Hi everyone! It's Kiwi again! Sorry about the long break since last posting. Life has been insanely busy. I got a second job, for those of you who didn't know...and yeah, it's been busy. Too much to condense to a blog post. Ask me if you see me.
Anyhow, this blog post is inspired by something I've seen coming up more and more lately, and that is the prevalence of people holding strong opinions about things without actually having looked into those things themselves. Sometimes it's things their parents have taught them, sometimes it's things that their school system has taught them, sometimes it's things their friends hold as true, and sometimes it's simply things that society holds as true. However, what people hold as true, isn't always true. To be honest, it's actually really dangerous to hold things as true without actually looking into things for yourself.
A devastating example of believing what you're told without questioning can be found during the time period just after WWI. During the period between the end of WWI and the start of WWII, it was held as truth that the Jews were a corrupting influence on the nations in which they lived, and were to be avoided at all costs. They were said to be stealing from the economy, were enemies of the state, were evil, and were inferior to all other races. And this wasn't even just in Nazi Germany; this was in almost every nation, and the proof of it is that right before WWII, almost every nation either shut their doors to the Jews who were fleeing from the persecution of German or Austrian authorities, or tightly restricted the inflow of those fleeing as refuges from other nations where they were oppressed. And even many of the nations that let them flee there treated them horribly as well. The popularly held mindset, the beliefs about what was true, were what enabled many, if not all, of the atrocities of WWII. People believed as they were told, shut their eyes, and looked no further. (If you want to read more on this, you can read Kristallnacht: The Nazi Night of Terror by Anthony Read. It is an in-depth look at what happened in Nazi Germany leading up to the Holocaust, though it doesn't cover the Holocaust itself).
Does this sound like I'm trying to scare you? If so, good! Because I am trying to scare you. I'm trying to scare you to think about things, and decide what you believe for yourself. Because if you do not think and reason for yourself, if you do not find things out for yourself, other people will. And the majority of people who are in authority right now are not people you want to have make choices for you. If that's not enough of a motivation to research what you believe, let me give you a few more reasons.
1. So that you can answer why you believe something.
In light of the current state of affairs in America, here are a few questions I want you to see if you can answer:
Why do you believe that it's wrong to let large numbers of immigrants into America? Is it because you believe that they would destroy the economy? Why do you believe that? What do you know about the economics involved in a large influx of immigrants into a fully established First World nation? What have you learned to be able to make that judgment?
Or why do you believe that it's right to let immigrants in? Why do you believe that it's safe, during this time of mass shootings and global terrorism, to let people in from countries that are hotbeds of anti-American rhetoric? Why do you believe that? What do you know about all the logistics involved in protecting America from would-be terrorists and infiltrators?
These are two sides of a HUGE topic that is currently being discussed right now, both behind closed doors, and in public forums. This is a very important issues, morally, politically, economically, culturally, and in all other ways. It impacts who we are as a nation. What do you believe? And why do you believe it?
2. Because, if you are a believer, it sets your standard, and even the Bible requires you to give an answer for why you believe.
In Acts 17:11; the Jews who researched what Paul and Silas told them were considered noble. Paul and Silas were sent out with the Gospel to them, and when the Berean Jews questioned what they were taught, researching what was said and comparing it with the Scriptures, they were praised for it. And we are told in 1 Peter 3:15 to be able to give an answer to the hope that we have within us.
Now, this is certainly pertaining to spiritual things. I'm not saying that the Bible is specifically saying, "RESEARCH EVERYTHING." No, I'm not going to twist Scripture like that. This passage was not aimed at politics, or science, or economics, or anything like that. It was focused on what they were being taught by others in regards to spiritual matters.
However, it also mentions legal matters in Deuteronomy 19:15-21, of inquiring diligently if a charge is brought against someone. Proverbs 13:5a says that "the righteous hates falsehoods."
We need to be sure to seek truth, and to believe truth! There is Biblical precedent for seeking things out that we have heard. And an even greater burden lies on our leaders to do this as well, for Proverbs 29:12 says; "If a ruler listens to falsehood, all his officials will be wicked." However, if that burden is on our leaders, we must also do the same, to make sure we're not believing lies!
Also, there is something to be said for the fact that the Bible praised those who were checking what they were being told, even if it was from godly men. If that applied to the early church, that should apply to us as well, even with our godliest leaders. But sadly, much of what we believe to be true doesn't come from even godly leaders; a lot of it comes from party leaders and teachers who are telling us what is true, and what isn't true. We live in a world of people who are decidedly evil, and they are telling us what to believe, and we're just throwing up our hands and saying, "well, it makes sense, so it must be true!" Most of the time, we don't even try to validate if what they're saying is true!
3. So that you can know that you decided your stance for yourself.
This is probably the most important one: if you don't know why you believe these things, or how you came to your conclusion, then where did you get your stance from? If you haven't researched it yourself, then who, essentially, gave you your opinion? Because if you didn't make it yourself, someone else did.
Before I wrap this up, I want to make one thing clear; I'm not saying I'm innocent of taking what I hear at face value. It's so easy to believe what people say and not question it. Our society is really good at encouraging us to simply listen and believe what we hear. I hope I'm becoming better at checking what I'm being told, though, and I hope I can help you learn how to do the same.
I intend to make this a multi-part series in order to give you the tools on how to research things for yourself. My goal is that that you learn how to decide your own opinion about the topics that are currently being hotly debated across the world, and be able to add to what is being said, and not just repeat what others have said.
