The longer I live in this new century the more I am left scratching my head in confusion. How did white become black and black become white? Why are so many common sense issues now gray? Were they always gray but I hung with a group that painted the issue black and white? I am so confused.
Most of the voices I hear today are poles apart in their take on the truth on any given issue. I recently began reading Thomas Sowell's A Conflict of Visions, a book which one reviewer thought would be better titled A Conflict of Mindsets. This book is helping me understand the underpinnings of what Sowell calls the unrestrained and the restrained visions. It's not exactly like the right and the left or the liberal vs. conservative view of issues BUT I think it is close enough for this blog post. Sowell explores why people end up on one side of the fence of an issue or the other and how usually if you are on one side on one issue, you will probably be on the same side of the next issue.
I don't think reading Sowell is going to help me know which side of an issue to take because there is truth on both sides of issues. How can I ferret out the real truth? I don't want to adopt the agenda of the right or the left. How can I know the truth?
I'm not sure one can know the truth on all things but I know that we can come much closer to the mark, as Christians, if we leave our political camp fortresses and seek God and His mind. Think of any current event issue that is polarizing America. I believe that if we want to know how to respond, the media and our preconceived action steps are not the places to look. The Bible is clear about how we can come to know truth.
My child, if you accept my words
and treasure up my commandments within you,
2 making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
3 if you indeed cry out for insight,
and raise your voice for understanding;
4 if you seek it like silver,
and search for it as for hidden treasures—
5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
7 he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
he is a shield to those who walk blamelessly,
8 guarding the paths of justice
and preserving the way of his faithful ones.
9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice
and equity, every good path
According to this passage the only way to know Truth is to seek God for it with all your heart. How many of us, if we are being honest, have actually cried out to God to show us His mind about our current event issues? Don't we just have an idea of what truth is and then pray to that end? Politics of all stripes have influenced the Church and the net result is the staggering polarization of people who claim to know the Lord Jesus. Brothers and sisters this ought not to be! What a horrible testimony to the world!
At the very least we should be crying out to God together to know truth and how to respond to our current events. There should be a place for every Truth-seeking believer at the prayer rail and the discussion table.
God help us to call good good and bad bad.
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