I have been married longer than you have (probably) been alive. My wife is perfect.
And that was a lie. There are things about her that are not perfect. There are factors in her personality and tendencies that I would change if I could. I used to think that I would want to transform her appearance as well, but I’ve grown up from that foolishness.
What’s my point here? For me to have an issue with my wife, I don’t have to utterly reject her. Happily, she feels the same way about me, as I have many flaws.
When I ask you to find a point of critique in a reading, you do not have to disagree with the reading. Instead, you have to disagree or take issue with or feel uneasy about some small aspect of the reading.
Let’s take, as an example, people who think that right to bear arms (gun rights) are a bunch of foolishness. These people are taking issue with the United States Constitution and its Second Amendment. Do these people say, “I think guns shouldn’t be in private hand; therefore, I utterly reject the Constitution”? No! They say something like this:
- I think the Second Amendment was a mistake and should be repealed.
- I think the Second Amendment has been misinterpreted and should be correctly interpreted.
- I think the Second Amendment is poorly worded and should be clarified.
None of those statements requires us to think that Congress and the Supreme Court and Freedom of Speech and all that should be junked.
When I ask you to find a point of critique, you’re just looking for that little blemish, that little flaw. Or you could be saying, “This whole thing is a useless pile of junk,” but you can probably handle that easily enough.