Sloppy Statistics

This article highlights in Evangelicalism at large a problem that I'm seeing and commenting on in Fundamentalism in particular. There is more desire to prove a point than to be scrupulous about being accurate. Bradley Wright comments often on sloppy statistics used by (and about) Christians as well.


Here's another, more recent article on the subject.

I see this all over the place, and it's become even easier in the world of email forwards. It goes back beyond emails, though, and runs far deeper. Back in college, we'd have well-known missions speakers come and address us, and they'd often give us numbers and statistics. (Some things never change.)

On the one hand, people proclaimed that all the missionaries are coming off the field - hardly any go back for a second term, and the long-term ones are all getting old, coming home, and dying. They would give numbers and statistics depicting the decline of world-wide missions.

Yet on the other hand, I heard statistical complaints that it's incredibly difficult to get support for new missionaries, in part because there are so many competing for the missions support out there!

Unless missions support is drastically decreasing across the country (and I have seen no statistics suggesting that), both statements can't be true. Either we have fewer missionaries going out, which would mean less competition among the remaining ones for the available support, or we have more missionaries going out, which means foreign missions is increasing, not decreasing. Yet those assertions are both often supported with statistics, and ironically, sometimes it seems that they're both made by the same people!


I'm not saying this to bash missiologists, much less missionaries. That's just one of many examples where I've seen statistics applied in sloppy ways. Really, it's nowhere near as bad among Christians in general I know as it is among the politically-involved in general that I know. (Though some make the case that Christians tend to be among the worst at abusing statistics.)

But then, Christians ought not be the world warmed over - we should be something radically different. Being like the world but not quite as bad... this tells me we've gotten very sloppy about truth in general, and about statistics in particular.

Now, I don't think this comes from an evil desire to deceive. I think the thought process runs something like, "My position on this issue is correct, and what I want people to do about it is right. Therefore, any statistic that supports my position MUST be true, since my position is correct. People who take my position must be honest, because we are on the side of right - so why should I waste time verifying statistics when instead I could be proclaiming the truth they support and urging people to the action they endorse?"

If an action is according to Scripture (such as going into all the world and preaching the gospel), then feel free to urge people toward it. If the Bible says something, you don't need statistics to prove it - the Bible itself is truth. But if you're going to use statistics, please do what you can to make sure they're reliable. Otherwise, you undermine your reliability in every area.

Is There a T-Shirt for This?

It would appear that I am a heretic, by the judgment of a local fellowship. If I don't change my doctrine (or at least the terms I've used to express it), they've decided to separate from me. It's possible that I can work through the situation to prevent the action, since the practical differences between us are truly minute, but those are tricky shoals to navigate.

It's kinda strange to be looking at separation from this side of things. I just want to know if there's a t-shirt or something for the experience, like people get for riding wild roller coasters or surviving hurricanes.

When Opportunity Knocks, Just Shoot Through the Door

I've got a whole queue of post drafts lined up, but opportunity came knocking to take me for a stroll. Well, okay, it kicked down the door and demanded that I come along. Hiking this path with opportunity has kept me too busy to finish any of the other posts yet.

Specifically, this is the opportunity to practice what I preached about dealing with friendly fire. Shortly after I posted that, the call came in from a friend in a local preacher's fellowship I've been attending. The word is doing the rounds among the leadership that I preach something heretical, and he wanted to talk to me about it.

Ironically, the folk who seem to have a problem with what I preach pretty much jumped straight to some of the tactics typically used in returning fire. Handouts misrepresenting what I believe and refuting that misrepresentation are going about, what I actually said is being freely ignored (despite the actual sermon they're worried about being openly available to anyone who wants it), and people are going to others to get them on their side for the battle instead of coming to me personally with their concerns.

Now I've got to make sure I respond in the Spirit, not in the flesh. There is such a temptation to lash out in anger at the wrongs that have been done me, to stomp off and refuse to fellowship with men who would hurt me so casually, to bash those who tolerate and participate in these actions rather than rebuking them, to broadcast the names and crimes of people who claim to serve God but disobey Him, and to start playing the political game by contacting the ones who are most likely to agree with me and take my side and lining them up to support me.

There is also the temptation to come as close as I can to knuckling under without actually compromising my convictions, to bury the hurt and ignore the sin for the sake of peace, because I don't want any trouble, I don't want any conflict, and I don't like being criticized. Some of the people involved in this are men I know, love, respect, and am grateful toward. However, what some of these people have done is plainly wrong.

So I've been spending big blocks of time in thought and prayer for days, trying to make sure I don't act in anger, hurt, or fear, but rather speak the truth in love with wisdom. I simply want to do what God wants. I want to obey His Word. I want to be the wise man who can receive rebuke where it is warranted and thank the one who delivered it. I don't want to fall into the trap of turning to blast away at those who should be on my side. I also don't want to turn a blind eye to sin among the leaders of God's people.

I have met with one man, the only one who has thus far come to me personally about the whole of the situation (kudos to him, by the way, for that at least.) I've told him I'll meet with another, the one who began to spread the situation throughout the fellowship, after I pull some things together. After that, I can only hope and pray that the Lord will give clear guidance and that I'll have the courage, patience, strength, and humility to do what He wants.

Whatever course I take, the road is going to be rough. That's always true when you walk out the door with opportunity. The practicing can be so much harder than the preaching.