Take the Risk by Ben Carson M.D

Author:Ben Carson, M.D. [Ben Carson, M.D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Even that initial Best/Worst Analysis convinced me there was little to be accomplished by not taking the risk of talking about evolution versus creationism. That best chance to encourage more open discussion greatly appealed to me, and after weighing some of the how and why factors, I felt confident I could lower the odds of the worst things happening.

So I decided to take the risk. And I’m glad I did.

What Were Those How and Why Factors?

Over the years I’ve learned a few things about how to talk about my faith in ways that don’t offend but seem to intrigue people. I always begin any speech with a summary or some part of my personal story. I find that when an audience understands a bit about who you are, where you come from, what you’ve been through, and how you came to the ideas and the values you have, they are more inclined to listen to you explain why you believe the way you do.

Whenever I do touch on the subject of faith, I find the best policy is to talk about it in terms of its effect on me personally, as opposed to what I think it should mean or do for someone else. Frankly, I’m convinced this strategy is the reason my books have slipped under the radar so that they are read and reported on by thousands of students in public schools around the United States every year. Even though there are clear and regular references to faith in all of my writings, they are always in the context of my personal experience. I don’t try to proselytize. I am sensitive to the fact that other people may have different beliefs. I would never presume to bludgeon someone with my faith, nor do I argue that my beliefs are the only ones that are right and that others are wrong. (Even though I have strong convictions about truth.) But when I talk about faith, I always present it as my faith and explain how and why it came to be my faith and what it has done for me.

One of the challenges for people of faith who fervently believe in a creator God is not to come off as totally closed-minded and unreasonable when dealing with those who don’t believe. In the scientific community, a dismissal of Christian thought is often not so much hostility to the idea of God as hostility to the attitudes that accompany that idea. A holier-than-thou demeanor and a refusal to respect or even listen to someone else’s point of view actually present a risk to both sides.

So why take the risk of talking about faith at all?

When I started doing interviews after the first hemispherectomies, and especially after separating the Binder twins, invariably the subject of faith came up. I easily could have said, “That is a private issue and not relevant to the discussion.” That would have been the safest way out, and most interviewers would have been glad to move on to another subject.

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