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Dripping Springs Weekly Bulletins
I May Be Wrong, But . . .
It doesn’t take a special talent to be wrong every once in a while. All of us have found ourselves in that predicament. Even the most talented and intelligent people have been wrong at times – sometimes dramatically wrong! Albert Einstein is quoted as saying in 1932:
“THERE IS NOT THE SLIGHTEST INDICATION THAT NUCLEAR ENERGY WILL EVER BE OBTAINABLE.”
What…no nuclear energy?
When Franklin Delano Roosevelt was Assistant Secretary of the Navy in the 1930’s, he proclaimed:
“AIRPLANES WILL NEVER BE USEFUL IN BATTLE AGAINST A FLEET OF SHIPS.”
He must have been embarrassed a bit on December 7, 1941.
Perhaps Charles H. Duell, Commissioner of the U. S. Patent Office, made the most amazingly wrong statement of the 19th century:
“EVERYTHING THAT CAN BE INVENTED HAS ALREADY BEEN INVENTED.”
Perhaps that seemed to be true in 1899, but it is so pitifully wrong that Duell’s comment is among the most often quoted when this subject arises. “What will they think of next?” may cross our mind occasionally, especially when we see new technology arising almost overnight. No one has a “patent” on being wrong.
Someone has said that the hardest single word to say is “no,” the two hardest words to say are ”I’m sorry,” and the three hardest words to say are “I was wrong.” History, politics — even the Bible — tells of those who were “oh so wrong,” and often wrong about the most significant matters.
King Saul may have been the best man available at the time to
serve as king over Israel, but he was insecure and fearful of the opinions of the people. Consequently, he made some poor choices, disobeyed God’s commands and was rebuked by God’s prophet, 1 Samuel 15:16-23.
Ahab was a most wicked King and he and his wife, Jezebel, called Elijah “the troubler” of Israel, but he was dead wrong.
The Jewish Sanhedrin Court was wrong when they thought they could silence the rise of true Christianity by putting Jesus to death. The High Priest was wrong when he plotted to arrest Jesus, wrong when a mockery of a trial was held, and wrong when he refused to believe in Jesus. His name is best known, even centuries later, as one who put to death the Son of God. No, it is not profitable to be wrong, whether in our investment portfolio, choosing a profession or failing to protect our health. The results can be devastating.
Why not consider the following “wrongs” common to the present:
- The “fool” is wrong when he says, “there is no God,” Proverbs 14:1, 53:1. The evidence is compelling for all who will examine with an open, logical mind.
- Christians are wrong when they fail to study the revelation of God, the Bible. Within its pages are found the very substance of faith, the hope of eternal life, the way of truth and right, and the solution to man’s troubles with others. You haven’t been wrong about this, have you?
- America is wrong when we prefer diversity over unity, perversion over purity, talent over integrity, beauty over character and individual rights over what God has declared “right”.
- The religious world is wrong when men think they can live in sin, rebel against God, but expect to inherit heaven anyway. Religious leaders are wrong when man’s opinions and doctrines are held up as equal or superior to God’s Word. They endanger their own souls as well as those of their hearers when they refuse to “handle aright the word of truth,” 2 Timothy 2:15. And we are wrong if we are afraid to herald the truth about God and His Word.
- God’s people are wrong when we refuse to give as we have been “prospered” and fail to “pray without ceasing” (1 Corinthians 16:1-2, 1 Thessalonians 5:17). Are we not wrong when we put most of our energy into making money, improving our physical skills and professional opportunities rather than to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” Matthew 6:33?
- Our educational systems are wrong when they hide their eyes and ears from the evidence for God and creation, avoid their responsibilities to encourage morality, and when they deny their mandate to motivate our youth to seek truth regardless of its impact upon what is “politically correct.”
It is not strength and wisdom that tells us to ignore the possibility that we are “wrong,” or to suggest there is no such thing as being “wrong.” Consider Solomon’s words:
“Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, instruction and understanding,” Proverbs 23:23
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“The man who says ‘I may be wrong, but...’ does not believe there is any such possibility.”
“Men are apt to prefer a prosperous error to an afflicted truth.”
“Scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of the demand.”
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