“Is he the GOAT?”
It’s the most popular question on sports talk radio. The 2020-21 version goes something like this: After appearing in his 10th championship and winning his fourth title with a third team (Los Angeles Lakers), is Lebron James the NBA’s Greatest Of All Time (GOAT)? Everyone has an opinion.
One morning while channel surfing, I landed on an ESPN Radio program where that question was one of the day’s topics. There were two debaters and a moderator. The first commentator stated his case for Lebron for a few minutes, followed by the second, who passionately argued for Jordan. Then the gloves came off, the moderator let them argue over each other for a few minutes, and then announced a commercial break.
When the dust settled, a few stats had been discussed, a lot of bluster, but no winner (there’s never a winner in GOAT debates*). Whoever you thought was the greatest before the program started was still the greatest in your mind, except you have more ammo for the next trip to the barbershop.
Later that day, I watched a cable news network program, where the anchor introduced a story, then a reporter on location provided more details, followed by the anchor pitching a question to a group of panelists who presented information to support their take. Each panelist had time to speak, unleashing a steady stream of adjectives (greatest, worst, foolish, travesty, injustice, etc.).
When the time came for counterpoints, things got testy. But when the dust settled (i.e., the commercial break), there was no “winner,” no common ground was established, and no new understanding. Whatever opinion you held at the beginning of the program, you still had, and likely stronger than before.
It occurred to me how the formula for the programs was the same: a little bit of news or current events presented as an appetizer for a debate. I think we can all guess how topics are determined. Networks sift through endless news events and trending topics to find a few that will appeal to their core audience for 30 or 60 minutes.
The information driving those decisions comes from ratings, Facebook likes, retweets, Amazon purchases, etc. Each click adds to a profile that determines the stories that will appear next on your Facebook news feed, YouTube video recommendations, etc. Whatever you search for, watch, read, or click guarantees you’ll get offered more of the same. (Did you have to look for that blog post, or did it find you?) If that’s all the information you consume, you’ll eventually question how any rational person could think differently than you do.
The point is, the world system knows more about us than ever before and has been grooming (discipling) us for debate, with no tolerance for differing viewpoints. Personal opinions have been elevated to absolute truth, even if there is objective, quantifiable evidence to prove otherwise. When opinions become fact, there’s always a fight.
As Baptists, we believe in absolute truths like the existence of a sovereign God who created all things, the fallenness of man, Jesus’ atoning sacrifice, the resurrection, etc. But the more we debate about politics and nonessentials, the less effective our gospel presentation will be. To outsiders, and maybe insiders, it will become just one of many takes. If everything becomes absolute truth, then nothing is absolute truth.
As the people of God, let’s not allow the world to squeeze us into its mold. There is nothing wrong with feeling strongly about a position, as long as we clearly articulate that it’s an opinion, as we see things today, and follow up with gospel truth if possible. Let’s reject the debate culture with a countercultural, laser-like focus on the gospel, and “Advance the Kingdom Together.”
“But if you bite and devour one another [in partisan strife], be careful that you [and your whole fellowship] are not consumed by one another” (Galatians 5:15, AMP).
(*For the record, there is no debate: Jordan is the best NBA player of all time. Period. But Jesus is THE GOAT. That’s not an opinion. It’s a fact.)