our cultural dialogue

There is no way to have a sincerely, truth-seeking conversation these days because of the ultimate trump card that everyone in this culture knows they can play. It is subtle, but used as a weapon to end the discussion - often delivered in anger or disgust at one's close-mindedness. The trump card - the phrase that pays so to speak - has many variations. Usually something like: "this is the way I feel", or "this makes me happy", or "I have always been this way". These are all true statements by the way. People actually do "feel" a certain way and some of those feelings make them "happy" and we all have at least a few emotional and mental realities which we assume we have always had. The problem with these statements is twofold. 1. The way we feel is not a legitimate reasoning technique for whether something is true (or even good)or not. People feel things all the time that are measurably not true (or good)..but they are true to the person who holds them. It is interesting to me that the same science-driven culture that demands Christianity prove everything also willingly applauds any post, tweet, or text that someone says is the way they feel or the way they are without any empirical evidence of said feelings. In other words, "I feel..." will not hold up in the science lab. 2. The way we feel avoids the real questions of right and wrong and true and false. Ultimately, if how you feel is your truth and how I feel is my truth we have confirmed that there is no real truth. No truth means no rules and absolute chaos for our world. If there is no truth, there are no laws, there are no crimes, and there is no recourse for changing the world for the better. If you don't believe that this is true,just try googling the Nuremberg trials after World War II in which Nazi war criminals basically argued that for them it was culturally right to kill innocent Jews. So how do we enter this cultural dialogue? I'm reminded that good questions (as modeled by Jesus)lead to Holy Spirit led conversations in the Christian life. That's all I can do is have one conversation at a time, but it's not to win an argument. It is to have a loving talk about how all the stuff I feel and think ultimately make sense in one huge truth: JESUS! So instead of coming up with compelling arguments, I'm listening, and I'm asking..."So do you believe that everything that everyone feels is true?" "Is there any way that your feelings have to do with past circumstances in your life?" "What do you think is the solution to all the world's problems?" [recently I received an email from a gay man asking what I thought about homosexuality - sensing a trap and a conversation ender, I answered "why do you care what I think?" - the dialogue continues]. Even as I write these questions I realize that they aren't very brilliant, but if I can enter the dialogue in a humble way - the Holy Spirit will likely direct the conversation. I'm praying for that because as a Christian, it's all I've got in a world where the conversations is often shut down by "this is how I feel" or "this is how I am". I'm banking on people really deep down knowing that how they feel is not what they want. Enter Jesus!