Even if you do not believe in the Big Three, can you still think your way through it?
In our world, many final decisions on a given topic may be reached prematurely because of some boundaries we have placed upon our thinking.
If we do not allow our minds to see the whole picture, if we won’t allow a thought to proceed beyond a certain point, there are both benefits and drawbacks. That mindset certainly allows for a quick conclusion, but if we are truly seeking truth, it could be a roadblock.
After reading some of our great thinkers, digesting their thought process, looking at the results, as opposed to intentions, I have defined my Big Three. What are yours?
- If you do, or do not, believe in the reality of one true God.
- If you do, or do not, believe in the exceptional nature of America.
- If you do, or do not, believe in yourself.
Can you see how these different mindsets can enhance or encumber your ability to see the whole truth?
- If you choose to not believe in the reality of one God, the creator and judge of all that is, then there is no roadmap, no big hope, no fear of judgement outside your own. If you do believe, it clarifies how you are to live, treat your fellow man, focus your hope, and in doing so clear your conscience.
- If you choose to see the USA as nothing more than the nations that preceded it, there is nothing to protect. If you see the difference made for the common man under this flag, you will also understand its lack of perfection, for we are but human, but you will also rejoice in the freedom and prosperity and want to preserve them.
- If you choose not to believe that, with God’s help, you can live a life that is both of service to others and beneficial to you and those who count on you, you will find some justification as to why others must provide for you.
Can you see that the world is now more complex, right thinking more urgent, truth more valuable than ever, if for no other reason than the speed of communication, the destructive quality of modern warfare, and the rapidly growing immorality of man?
We, as humans, can make decisions. That is what makes us different. When my youngest son was about 12 years old, he announced that man is the only animal that can make decisions. Animals can choose — to go this way or that, eat or not eat, etc. — but cannot decide, cannot make a decision. I looked up the definition of “decide.” It read, “Come to a resolution in the mind as a result of consideration.” The boy was right. He saw something I had not yet seen.
In the more than forty years since then, I have seen many things I had not seen before. I believe, and hope to be true, that that is the path of all mankind. We must learn from the past, or we will be forced to repeat it.
In the recent past, Bob Dylan once sagely wrote, “Anyone not busy being born is busy dying.” Another wise man from the distant past, King Solomon, wrote in the first chapter of Proverbs (1:7), “Fear of God is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
That is a good place to start.
Image: Marco Verch Professional Photographer and Speaker via Flickr, CC BY 2.0.