Robust intellectual discourse is crucial for personal growth and understanding
Thoughts, ideas and opinions are all important components of intellectual discourse. Acquiring the knowledge to speak intelligently on different issues can be achieved by keeping an open mind about learning new things. Not as a means of changing previously held views but to enhance your overall understanding, comprehension and recognition of why you agree or disagree with the theory or concept.
Here’s an example.
Earlier this year, I signed up to receive Our Daily Bread. It’s a free, widely-read monthly booklet of Christian devotionals that’s been published by Our Daily Bread Ministries for nearly 70 years.
Our Daily Bread Ministries was founded in 1938 by Martin DeHaan, a physician, pastor and Bible teacher. Originally called the Detroit Bible Class, the name was changed to Radio Bible Class in 1941, then RBC Ministries in 1994 and its current guise in 2015. It grew from a handful of classes in Detroit, Michigan, to a radio show on two national networks in Grand Rapids, Michigan – and was broadcast on more than 600 radio stations at the time of DeHaan’s passing in 1965.
The ministry describes itself as a “non-denominational, non-profit organization” with “staff and volunteers in over 37 offices working together to distribute more than 60 million resources in 150 countries.” At the same time, “regardless of whether it’s a radio or television broadcast, DVD, podcast, book, mobile app, or website, we provide materials to help people grow in their relationship with God.”
Our Daily Bread was launched in 1956. The booklet’s name is taken from Matthew 6:11 in the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread.” It’s read by millions of readers in over 150 countries and published in over 55 languages. People can also receive the daily devotionals by e-mail or through its app.
The first time I came across Our Daily Bread was in a doctor’s office in my late teens. I read a few pages out of interest and was quite impressed. The booklet was nicely constructed in a calendar-style format with a short reading passage about Christian living, a daily scripture and an insight. There was also a monthly topic on a religious theme written by one of the ministry’s authors.
The format is similar today.
For instance, the Tuesday, Aug. 6 devotional draws inspiration from Job 1:21: “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” It looks at how God is in control. The reading passage focuses on Carol, who “couldn’t understand why it was happening all at once. As if work wasn’t bad enough, her daughter fractured her foot in school, and she herself came down with a severe infection. What did I do to deserve this? Carol wondered. All she could do was ask God for strength.
It’s a situation that some people have faced in their lives. How does this connect to the biblical story of Job?
Author Leslie Koh explains it like this, “Job didn’t know why calamity had hit him so hard either – pain and loss far greater than what Carol experienced. There’s no indication he was aware of the cosmic battle for his soul. Satan wanted to test Job’s faith, claiming he’d turn from God if he lost everything (Job 1:6-12). When disaster struck, Job’s friends insisted he was being punished for his sins. That wasn’t why, but he must have wondered, Why me? What he didn’t know was that God had allowed it to happen.”
In Koh’s view, “Job’s story offers a powerful lesson about suffering and about faith. We may try to discover the reason behind our pain, but perhaps there’s a bigger story behind the scenes that we won’t understand in our lifetime. Like Job, we can hold on to what we do know: God is in full control.”
Other devotionals explore different themes.
One story is about two brothers, one of whom was hired at a prestigious college, and how their experiences relate to the themes of Jesus and family. Another story involves Fairleigh Dickinson University, an underdog in a college basketball tournament, being surprised when the opposing University of Drayton band used their fight song against them, prompting reflections on what Paul the Apostle would say about such a selfish decision. In yet another, an author observes a friend’s failed marriage and explains what the prophet Jeremiah would suggest about empty promises and the need for a repentant heart.
Some readers may wonder why an agnostic Jew would be interested in a booklet of Christian devotionals. Am I in the process of converting? Am I attempting to more properly align myself with my Catholic wife? Am I looking for something that’s missing in my life?
The one-word answer to these questions is “no.”
Rather, my interest in a booklet of Christian devotionals is a means of continuing to enhance my knowledge and understanding of Christianity. The same way that I own books about the making of early versions of the Bible, the lives of different Popes, biblical stories for children, how Christianity influenced capitalism and a King James Version of the Bible, among others. The more you read about a topic, the more you learn and understand.
Our Daily Bread has aided me in this respect. I’m eternally grateful for that and will continue to read each monthly booklet. My hope is you’ll be encouraged to do the same.
Michael Taube, a Troy Media syndicated columnist and political commentator, was a speechwriter for former Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He holds a master’s degree in comparative politics from the London School of Economics.
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