There are basically three ways to learn something new. Sometimes you learn over time, without really noticing that you have learned anything. It’s sort of like watching a puppy grow – you don’t actually realize anything has changed until you see pictures from a few months ago and realize that this thing has gotten huge! Having grown up in church, much of my spiritual formation occurred in tiny easy-to-digest bites like this. I’d guess that most learning throughout our lives happens naturally this way.
Did you know that every time an armadillo gives birth, they have identical quadruplets? Yep, it’s true. Look it up. Sometimes you learn something that you never knew you didn’t know. This, I think, is the easiest way to learn new information. It occupies a piece of your brain that was vacant and ready for a little truth nugget to take up residence. It’s like hearing a sermon, or a podcast, or having a conversation and thinking,“Wow, I never thought of that before.”
The third way we learn is the most difficult. It is when some new bit of information comes along that contradicts what we already thought we knew. Remember the lady that sued McDonalds when she spilled hot coffee on herself? What if I told you that it wasn’t an insane frivolous lawsuit but was a completely justified and correct course of action for her to take. Again, it’s true. Look it up. If you’ve never heard the whole story, your first thought is probably that I’m wrong and there is no way McDonalds should be responsible for a clumsy lady spilling coffee.
When presented with new information that contradicts what we believe, even if that information is reliable, accurate and true, studies show that people will reject it, preferring to hold onto their previous (if now untenable) ideas. This happens when you hear a sermon, or a podcast, or have a conversation and think, “Nope. That can’t be true. I mean it sounds true, and they backed it up with some good evidence, but…no way.”
These are the truths that we wrestle with, especially if one new truth affects several areas of our lives of belief systems. If x is true, what do I do about y and z? This thought alone can be daunting enough to make us reject the new truth for the sake of the familiar comfort of our old truth.
In the American Church, we have many traditions and long held ideas that are not based on Biblical doctrine or objective truth, but we hold onto them like they are bits of precious truth. Jesus challenged the way that religious leaders did this and turned the whole thing upside-down. I doubt that his revolutionary vision was to have his followers evolve (or devolve) back into the same thing.
It’s time to take inventory of what we know, and what we think we know. I picked up a lot of truths growing up in the church, and I’ve had to spend some time putting down some of them. They were very easy to learn, and very difficult, even in light of new evidence, to let go of. But as followers of Jesus, we are called to pursue truth. And if anyone needs more interesting armadillo facts, or wants to discuss the hot coffee lawsuit, just let me know.
--Jeff Hyson
