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Rational Lies

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I confess, I have long been a fan of dry humor and witty puns and homonyms. The cleverest of puns still tickle me because of the unexpected twist that causes my mind to quickly think in a different way.

I discovered one such example years ago when I was contemplating the way I would sometimes “rationalize” things that weren’t true. Have you ever done that? Act or think in a wrong way yet ‘rationalize’ that you are actually right? It is pride’s attempt to excuse the need to look at oneself or a situation through eyes filtered by truth.

Saying the word “rationalize” out loud over and over and ever so slowly, I heard the words “rational lies.” And it occurred to me that while I was trying to rationalize/justify my behavior and thoughts, I was actually telling myself lies that my pride wanted to make rational: hence, rational lies.

Rationality is defined as “the quality or state of being reasonable. (It) implies the conformity of one’s beliefs with one’s reasons to believe, or of one’s actions with one’s reasons for action. A rational decision is one that is not just reasoned, but is also optimal for achieving a goal or solving a problem.”

One problem with human rationality is that our ‘reason’ is often twisted by our desire to solve a problem our own way and to our benefit. We perceive facts and situations through our own filters, not always as they really are. And when our “rationalizing” is based on our internalized and often misguided filtering, believing in “rational lies” is really an irrational behavior…”irrational rationality.”

I gave one example in an earlier blog post when as a small child, I rationalized that my mother had abandoned me in a large department store. After all, I suddenly found myself all alone, frightened and angry. So instead of dealing with the real truth that it was I who had strayed, I ‘rationalized’ that she had left me. With such rationalization, didn’t I have a ‘right’ be angry?

Isn’t it sometimes that way in our relationship with God? We begin to forget God’s presence in our lives, we turn away from His direction and go our own way. Suddenly, we find ourselves in a desperate situation and wonder why God abandoned us. But in reality, we were the ones who abandoned Him.

The way to deal with ‘rational lies’ is to bring them in comparison with Truth. It is the same way bankers examine potentially counterfeit bills; they compare them side by side with the real ones. Consider what ‘rational lies’ you sometimes believe and bring them to the One True God today. Let Him help you compare them to His truth.

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15

Did you hear the one about the Muslim, the Christian, and the Jew?

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It sounds like the opening of a bad joke, but in this case, it is part of the continuing story that God is weaving around this “bump in our road.” Yesterday, we shared the story of an interesting conversation with a stranger who is Muslim. Today brought another unexpected conversation, this time with a Jewish man.

It had been a good day, though tiring. Marcia had just left to return to Newton and I was resting when a young man stopped by to visit me. I thought to myself, “I don’t know this guy from Adam,” and then he introduces himself saying, “Hi, my name is Adam.” He proceeded to tell me that he volunteers here to get more hospital experience as part of his college studies.

He asked me how I was doing and I told him the absolute truth: that I am doing great because God has been so merciful to me in this medical situation. I must have said something about Jesus strengthening me, because he replied, “I’m Jewish.” With no sense of God’s hand over my mouth today and with a feeling of Judeo-Christian connectedness to this man, I shared how I too believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

I told him that it was the very testimonies of faith of the Old Testament (his Jewish Bible) that spoke so clearly to me in my hospital stay, briefly citing three examples:

  • Abraham was ‘fully persuaded’ that God had power to do what He promised.
  • Joshua pursued wisdom, courage, and strength in his time of need. (See our earlier blog about this.)
  • Daniel’s contemporaries maintained strong faith in the midst of a (literally) fiery trial.

But the puzzled look on his face stopped me. He told me he didn’t know these stories and that it had been a long time since he had been to “services.” He quickly added that as a Jewish man he did observe certain customs and traditions.

Seeking one more attempt to link with this young man, I told him how my Jewish “aunt” would say, “We all hold pieces of each other’s puzzle,” that each of us were given ‘extra’ pieces to share with others. He said that he had never thought of life that way, that it must be true, and that he would have to think about that.

He changed the subject to the pictures on the table of my family and left shortly after. And I thought to myself about the difference between the tradition of going to church (thinking that God lives in a building) and experiencing a real personal relationship with the one true living and loving God.

Faith is belief that we act on. It is like a muscle; the more we exercise it, the stronger it becomes.