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EXPERTS/CULTURE

Reacting to the news that hormone replacement therapy could do more harm than good, Anna Quindlen wrote: “The day of the MDeity should be over; doctors have acted like little gods because patients have treated them as though they were. The woman who looks to a doctor to dictate rather than advise may wind up with treatment that she lives to regret. Or perhaps doesn’t.”

—Newsweek, July 29, 2002, p. 64 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson

With this statement, Quindlen articulates current culture’s overall reaction to experts. We no longer blindly follow them; instead they are resources we use to gather information from before we make our final decision. We treat them as a “lifeline” to ask them what they think, but we give Regis “our final answer.”

This shift in culture is fertile ground for the gospel to grow in. The evangelist “advises” people to accept Christ, but would never “dictate” to them. It isn’t that we don’t tell our story; it is that we do it gently and with respect of the person we’re talking to.

1 Peter 3:15 NIV “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,”

EXPERTS

In "Encouraging the Heart", Kouzes and Posner write, "Young people also say that average people have the resources and practical know-how to solve most of the problems in their community rather than relying on experts to solve them."

—"Encouraging the Heart", p. 79. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson

1 Peter 2:9 (CEV) "But you are God's chosen and special people. You are a group of royal priests and a holy nation. God has brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light..."