Day 253- Ignorance, denial or censorship?

Video  

 

Reflection

Acts 13: 9-11

“Saul, also known as Paul, was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he looked the sorcerer in the eye. Then he said, “You son of the devil, full of every sort of deceit and fraud, and enemy of all that is good! Will you never stop perverting the true ways of the Lord? Watch now, for the Lord has laid his hand of punishment upon you, and you will be struck blind. You will not see the sunlight for some time.” Instantly mist and darkness came over the man’s eyes, and he began groping around begging for someone to take his hand and lead him.”

Saul and Barnabus are sent out on their first missions. They encounter all kinds of people in their willingness and ability to learn, understand and share in the knowledge of things. Some were ignorant, meaning they just didn’t know and hadn’t been exposed to certain ideas. Some were in denial and others were intentionally censoring information. On their travels they first went to Paphos and encountered a sorcerer named Bar-Jesus. He had gained a position of influence with the local Governor Sergios Paulus. Now Bar Jesus was intentionally misinforming this ignorant Governor. Saul and Barnabus soon educated the Governor by calling out the ill intentioned sorcerer.  The governor was open to learning and soon realized his ignorance and then was open to teaching and truth about the Lord.

The pair then moved onto Antioch of Psidia where they again encountered all types of people. The taught and many were open the Jews, the Jewish converts and the gentiles. There were many Jews though that were in denial and blocking any new knowledge and then there were also those that were intentionally trying to censor any new understanding or knowledge from reaching the people. Paul understood this and rather than trying to convince them based on his own understanding he used scripture that they all agreed upon to teach about Jesus. 

This is how we know it was denial and censorship that was occurring. We all have to be careful of doing this. We get so identified with our beliefs, ideas, groups, understanding that anything that threatens this is seen as threatening. When we feel threatened and want to ignore, deny or censor we should look within in to see what is going on. Usually it is fear of something. For the pharisees it was likely that they did not want to lose their position of power or authority. Their egos were taking over and trying to squelch anything that was a perceived threat to their power. 

There are many reasons why we might move from ignorance which has some plausible deniability to and therefor a excuse to not be responsible. But once we have some knowledge and we don’t respond to it we move into willfully denying or worse censoring. This has huge implications. We have responsibility at that point. But there is a natural progressions sometimes. We might all go though a period of denying and spend time and energy looking for excuses. 🙋‍♀️Guilty as charged. When you are in this phase it can be very painful. If we don’t eventually step up and take responsibility we risk making things worse. It causes and internal divide and cognitive dissonance which can cause all kinds of problems. We might turn to coping behaviors, taking it out on our relationships, numbing behaviors. 

This can eventually lead to censorship, we cut ourselves off from information. This might lead to cutting others off from information. This is called deceit and fraud. This can lead to a very dark place. You might not only take yourself down but you will likely hurt and take others down with you. Our egos as humans really need to be kept in check, they can convince us to do some really bad and harmful things. When you find yourself being tempted to ignore, deny or censor, ‘check yourself before you wreck yourself’.

God gave us authority, our ability to think critically based on learning and acquiring new knowledge help us in our ability to exercise agency in our own lives. When we are deprived intentionally of knowledge and complicit it also doing this to other we rob people of their ability to have full agency. This is what the Pharisees and the Jewish leaders were trying to do. What many in modern day religions, political parties, corporate structures. Unfortunately power corrupts. So we all need to take agency in our own lives and question, research be intentional about exposing ourselves to ideology and opinion. And unfortunately follow the money…

Admitting that you don’t know what you don’t know and being open might feel threatening, but the more you can lean into openness and curiosity and maybe even admitting that you might have been wrong is actually quite liberating. Knowledge, truth and love should be liberating. If your identity is staked on belonging to a group, believing a certain doctrine, or holding a certain position than this is  something is holding you captive.  God who is love came to set us free. It is ourselves that hold us captive within our own paradigms and constructs. 

 

Daily Journal Prompt: 

Are you 'guilty' of being willfully ignorant, in denial or even censorship in your own life? This is not easy to admit but it is very liberating because then you can begin dealing with what you need to in honesty. The reward of cognitive resonance, integrity,  peace of mind and heart is worth the journey of humilty. 

Tomorrows Reading: 

Acts Chapter 14

 

Coaching Opportunity: 

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