We've Got It All Wrong

Ulysses Bolton of the Bahamas???

The other day I was eating lunch by myself in a restaurant where they have televisions. They had the Olympics on with the sound off, and they were showing a water polo match between two European countries.  I was loving the action, but I soon found myself distracted by the conversation at the table next to me. It seemed to be a family, with a grandmother, a younger couple, and two teenagers.  They were discussing the Olympics, and this is a synopsis of what I heard...

Why are the showing swimming (it was water polo) again?  I hate swimming.  I like the running.  They never show the running (except for hours in prime time).  You know who is really good?  That Ulysses Bolton (Usain Bolt), the one from the Bahamas (Jamaica). He is so fast. I saw him win the 1000 yard (100 meter) dash.  He is really American you know, he just runs for the Bahamas because there team is easier to make.  Almost all of those foreigners really live in America.  Why do we let those foreign countries in the Olympics anyway (WOW!)? You know what else I hate? When those stupid British people say soccer and football are the same thing (The entire world calls it football except us)!  Yeah right. The Bucs would kill those soccer teams (seems unlikely the Bucs would win at either sport)...

I'll stop there, although unfortunately they didn't.  The discussion also had some racist elements and accused all gymnasts and volleyball players of being gay.  To sum up, there was NOTHING they said that was completely accurate.  Their facts were all wrong.  And yet, they were certain of every word that they said.

We live in a world where this is not an unusual happening- in fact, it is the norm.  Whether discussing the Olympics, defending our favorite political party or trying to prove a theological point, we often yammer on as if we know what we are talking about, when in fact we've got it all wrong.  Jesus IS the truth, and yet so many people have false understandings of his teachings and his mission.  Our sources are far too often talking heads and bloggers who also have no idea what they are talking about.  And so the misinformation spreads until there are many believers in facts that are simply not true.

The third chapter of the book of James contains many warnings about watching what we say and speaking only the truth.  If James were writing today he would have talked about typing the truth as well.  My lunch experience was a reminder to me that we cannot speak the truth if we are not first willing to seek it, and to hear things that may be difficult to hear.  Just because someone else said it and we agree with it does not make it true.  We must seek the truth- and we must look more than one place.

So today I ask myself and each of you...what is it we've got all wrong?

Because of Jesus,