Are you familiar with the concept of intellectual property rights? Authors copyright their works to maintain control over their distribution and royalties. Things that are not under copyright are referred to as public domain. How do you see the concept of truth? Authors are entitled to control their works and derive any income from them, but having said that, is it possible to maintain control over the truth? Truth is inherently public domain and no one person or even group can exercise control over it. Beware of those who claim to have private truth.

Have you noticed from the gospel accounts of my life that I was not what would be known today as a social justice warrior? There were plenty of opportunities. I lived in an occupied country. Some of my followers would have liked me to rise up against Rome and were disappointed. I lived in a culture of slavery and other oppressive practices. Don’t take my silence on these issues as approval of them. I had my own marching orders to proclaim the Kingdom of God. Would you say that my strongest criticism was of hypocrisy and false ways of being?

Do you have friends? What is the depth of your friendship? Do you stick to common interests and jointly held views? These are safe areas, but this is a superficial level of friendship. Do you have friendships that are deeper and stronger, that will bear the weight of conflict resolution or transformative growth? There are certain things that you need to hear that you don’t want to hear. If you make the effort you can avoid contact with anything challenging or unpleasant, and this is truer than ever before. But in doing so you will avoid growth.

Do you think that you are righteous and come to the right position on every issue because you are led by the Spirit? Do you encounter other people who have access to the same facts and come to different positions and assume that they are not righteous or spirit-led? Are you confident that your own motives are pure and theirs are not? They may feel the same way about you. Is it possible that you are both righteous? To assume otherwise is to judge your brother.