“Longevity of bad belief doesn’t make it ‘wisdom.’ It just makes it harder to correct and change.”
One of the most often repeated phrases I hear to justify or dismiss poor thinking or bad behavior is “that’s just how I was raised” or “that’s what I’ve/we’ve always done or what I’ve always thought.”
That’s unacceptable, especially for Christians. We must stop and ask the more important questions of “Why do I think this way?” and “Is it good?” and “Is there good evidence to support it?”
Too much of our thinking and behavior is shaped uncritically, indiscriminately, and without good evidence to support it. Too much of our thinking is shaped by personal tradition and longevity, not examination of what is actually good and right and true.
In Mark 7:8, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for this very problem:
“You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men” (ESV).
In my experience, it seems for many of us, that “tradition of men” is purely self-constructed, meaning, we create these traditions of thought—which we hold to dearly—all by ourselves. And, in error, we think that somehow believing something for a long period of time justifies it or imparts to it wisdom or that time itself translates our way of thinking into wisdom simply through longevity itself.
Those are very egocentric problems—and they’re deeply untrue.
Millennials and Gen-Zers get a lot of crap for their generations’ real and perceived tendencies, but I have seen this problem displayed in older generations far more often than in young people. And the reason why makes sense: length of age. I don’t like generational disparagements or generalizations because of how overly reductive they are, but it seems that greater age naturally lends itself to this problem because the more time bad beliefs, behaviors, and ways of thinking have to take root and grow, the harder they become to uproot. And the longer these bad beliefs are held, the more offensive it feels when they are questioned.
In many ways, for good or ill, our ideas, beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors become part of our identity to us. So when these things are questioned, it can feel like it’s not a question of why we do what we do or think what we think, but an attack on who we are. While I believe that understanding of identity to be partially true at best, I recognize that it feels true. And that’s why the problem is particularly difficult to address. This is why the work to separate the core of our identity from our ideas is so important. If we cannot or choose not to engage in this important task, we can easily become uncorrectable people.
This is especially problematic in the context of church wherein right thinking, right conduct, and right practice are paramount. Whether something is biblical, good, right, and true need to be our standards of thinking as the Bride of Christ (think Philippians 4:8), not simply what we have done or thought or believed before.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. If we can humble ourselves enough to separate ourselves from our thoughts and ideas, we can step back and ask if they are good. When we are challenged with someone asking “why,” if we can move past the initial (while immature) response to be offended, we give ourselves room to grow into better things and become better, more teachable people.
Let’s think hard about how we think.
Think hard about how you think.
References:
Holy Bible: English Standard Version, Study Bible. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2011.
