for a moment that my perspective is the ultimate reality is short-sighted, myopic folly.