Sometimes people are so desperate to be right about something that even in the face of undeniable data they will distort the facts in order to create an alternate reality that supports their viewpoint and then adopt that distortion as truth.
One extreme example of this is the hundreds and perhaps thousands of people who persist in claiming the earth is a flat disk not a sphere despite the overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary. The pretzel logic required to support this is just absurd.
And this is the kind of thing the closing section of John 7 describes. In verses 47-53, having just been confronted by members of their own police force with the power of Jesus’ words, the religious leaders doubled down on their position that he was a fraud, a threat, and worthy of death. They ridiculed the police officers. Then, they expressed their contempt for the faith of the common people. And next, they belittled one of their own members for suggesting they should follow legal procedures before condemning a man to death without a trial.
Then, they just went off the rails. Determined to hold their position at all costs, they made a statement that was both false and illogical. They said that no prophet had ever come from Galilee.
Of course, they were ignoring the fact that the prophets Jonah and Nahum were both from Galilee. And according to many scholars, Malachi was as well. But even if all this had somehow just slipped their minds, their implication that no prophet could come from Galilee because none had, was just preposterous.
This kind of delusional thinking is symptomatic of people who have become thoroughly invested in maintaining a false claim.
What does this have to do with you and me? It’s easy to point fingers at Pharisees and flat-earthers, but I think we need to confront our own tendency to dig our heels in to protect a position or belief we want to be true.
There’s always a temptation to put words in God’s mouth to authorize our desires and then barricade ourselves behind phrases like, “God told me” or “God said” so we can ignore the conviction of the Holy Spirit or the loving correction of friends. And this was true of a dark period in my own life.
I read 2 Corinthians 5:7 which says, “...We walk by faith, not by sight,” and decided this verse gave me the permission to ignore the negative balance I saw in my checkbook register. I also misappropriated Philippians 4:19 which says, “...God shall supply all your need,” and used it to justify continuing to write bad checks all over town.
I bet you can imagine how that turned out. Sadly, it wasn’t until I experienced much unnecessary hardship and heartache that I finally stopped attempting to defend the indefensible and admitted to myself and before God my sinful presumption. I so desperately wanted to believe God would support my lazy and irresponsible behavior that I twisted his words to suit my desire.
Oh man! I wish I had that part of my life to relive. But my point is we all need to be careful of the spiritual blindness that can overtake us when we choose to fight for what we want instead of stand on what’s true. And if that last statement illuminates something going on in your own life, bring it to Jesus in repentance and let him straighten out the pretzel…right now!