Keep your views to yourself!

The Real Problem Behind Humanity’s Hatred of the Truth.
I was watching a video from the abolitionist page, and in the video a gentleman was trying to convince some young ladies that abortion is murder. One of the girls suddenly yelled, “You are a man! Keep your views to yourself!” She then said some other things that are not worth discussing here. What really struck me was the kind of reasoning behind that statement. Imagine living in a world where people are only allowed to have opinions on things that directly concern or affect them.

This post is not really about those girls or even abortion itself, but about this clear disdain human beings tend to have for the truth, even when confronted with hard facts. Given the choice between a truth we dislike and a lie we prefer, many of us would choose the lie any day.

Ever wonder why fairytale stories are so popular? Well, I don’t think I can put it better than J. R. R. Tolkien did in his essay On Fairy-Stories. He says that “the human mind is capable of forming mental images of things not actually present,” and because of this ability, we create fairytales which offer stories where people can escape death, pain, injustice, and even find perfect love. This is essentially what the human heart desires.

This escapism that Tolkien talks about is why it is often easier to embrace a lie we like than a truth we dislike. Lies help create a kind of bubble where we feel comfortable—a utopia where our desires and dreams face no obstacles. In the case of abortion, this can be seen in the constant effort to redefine terms. A baby going through developmental stages becomes a “clump of cells” in order to soothe our consciences. The reasoning goes something like this: it is not fully human yet, it cannot feel pain, therefore it is not human, and therefore abortion is not murder. 

And when the people who think this way meet people who think it’s murder, it can’t remain a simple dialogue because the pro-choice people do not want their choices and rights infringed upon by the pro-life guys. By “choice,” I think they mean that they want to keep having sex, and since sex usually results in pregnancy, that is not something they want. Therefore, they believe they should have the choice to terminate that pregnancy.

This problem is not just limited to abortion; it is a human problem. What makes it fascinating is that we love to talk about truth when it is convenient for us, but when confronted with certain truths, we are not only unwilling to consider that they might be true—we do not even want them to be true. And when we cannot give good reasons for what we believe, we resort to statements like, “This is my truth, so keep your truth to yourself.” This is one reason why the Christian message is so offensive to many people. Christianity begins by telling us that we are sinners deserving of judgment before a holy God. Because most of us naturally think of ourselves as “good people,” this message feels offensive. “How dare you call me a sinner?” we say. “I’m not perfect, but I’m a good person.”

I once participated in a conversation where we were trying to explain why Christians call the christian message “good news,” and one gentleman could not understand how he could be just as sinful before God as someone who had committed murder. But this is very typical of human thinking. Deep down we know we are not perfect, yet as long as we believe we are better than the next person, that's good enough. This resentment towards the truth is not unique to our generation. Scripture gives many examples of people rejecting truth simply because it confronted their sin.

The first example is found in 1 Kings 22. Israel and Syria were at war, and because Ahab, king of Israel, was allied with Jehoshaphat king of Judah, he convinced Jehoshaphat to join him in battle. However, Jehoshaphat feared the Lord and insisted that they first inquire of God before going to war. Ahab then gathered about four hundred prophets, all of whom assured the kings that they would have victory. But Jehoshaphat sensed that something was wrong and asked whether there was still another prophet of the Lord they could consult. Ahab responded by mentioning a prophet named Micaiah, but admitted that he hated him because, as he said, “he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil” (1 Kings 22:8).

That statement reveals something important about what I am trying to put across. Ahab was not interested in hearing the truth; he only wanted to hear what pleased or favoured him. When Micaiah was finally summoned, the messenger even warned him to make his prophecy agree with the others and speak favorably to the king. Yet Micaiah boldly responded that he would only speak what was from the Lord. When Micaiah finally stood before Ahab, he warned him not to go to battle because it would cost him his life. But instead of listening, Ahab imprisoned the prophet. Eventually, however, Ahab discovered too late that the truth he rejected was the very truth that could have saved him.

Another example is found in Amos 7. God gives Amos visions of judgment against Israel because of the nation’s disobedience. In these visions Amos sees destruction, judgment, and coming captivity. Instead of responding with repentance, the priest Amaziah reports Amos to the king and accuses him of conspiring against the king. He then tells Amos to leave Israel and prophesy somewhere else.In other words, Amaziah essentially tells Amos to keep his message to himself. Rather than humbling himself before God and pleading for mercy—as Amos himself had been doing in the previous verses—Amaziah resented the messenger because he hated the message.

I could multiply examples, but the point is this: because of sin, human beings are predisposed to hate truth that tells us that something about our lives is not right. Even when the truth offers a better way to live, we still resist it, and I would like to suggest that this is the message of the Bible. Something is deeply wrong with us. We are sick to the core, as some passages put it, and unless we realise that and seek God’s grace through Jesus Christ, we will continue to soothe our consciences by turning to gods of our own creation, but that will end in judgement. Christ is the only one who can change individuals from being haters of truth to lovers of truth because, as He Himself declares, He is the truth. And it is this truth we are to proclaim as Christians—Christ crucified.

"Therefore, faithful Christian, seek the truth, listen to the truth, learn the truth, love the truth, tell the truth, defend the truth even unto death." Jan Hus