I wrote the following article when I was a full-time Missionary and a professor at Servants University. I still teach courses there. My wife recently read it, found it very helpful, and thought that it would benefit a lot of people. The principles apply to anyone, not just Christians. So check it out.
Challenging or Expressing a Position Contrary to That of Others
“Don’t jump to conclusions—there may be a perfectly good explanation for what you just saw.” Prov. 25:8 MSG
“Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.” Eph. 4:29 NLT
How do you respond if you don’t agree with someone else’s position? At Servants University, we welcome vigorous academic debates that edify, not ones that tear down. The Bible says, “Watch the way you talk… Say only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” Eph. 4:29 MSG & NIV. For example, we realize that it’s impossible to find a teacher with whom a student agrees on every issue. As such, we encourage our students to air their dissenting positions. However, there is a wrong and a right way to go about presenting such opinions. Everything we do, whether in thought, in word, or in deeds must be done to glorify God. Humility and honor of one another are crucial if God will be glorified, even when the student thinks someone else is absolutely wrong.
King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived said, “Do not go out hastily to argue your case; Otherwise, what will you do in the end, When your neighbor humiliates you?” Prov. 25:8 NASB. King Solomon was a wise king who judged many cases brought before his court. He wrote this proverb out of experience probably after seeing many people rush to his court with cases and then lose in the end. When you have an argument against anyone, especially with the position of a faculty, proceed with caution. By all means, proceed to seek the truth but be cautious and humble. Seek to learn and resolve your own difficulties to understand someone’s position rather than try to show them how right your position is. That kind of humility is from the Holy Spirit and he will guide you to the truth. Every now and then, you may have the privilege of being used by the Holy Spirit to teach something to others…even your teacher! If you disrespect God’s authority in the process, even when you were technically right, you still lose the case in God’s court.
Steps to Follow if You Disagree With What a Teacher teaches.
- Be humble about it.
- Question yourself first. Question your own position more than the faculty’s position. Give the faculty more benefit of the doubt than you give yourself. “Do not act out of selfish ambition or conceit, but with humility think of others as being better than yourselves.” Phil. 2:3 ISV. Consider how David honored King Saul even after God had anointed David king; even after Saul was so wrong to be running around trying to kill David. Yet, David honored Saul’s authority as the Lord’s anointed. David obviously disagreed with the King, yet he honored the King and defended him even to the point of killing the person who killed King Saul. The teacher is God’s delegated authority in the classroom. The teacher is not God, the teacher is not a special Christian, and the teacher is not God’s favorite. The teacher also cannot control a student’s future, only God can. Yet, the godly student must be careful to honor God’s delegated authority. It’s not the teacher that is being honored or dishonored, it’s God himself. Remember what Jesus said to his disciples about honoring the scribes and Pharisees in Matt. 23: 1-12. Jesus commanded them to obey the Pharisees and scribes because they sit in the seat of Moses.
- Do your research. Proceed to do some research. Christianity has been practiced for the last 2,000 years. There is virtually nothing new that you will have as a revelation that others haven’t had before you. In Ecclesiastes. 1: 8-9, King Solomon rightly teaches that there is nothing new under the sun. Consult three or more authorities on the subject you have a question about to find out what they think about the issue. Try to find other sources that argue against your position and support your faculty’s position. Write your findings down. Someone has said thoughts unravel when they pass through the lips or through the tips of the fingers. Your thoughts will become clearer when you write them down. After you have written your thoughts down, together with the authorities you have consulted and the links or references to the articles that you have read, then proceed to set up an appointment to meet with your faculty outside of class.
- Present Humbly. Be humble about how you go about presenting your point. Even if you are right and supported by other authorities, you need to honor your teacher. You want to help your faculty not disgrace him. Prov. 18:19 says, “An offended friend is harder to win back than a fortified city. Arguments separate friends like a gate locked with bars.” Your goal is to share your findings with your professor and not lose him in the process. Faculty members are not perfect; they do not know everything. The fact that a student may teach his teacher something doesn’t mean that the student doesn’t have much to learn from the faculty. Honoring the faculty in the process will ensure that you win his respect instead of being viewed as disrespectful. Note that even with a lot of evidence, you need to present it carefully, more as something that you want to understand and are there for the faculty to help you resolve the conflict you have between what the faculty said and what the other experts are saying. Why? Because you may have misunderstood the faculty in the first place and went on a hunt for something that he didn’t believe or mean to say. Additionally, as a student, you are not the faculty’s peer. Your word doesn’t have as much authority as his on the subject. Note that God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34 KJV), but God is a respecter of authority. You want to have the faculty help you to reconcile what he said with what his other peers (the experts you consulted) said. Don’t make it be your opinion against the teacher’s opinion. Don’t also act as though his opinion doesn’t matter to you; as though you want to simply ignore his position and hold to your opinion. Don’t try to be the judge over the faculty. If you are not satisfied, humbly ask for further explanation. If you don’t make any headway, then drop the matter unless it’s a matter that is too important to drop. Then you may proceed up the chain to a department head or to the president of the college. A sure mark of an arrogant person is that when he doesn’t understand something immediately, he thinks that the other person is wrong.
- Go Privately. Do not start calling, texting, or emailing your friends to gossip about what the faculty said that you disagreed with. That’s not godly. The mature Christian thing, even when the faculty is wrong is to get them to correct themselves without losing face. Listen to what the Bible says about how Joseph handled his dilemma with Mary’s pregnancy. “And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.” Matt. 1:19 NASB. Being a righteous man, Joseph wanted to conceal the wrongs of another person, not make them public. Listen to how Jesus taught Christians to resolve issues.
“If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back. But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again, so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses. If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church.” Matt.18: 15-17 NLT
There is a progression from private to public.
Spiritual Maturity
Earlier on, we said that one of the assumptions that students should make is that the teacher is more spiritually mature than the student. What do we mean by this? First, we do not mean that the teacher is perfect or has a corner on God. God is a spirit. Christians grow spiritually into the image of Christ. Teachers are also like mentors to students. What good would it do to someone who wants to grow spiritually and become more mature to go and sit under the teaching of someone who is less mature than them?
Biblical teaching is not only about head knowledge. In the Bible, people who are more spiritually mature teach those who are less spiritually mature. It’s not simply those with more knowledge giving it away. A person can read a book and get knowledge. We believe that our teachers and faculty members are mature Christians with an anointing from God to teach and impart wisdom to others. Students benefit tremendously if they submit to that anointing and let God use it to equip them.
