Facts vs. Belief

"Don't confuse me with the facts." Ever hear anyone say that. I notice that attitude on display so often. Whether it be our beliefs about God & religion, about politics, or even about more personal things, we often want to stay loyal to our beliefs, feelings, pride, grudges, or whatever, no matter what the facts are. When we want to believe something, especially about ourselves, the facts can really get in the way and we often disregard them. In the study I have been doing for Sunday School on prophecy, I have tried to leave that attitude behind. I was raised Premillenial and pretrib. It would have been easy for me to simply teach those positions while gently mentioning the other two and saying that they are wrong. Instead, I sought out teaching on the other position from those that really believe it and tried to learn their perspective. I carefully examined and took seriously their critiques of the point of view I was raised with. I wanted to evaluate it from a fresh perspective and be ready to be convinced if how I was raised was wrong. The result was interesting. At first, I began to think maybe I had been wrong. Initial inquiries raised some doubts and thoughts in me. This made me dig deeper and really research. I am not going to adopt something (or continue to hold something) that doesn't work out. In the end, the approach of being more interested in the facts than in being right led me to a much deeper and broader understanding of the subject than I have ever had before. My beliefs now on this are much stronger and more informed than before. I try to do the same with politics. I examine my own preconceptions and biases and try to see what truth there is outside of the narrow terms we tend to think in, wanting only to be reinforced in our beliefs. I wish more people would sit back and take a careful look at facts and always be ready to reexamine their positions, not because truth changes, the truth of God is constant and eternal, but because real truth will always stand up to hard questioning and investigation, and sometimes...just sometimes...we can be wrong. :)