Listen to This!!!

Messages and opinions seem to abound these days.  Or it might be more accurate to say they take up most of the news cycle and talk shows.  Everyone has an opinion about issue "du jour" and are all too ready to give it to the listening public.  As a listening public, we need to be keenly aware of several aspects of the issue, such as the message, the messenger, and sadly the motive in the delivery.  Suffice it to say we need to be an educated listening public, taking in as much data as possible before forming our own opinion.

In the scientific and research community, a research design must first be established that will discover new theories, test or validate old ones, or the findings used to set new policies.  There are many other uses of research, too many to go over here. The reason for setting the paradigm in the beginning and then gathering data is to test your theory with the interpreted findings, not determine your findings and write out a theory that validates your paradigm!  There are many ways to ensure research is done in a proper way by setting a good paradigm, but such is not the case with the issue "du jour."

So many times on our news programs, a subject matter expert is brought on the broadcast show to give their opinion of a past event and speculate as to its impact in the future.  The credentials of the expert are usually seen on a banner below them to add reliability and validity to their message. But it sometimes seems opinions are given by these experts that are neither valid nor reliable, because the news program wanted to be the first to break the news story or push what they think matters.  As a result, very few actual details are given and the majority of their opinion is speculation. I would call this "data blindness" or "knowledge malpractice."

This phenomenon is not new in our day and time.  During Jesus’ day, there were several groups who refused to see prophetic writings of the prophets being fulfilled before their eyes.  They believed their knowledge to be perfect and complete, and anything to the contrary was just plain wrong. This led to the Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducees experiencing spiritual blindness.  They just didn’t believe what was going on in Jesus’ ministry, nor did they want to because it threatened their power and authority.

In the Gospel of Luke, we find Jesus has returned to his hometown of Nazareth in the region called Galilee.  As was his custom, Jesus went to the synagogue on the Sabbath. On this day, he stood to read and was handed the scroll which contained the writings of the prophet Isaiah.  The words he read very vividly described the reason and ministry for which he was sent by the Father. Once completed, he told those gathered the words he had just read were fulfilled that day before their very eyes.  But all they could do was ask "Isn’t this Joseph’s son?" The leader’s failed to see the outcome of all the data they had been studying for years! They wanted a different outcome regardless of all the evidence; one where they stayed in power and control!

It’s easy for us to form opinions about a great many matters, even using other’s opinions as our own to serve our own means.  When in question, we should go to God’s Word to see what He says about matters, because in the end off all things, it’s only His opinion that really matters!!!