Who To Listen To

In 1985 Amy Grant's "Unguarded" album had a song titled, "Who To Listen To". The words of the chorus were:

You gotta know who to, who not to listen to.
Well you know they're gonna hit you from all sides.
Better make up your mind who to, who not to listen to.

Christianity is unique in that you touch God from the very beginning. All other religions require you to do works, meditate, study, pray, accomplish required acts, all in the hope that someday you might get to touch God. Only in Christianity do you meet God personally at the beginning of your journey. However, if we stop there we are like the seed that fell on the rocks in Matthew 13:5-6. Without any roots the sun will scorch us, and our faith will wither away. To put down roots we need to read the Bible ourselves, not just what is put on the screen in Church. It is by personally reading the Bible that we can get to know the real Jesus. Even more importantly, it is by getting the Bible in us that we can tell the difference between right and wrong, scam and truth, God and deception. And when the hot sun of those who try to deceive us hits, we will stand firm because we have deep roots.

This holds in the secular world as well. The U.S. Treasury Department has an intense training class for detecting counterfeit money. All the security features, electronic detectors and mechanical devices can be defeated by a skilled counterfeiter. But a trained human is still the best detector there is. What is interesting is they don't study counterfeit money in this class. They spend day after day handling real money of every denomination. They handle it so much that when they encounter a counterfeit they instantly know there's something wrong with it. It's the same for Christians. Studying the Bible, getting it's words in you, is the best defense against scams, frauds and deceptions. In Matthew 7:15-20, Jesus warns us to beware of false prophets who wear sheep's clothing but are ravenous wolves inside. And that we can tell who is good by their fruit. The best way to know the difference between good fruit and bad is by studying the Bible.

Sadly, most Christians never open a Bible. Is it any wonder that so many are sidetracked or led astray by unbiblical or anti-biblical nonsense? It is just as it says in 2 Peter 2:1, "But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves." But even those who read the Bible and study it are very easily led astray. I believe this is because we have let the world influence us instead of us influencing the world as we are supposed to. I've even heard Pastors preach the gospel of CNN from the pulpit in direct opposition of the words of Christ. In my experience there are two big avenues of attack that we have become conditioned to surrender to. These two words have become magic incantations to make us believe the ridiculous.

The first is a man of letters. It's a phrase that is not often used anymore, but it's modern incarnation is even more effective today than ever. This refers to a person with an advanced degree or degrees. It was a reference to the letters that would properly be placed before and after their name once they had achieved a higher level of learning. This was to infer that this was a man that should be listened to. However, a doctorate doesn't mean someone is right. What it means is they took the right classes, and wrote a dissertation that was accepted by a panel of professors who already have doctorates in the field. It's an achievement worthy of respect and honor. But it's not a magical ceremony that confers infallibility.

Today we've gone beyond respect and moved into blind acceptance. I find this more than a little weird. People will accept words of those with advanced degrees without question or the slightest bit of skepticism. It's almost as if a Doctorate is beyond question. Why don't they ask the Doctor about their track record? For example, Paul Erlich, author of "The Population Bomb" has been wrong about almost every single prediction he has made. He predicted that in the 1970's more than a billion people were going to die of starvation because the population had exceeded the maximum capacity of the Earth to support it. Of course, our population has more than doubled since then and there is no great famine that wipes out half the population of the planet in starvation. Perhaps if this "expert" would take some time to get to know the real Earth instead of only spending time in metropolises he'd realize how relatively empty the planet actually is. Despite his almost perfect record of being wrong, he is still cited as an expert. How many stories in the media start with the phrase, "Experts were surprised by…" It seems these so-called experts are always surprised. So why does the media consider them experts? More importantly, why do we listen to the media?

Look at relationship and/or marriage "experts". I've never met or even heard of a person with a Doctorate who purports to be a relationship or marriage expert that has only been married once. Most have had several marriages. I read of one who is on his seventh wife. While he may be an expert on getting married, I don't think that helps people who are trying to stay married. Dr. Phil refers over and over about how long he has been married to Robin. He doesn't mention his failed first marriage or why he got divorced. I'm not saying you shouldn't listen to people with Doctorates. I'm just saying we shouldn't be so superficial. Even worse, in trying to convince you to a particular point of view the media will introduce someone as Doctor so-and-so even when their degree is only honorary. If you don't know, an honorary doctorate isn't a real doctorate. There has been no study, no classes, no dissertation, and no knowledge. It's a publicity scheme, mostly on the part of the university. Someone gets famous for something they did, or an entertainment they starred in, and a university chooses to "honor" them with an honorary degree. The idea is to tie the school to the coattails of the celebrity to increase their own stature, and promote fundraising for the school. The upshot is these people don't know anything more about the subject than a hot dog vendor. I would bet the hot dog vendor would know more as he lives in the real world.

The second word that has been given the cover of infallibility is "scientist". I find this one even weirder than doctor. I don't understand how people hear the word scientist and suspend their common sense. They don't seem to notice that different scientists have completely opposite views. There are always contrary views. They can't both be right. Therefore, being a scientist doesn't make someone right. Of course, some people try to cite a "consensus" among scientists. There is no such thing as consensus in science. Something is either a fact or it's not. Facts are not up for a vote. Science is proven by repeatable experimentation. Unfortunately, most of what passes for science these days is really philosophy with a veneer of scientific terminology. If it can't be tested in a lab, and repeated with the same results in another lab it's speculation and philosophy, not science.

Of course the media only makes things worse. They quote from or put on the airwaves someone they introduce as a "scientist", thereby implying that you should just accept their words. They'll bring this "scientist" in to talk about the environment, when their degree's field of study is metallurgy. Worse, they'll introduce someone as a "scientist" when they are no such thing. A perfect example is Bill Nye "the science guy". Bill Nye has a Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. His "doctorate" is purely honorary. A bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering isn't going to get you a job designing parts for NASA. In most cases, they're just a little guy working under the guy with the advanced degree. Regardless, Bill Nye isn't a scientist. He's just an actor. He played a science guy on TV. I wouldn't trust him on any scientific topic any more than I would trust Paris Hilton. I enjoyed the TV show Stargate Atlantis. But the episode with Bill Nye in it ruined the series for me. It took a show from good science-fiction to lame fantasy in one episode. The premise of having Bill Nye join in to figure out how to save everyone from high-end physics run amok wasn't just silly, it was insulting. Besides, the vast majority of real scientists are just average people who actually paid attention to math and science in high school, and got a degree by passing their classes in college. The majority aren't the exceptionally smart people the media portrays them as. Only a tiny percentage ever come up with anything original.

The answer to the question of who to listen to is simple. If you're a Christian, listen to God. It's not hard. It doesn't require a special talent or gift. You don't have to strain to hear him or divine what the signs are. Just pick up your Bible, open it, and read it. When some "expert" contradicts the Bible, I listen to the Bible. "Experts" are proven wrong all the time. The Bible has stood the test of time.

Even better, get involved in a Bible study. If you can't find one, or your schedule makes it difficult, there are Bible studies online. The main focus of this website is the Bible Study. This is a verse by verse Bible study taking a book of the Bible and discovering what it is saying in context, and in the context of the Bible as a whole. You can also download Bible study Podcasts and listen to them when you have time. Most of us spend a lot of time commuting to and from work. Listening to one of these podcasts would make a good use of that time. I can recommend a really good one. It's the Wednesday night podcasts of years past from Celebration Church in Green Bay, Wisconsin. I've listed them on the Links Page. Of course, I find a lot of value in the Sunday morning topical sermons as well. Either way, be sure to read the Bible yourself.

In the end, don't be quick to accept the words of man. Scams and false teaching sound good and sound reasonable. If they didn't it wouldn't be so easy to lead us astray. Don't even accept my words. Test what I have to say against the words of the Bible. A big warning sign is if someone insists that you should listen to their words without question. Another is someone who is resistant to even listen to words to the contrary. A third is someone who insists you decide now, before you have a chance to check out other things. Those are sure signs that they are trying to deceive, and they know what they are doing.