Question Everything

 “But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented.” (Mt 11:16-17 AV)

 

The generation to which the LORD is referring is the generation that had come under Roman influence and control.  More pointedly, they had come under the influence of the Pharisees and Sadducees excepting what they were taught without any habit of examining the version of truth they were fed.  This generation lost the ability of critical thinking.  What is critical thinking you might ask?  Critical thinking is the practice of examining everything one hears in the light of truth to see of what one hears is indeed the truth.  John tells is in the fourth chapter of his epistle and in the first verse to try the spirits to see of they are of the LORD.  This is critical thinking.  Luke tells us those of Berea were more noble in that they searched the scriptures to see of those things were so.  Critical thinking doesn’t take anything for granted and examines everything.  According to Jesus, the generation at his first coming lost the ability to think critically and demanded conformity to ‘group think’.  If one did not bow the knee to what the majority thought, there was a cost to pay.  I feel we are in that same generation today.

In a day and age where information abounds, it is even more important we learn to think critically.  We have gotten into the bad habit of digesting information delivered to us electronically as though it is the gospel truth.  From COVID at the most recent example to the many false reports of corruption of political opponents, we have not stopped to do the numbers or ask basic questions that would reveal what we are being fed is not the entire truth.  In the arena of sacred information, let me give you an example.  Many years back, there was a purported discovery of the lost gospel of Judas.  The scorners would have you believe this lost gospel of Judas was just as valid as the four we have.  The you have you believe the information in the gospel of Judas was just as inspired and historically accurate as the four which we have.  The gospel of Judas included the trial and death of Jesus Christ.  It started to gather steam.  It seemed every scoffing progressive professor and contemporary false prophet wanted so badly for this assumption of a fifth gospel to be true.  But a very basic question could be asked.  Judas hanged himself and was not privy to the trial or death of Jesus Christ.  So, how could he have penned this lost gospel?  Duh!

We will not naturally think in a critical way until we are tired of being played.  For the majority of my childhood, I was led to believe the way to God was through good works.  Then I found the Bible says something quite different.  The way to the LORD is solely by grace.  But had I not began to question what I thought I knew, salvation would have eluded me.  The intimation of our Savior above is that critical thinking is a godly attribute.  Group think is not.  Thinking for oneself and questioning everything in the light of God’s word is the attribute of which God approves.  Accepting everything we hear and regurgitating it without looking at it for oneself is not a good quality.  It is often assumed that critical thinking is rebellion.  Often authority figures see it that way.  But it is not.  Critical thinking is making oneself accountable to a higher authority than man.  Critical thinking makes one accountable to the LORD and His truth above all others.  I fear the more my generation and generations that follow lose their ability to examine all they hear, they will fall down a rabbit hole of group think from which they can never escape.