The Question in Question

"A truth's initial commotion is directly proportional to how deeply the lie was believed." -- Dresden James

 

"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell

 

"If a liar and deceiver comes and says, 'I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,' he would be just the prophet for this people!" -- The prophet Micah, to a group who only wanted a truth that was reflective of their own wills

The sentence that came out of her mouth had the appearance of a question, but it wasn't really. It was a proclamation. In her mind, it was more of an informing. The "question" in question was, "Daddy, can I do the slip and slide?"

 

To my 3-year-old, this kind of question isn't really a question. Her tone and demeanor betrayed the fact that in reality this was a warning. "Give me the right answer, dad, and you will get my joy-filled approval, gratitude, excitement, kisses and support! But give me something else, buddy, and prepare for my ritual pouting, accusations, fit-throwing, cursings, and just over-all, general uncooperativeness."

 

Sure enough, when I answered with, "Yes, sweety, but we are going to wait a little bit to do that," she instantly put her upper lip out and her head down in utter disapproval...usually the first event in a series that show her displeasure and serves as her effort to get things the way she wants. 

 

You see, in her 3-yr-old mind, there was only one right answer. And that would be, by the way, the answer that she wanted and was sincerely convinced she was right about.

 

I have met 70-year-olds who have not outgrown this 3-year-old mentality...and the only "growth" they've had concerning it is that they have learned to manipulate and twist words and meanings in order to sound right to themselves. I, too, find myself adhering to this. "Tell me what I want to hear, what is agreeable to my ears and my already determined beliefs, and I will reward you with my joy-filled approval, gratitude, excitement, kisses and support. But tell me something else, and prepare for my ritual pouting, accusations, fit-throwing, cursings and just over-all, general uncooperativeness."

 

Oh, for the capacity to see through ourselves in this! The truth is that we are sinners and subject to and entangled in deep emotions. We are easily disturbed, easily confused, easily offended, easily overcome, and easily destroyed. And so we appeal to puny, childish games that shortcut real growth, raw and real relationships, and spiritual progress. And if someone dares look for, find, and speak the objective truth, even with perfect love, the rest of us punish him with these assaults to try to get him to stop and fall in line. God help us ask the right questions, rise above ourselves, and see with Your eyes.

 

Look in the mirror for 10 minutes at your own face, asking yourself this question, to see if you are inadvertently behaving as my 3-year-old: "Is there anything on earth that offends me so much that I stop loving someone?"

 

You are stuck with your answer, if you have the courage to ask it and meditate on it. That's why many of us will not ask it. Not asking is one of our best strategies to protect ourselves.

 

For those of us who take a knee to the Christ, we are not being faithful and obedient to our religion when we merely survive an offense and keep on going (often called, inappropriately, the virtue of perseverance). We are only being faithful and obedient when our dedicated love for the offender is not compromised in the least when they offend us (true perseverance).

 

Religion, for decades, has taught that you need to be right in order to go to Heaven. This half-truth, accepted as the whole truth, has made such a mess of us.

 

God help us. We have a higher commitment to believing we are right than we do to actually being right...and we can't tell the difference between the two.