I Bet You Won’t Read Past the Title
A few years ago, an organization called IFLScience.com published an article with the headline, Marijuana Contains “Alien DNA” From Outside Of Our Solar System, NASA Confirms. To date, it has received over a half-million shares. The only problem is that the article has nothing to do with Marijuana, aliens, or NASA. In fact, it was part of a test that succeeded with flying colors. The post was designed to test whether people would actually read an article before sharing it. As expected, the answer was often, “No”.
This is often the case on social media. When you share an article, people will often respond to the title without reading the post. I’ve had some first-hand experience with this recently. People saw the title of my blog post Beautifying our Profession and immediately started submitting angry comments about how we can’t change the Gospel to make it more appealing. What they didn’t realize was that I was making this exact point in my post. They didn’t realize that because they were hurriedly typing their response before they read it.
The Wisdom of Silence
While we are often quick to speak our minds, the Bible commands a different approach.
“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God”. [Jas 1:19–20 ESV]
Quick to hear slow to [type]. That’s not just wise advice, that’s God’s command. Yet so often I am ready to start speaking even before the other person finishes talking. I’m ready to respond before I’ve even heard the other person out. Proverbs spoke about this condition even hundreds of years before James.
“If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame”. [Pro 18:13 ESV]
This is simply wise. And it’s not really something that we don’t already know, is it? Who hasn’t embarrassed themselves at some point by angrily reacting to something someone says before hearing them out? Only to learn later that they were saying something entirely different than you thought. Which you would have known if you had only bothered to listen. We’re all guilty.
The Source of Our Shame
Let’s just name this sin for what it is, shall we? It’s pride. We instinctively believe that we know so much we don’t even need to bother to hear what anyone else has to say. We have all wisdom and knowledge. We know best what to do. But there’s really only one being in the universe who has all wisdom and knowledge and always knows best what to do. And I am not him. Neither are you.
But we are often tempted to act as though we are God. This is the first lie from Satan. “You will be as God”. And we fall for it. I fall for it. Almost every time. And that’s really what we’re saying when we speak without listening. When we react to the title without reading the post. We are saying that we are wiser than everyone else. As wise as God. I confess to my shame that too often I put myself in the place of God. God help me.
