Titles are hard to come up with for these things....

Dear Dad,

In some ways having this conversation via written “letters” has its benefits: it gives both of us time to compile our thoughts, and can help us discuss very emotionally-charged topics with a bit of a buffer. The downside, however, is that it can be pretty difficult to convey or read the right tone in what is being written.

My confession to thinking I’m right all the time was an honest confession of my own sin and pride. As I get older I am becoming more and more aware of the struggle within myself that Paul describes in Romans 7:14-25. I wanted to make it clear that my real goal here is to understand the truth in these issues. Can I ask, do we share the same goal?

You said you don’t want to convince me of anything, but that’s exactly what I’m asking you to do. If you understand the truth in these matters better than I do (and you very well may!!) then I want you to convince me, because, as I said, my goal is to understand the truth. I’m not sure, though, that you believe me when I say this.

You have called me a liberal—but please don’t make assumptions about me based on your stereotype of liberals. If you are right about these things, I want to know it, but in order for you to convince me you have to understand what I actually believe, and make your arguments based on that, rather than on what you think I believe.

For one thing, what I don’t believe is that capitalism is responsible for all the evils of the day or that socialism is the way out. What I do believe, in that regard, is that capitalism and socialism are both flawed systems that are implemented by sinful people, and because of that there is potential for evil in either system. It seems that the people who defend capitalism the loudest are those who have benefited from it the most. I’m afraid that the fact that those people have benefited from it has caused them to be blind to some of the pitfalls of the system. Capitalism may be very good, but it isn’t perfect, and even if it was, it has been practiced by sinful people. I’m not suggesting that socialism is the way out—what I am asking for, pleading for, really, is that we take a look at the pitfalls of capitalism and see if there is any way it could be done better.

That’s all for now, I think. I’ll write more later…

Mindy