(Galatians 2:18)
One of the most embarrassing things to do, one of the most embarrassing positions to be is to be caught in the web of CONTRADICTION.
As humans, we are expected to have PRINCIPLES and POLICIES we live by. There are things we condemn because they go against our life’s PRINCIPLES.
But sometimes as we grow older and get better understanding, our PRINCIPLES and POLICIES change. The problem is, when we have made so much noise on some issues, when we grow and have better understanding about them and change our views, we are seen as HYPOCRITES! People don’t forget such things easily- our society doesn’t seem to believe opinions can change.
So, when a Preacher teaches that “the Television is the Devil’s Box and those who watch it WILL go to hell” and decades later, he changes his mind and starts preaching on the same Television he once condemned (because he now has superior knowledge), he will be labeled a HYPOCRITE.
It is just the Contradictions of Life at work.
Paul wrote in the above quoted Scripture, “If I build again those things I destroyed, I MAKE MYSELF A TRANSGRESSOR”.
So, sometimes, we go back to what we once condemned not because we now know better or because we have grown and have better understanding, but because we are DESPERATE. In such moments, we become TRANGRESSORS.
In the Book of 1st Samuel Chapter 28, we read an interesting story about King Saul of Israel. In verse 3, we read that King Saul had evicted all Mediums and Witches from the Land of Israel. But some time later, he had a battle to face and he inquired of the Lord to know the outcome of the battle beforehand, what strategies to use to win and all that. The Lord did not answer him and he was AFRAID and DESPERATE. What did he do? He told one of his aides, “Find me a MEDIUM that I may inquire of her”!
Fear and Desperation make us do the craziest things sometimes.
The very Mediums and Witches he evicted from Israel are now who he was looking up to for help!
He found one and he DISGUISED himself to go see her. We all understand how SHAMEFUL it is to be seen doing the very things we once condemned.
I have seen people publicly condemn smoking cigarettes but smoke them secretly and get caught.
I have seen Politicians condemn some Politicians, Political Parties and Political Movements as “Corrupt, Structures of Criminality” in public, only to visit same people “Nicodemusly” at night.
I have seen women say, “I can NEVER marry a man I am taller than!”, only to marry dwarfs.
I have seen men say, “I can NEVER marry a woman from XXX Tribe!”, only for Cupid to shoot his arrow in that direction and they marry from the very tribe they had said they would NEVER marry from.
It’s all just the Contradictions of Life, folks.
Recently, I have seen Pastors apologize for their teachings on some topics 20 years ago. They not only PREACHED on these topics, they wrote BOOKS on them. People BOUGHT these books, READ them, BELIEVED them and APPLIED the principles in their lives and you now come 20 years later to say what you taught then was WRONG???
I can imagine the ANGST people would feel! The question now is, what else have you taught in the past 20 years that you won’t come back to apologize over sooner or later because you now believe it is WRONG?
That is the Problem with being very vocal and rigid on some of the things we believe to be RIGHT and TRUE: We just may change our take on them with time.
Apostle Paul was a strong Critic and Enemy of the Early Church. He was very zealous to crush the Church at its infancy: it was like his calling in life.
But he had an encounter on the Road to Damascus and his life took a dramatic turn: he started propagating the very thing he once condemned!
It’s all just the Contradictions of Life.
When we find ourselves “going back to our vomit” so to speak, we MUST make sure we are going from IGNORANCE to KNOWLEDGE, from DARKNESS to LIGHT, from FOOLISHNESS to WISDOM like Apostle Paul: in such situations, we have absolutely NOTHING to be ashamed of.
We should not be going from WISDOM to FOOLISHNESS like King Saul who evicted Mediums and Witches out of the Land of Israel but had to go see one out of DESPERATION and FEAR and had to DISGUISE himself because of SHAME.
The Contradictions of Life should never put us in such an embarrassing situation.
Shalom,
Haruna Daniels.