You probably won’t like this. Heck, I don’t even like it, but I’m gonna say it anyway, at least as a warning to my own soul.
The moment I begin to think and speak in terms of, “I can’t believe anybody would…”, I have now descended lower than mere ignorance into full-fledged stupidity, because now I am operating on the assumption that I myself would never think, believe, say, or do anything subpar, that I myself have no blindspots and no need for growth in my own understanding. I am now in the most dangerous position possible because I am in the most impenetrable position possible: I am the judge and my present grasp of reality, absent humility, is the standard by which all others are weighed in the balances and found wanting.
Ignorance merely requires additional information to remedy. Ignorance combined with arrogance is the very definition of stupidity and has no cure but pain in some self-revelatory form.
It is a common scenario for someone who was on the extreme conservative end of the spectrum, or on the extreme liberal end of the spectrum, to grow beyond their extremes and then act all incredulous and amazed and superior when others believe the very things they once did.
Here is a more intelligent and productive way of thinking and speaking: “I can see how someone might believe or do that, because I’ve believed and done things like that myself. Praise God for His patience with me and for the patience of other people who didn’t write me off along the way.”
@lookhighr @take6 Man, good to hear from you. Never would have figured out who this was by the name 😊. So glad you helped write that song!! We love it.
“Good people pass away; the godly often die before their time. But no one seems to care or wonder why. No one seems to understand that God is protecting them from the evil to come.”
Isaiah 57:1 NLT
We do not grieve as those who have no hope. Hallelujah. #rpSp