"Well, you may believe that 1 + 1 is 2, but I have my own ideas.  I will
respect your belief if you respect mine."

     I wish that things were simpler in life.. I'll bet you do too.  I can't
stand the fact that relativism has blossomed so greatly in this world, but I
guess it makes sense that it would.  I mean.. since the truth is something
that is seldom easy to deal with, a lot of people develop their own ideas of
just what the truth is, and say that it's perfectly fine for anyone to believe
what they want about what is true, just so long as they don't expect others to
have to believe the same thing.  
     But think about this.  If someone told you that they believed that when
you drop something, it falls up, would you really respect that idea?  And what
does "respect" mean anyway?  I mean, I know that everyone's opinions are
worthy enough that they shouldn't just be maliciously stomped on by those who
consider themselves right, but the problem is.. many people simply refuse the
idea they should have to believe in something.  They feel much as the old
saying goes, "Live and let live."  They want to remain attached to the
notions that their ideas, wherever they happened to come from, are as
legitimate as anyone else's.  But think about this for a moment.  If we
regarded everyone's opinions as right, no matter what they were dealing with,
the world simply would not be able to run.. at all.  If one person says "it's
sunny outside" and another person says, "It's overcast".. isn't one of them
wrong?  I guess the problem for this argument lies in the fact that when it
comes to certain things, the proof isn't so easy to come by.. and often, the
truth *is* rather difficulty to deal with, so many simply choose to believe
their *own* truth..  and want us all to accept their idea as though it were
just as valid as the actual truth.
     And this is where one of the greatest fights in the history of the world
takes root.  Everyone wants to be right.. nobody wants to be wrong... but the
fact is, if the truth were truly sketched in front of our eyes so we could
measure it, then we'd notice that.. well.. some people are right about many
things, some are right about few.. but nobody is wrong about everything.  
     I guess that a lot of this fight develops surrounding "religion" and
"deity" because we have so little we can do to really *prove* what "religion"
is the correct one.. or demonstrate that one opinion of who God really is
comes far closer to the truth than another opinion.  We have a Bible, yes..
but not everyone agrees just what belongs in the Bible, much less if it is
actually a book from God.  Out of our own desires for comfort, we accept what
makes us comfortable, and refuse to accept that which makes us feel like we
are less than we conceive ourselves to be.  
     I mean.. few people are willing to disbelieve that Jesus ever walked on
the planet.  Some do.. but most at least accept His existence as true.  Yet
when it comes to His authority and His demonstration of what is actually
"true" and what isn't.. what is the desired state wherein a human should live,
and what are the states from which they should run.. people are very divided.
Of course.. it's not like Jesus didn't inform us that this is what was
guaranteed to happen.  Yet the real tragedy isn't that there are so many
nonbelievers in the world.. but that those who claim to know God often differ
in their ideas.. and if they really pressed close enough to God, these
differences would dissipate.  What is true is true regardless of what people
say.. yet finding what is true seems to be the most difficult task on the
entire planet.  With the Bible being a "Spiritual" book.. in which only those
who truly seek God out of a pure heart will know what it actually says.. it is
natural to assume that many will have their own opinions about what the Bible
says.. and even go so far as to say, "What I have come to know is that the
Bible says this, and if you say otherwise, you have to be wrong.. period."  
The thing is, this wouldn't be so bad *IF* all the people who did this didn't
disagree.. and if they all knew the real truth.
     But back to my initial problem.  Why is it that everyone wants their
ideas respected?  It's purty simple really.. it's because everyone wants to
think that they're living an o.k. life.. that they aren't doing anything
really "wrong".. and they don't need to change.  What's more.. they certainly
aren't very interested (for the most part) in changes which are
extremely difficult, if not painful.  Yet, the truth often requires this of us
-- that we accept something which causes us to see ourselves in a purer
light.. a light that truly shows who we are.. faults and all.  As well.. the
truth requires us to cast aside any false ideas that we have developed over
possibly many years of life -- but who wants to throw away something they've
put 40 years into finding the answer to?  I mean.. think about an inventor who
spends 40 years trying to make the first automobile engine... He finally comes
up with something that seems to do the job, but it sends tons of harmful
pollutants into the atmosphere.. The world isn't about to throw away the motor
car.  But what if the world got to a point where if we keep driving our cars
around, within 1 year's time, there won't be enough oxygen to breathe?  I'll
bet that some people would still want to drive cars.. and furthermore.. the
dealers would have tons of money that they invested into their stockyards of
cars and car parts.. and would still want to sell off cars as long as they
could.. even though it would bring more harmful emissions into the atomsphere.
Only through extreme law enforcement would this ban on car-usage be able to
take effect.  And I'm doubting that the whole world would have enough people
and funding to stop the emissions from occurring.  So.. if in fact cars do
produce pollution.. a pollution that does not get recycled and dealt with by
our planet.. then why do we drive them?  Well.. convenience mostly.. that and
the fact that they seem so necessary in today's society.  One can't really get
to work too easily when it's a 40 mile commute each way unless one has some
sort of powered vehicle.. it's natural these days to travel via automobile..
jet.. bus.. etc.  But all of these produce exhaust.. and I'm willing to bet
that none are pollution free.
     Ok.. enough of my example.. let's make it concrete.  Everyone on this
planet has their own desires.  Everyone wants to think of themselves as
something worthwhile... and nobody likes to hear the words "you're wrong."  If
someone spends years holding onto some idea.. and gets comfort from it, it is
often rather difficult to wrench this idea from their heart -- with all they
have put into it and gotten out of it.. how could they dare let it depart..
especially if some new idea seems far less plausible.. and far more difficult
to deal with.  Everyone wants things as easy as possible.. or to put it
another way.. everyone is lazy to a point.  Everyone wants as much handed to
them as they can get.. so they can live with as little effort as possible.
The difficulty lies in the fact that.. living a life which is true.. and
pure.. and leads to the best results at its end.. lies along a proverbial
"narrow road."  Few people are interested in taking extremely narrow roads up
mountainsides.. why?  Simple.. nobody wants to fall off.. and nobody wants to
battle through all the brush along the sides in order to keep going up it.
Everyone wants the easiest road they can get their hands on.. but.. the easy
path leads further and further away from true happiness.  Only a rather narrow
road ends up leading to the best conclusion we could find.
     So.. my question is.. why do we have to *respect* an idea that is wrong?
Well.. I guess a few reasons might be.. a) Because they may have come out of
years of thought.. and the people are rather attached to these ideas... b)
Because it's always dangerous to think that our own ideas are always right..
and not giving creedence to what is truly the right idea will squash it rather
nicely.  I'm having trouble thinking of other reasons currently, but these two
cover a lot of ground.  I guess that.. as I see this reasoning.. I realize
that.. many people have lived with their ideas for years.. or come to them via
agonizing struggles.. and aren't about to abandon them now.  The problem,
however, rests in the fact that.. these people who want their ideas respected
often simply desire this because they are afraid of the consequences of being
wrong.  They adamantly require that we "accept as legitimate" what they tell
us.. or what they say they believe.. in order to prove that their ideas are
just as worthwhile as ours.  But.. as any Chairman of the Board in any big
business knows.. you can't just accept as legitimate the ideas that come from
someone who doesn't know what they're talking about.  Some joe off the
street.. or some clerk from the mail room probably doesn't know too much about
how the business needs to run.. as far as bringing in the most profits, etc..
and the chairman can't afford to gamble billions of dollars on someone who
simply hasn't proven that they know what they're talking about.  Any company
president is going to stand up and say that quite a few ideas coming from
below him in the ranks are.. well.. misguided and misled.. why?  Because he
knows from experience what makes the business run smoothly and what will
destroy it.  Now.. this is not to say that street-joes or mailroom clerks
never have insights which could *help* the business.. but, most businesses are
built on the idea that.. almost always.. ideas from way down in the chain of
command really have no place in the executive decisions.  I doubt that many of
you reading this would see this as unfair.. but more likely as the way things
need to work.  The problem is, these 'street-joes' and clerks sometimes have
brilliant ideas.. and often they get squashed, simply be*cause* they *are*
street-joes and clerks.  And maybe this is one reason why everyone holds onto
their ideas so tightly... because they have seen those who are supposedly
"in-the-know" stomp on those who have no reputation.. just because they
disagree with what the higher-ups say.  It happens a lot.. as most of you have
seen.. and causes a lot of grief at times.  If only the truth were able to
come out as readily as water from a spigot... and that it didn't have to taste
just like we wanted it to in order for it to be "good water".  
     Ok.. I left out something kind of important.. and unfortunately, I expect
a lot of you to either burn this (after getting this far) or switch locations
on your web-browser.. simply because you refuse to believe it.. but here goes.
     The main reason why everyone wants their own ideas to be "worthwhile" is
because of their pride.  People want to see themselves.. not just as
"worthwhile".. but "beyond others..".. or even "the top of the heap."  People
want to be treated equally.. but even moreso.. they want what they want.. they
want whatever their own desires are.. and one of them is comfort... comfort in
the notion that their ideas are right.. and are as pure as freshly fallen
snow.  They refuse to subject themselves to anything as painful as a
"critique".. because they are unwilling to accept the notion that they could
be wrong.  Some people are so adamantly this way that they lose friends left
and right.. I had one such friend.. but eventually I had no more patience
left, and I gave up on trying to keep the friendship alive.  
     But continuing on pride... We all have this desire within us to see
ourselves as "worthwhile".. and often.. this desire manifests itself as refusal
to see our own weaknesses.  Virtually noone wants to see themselves as
"weak".. and in this world where the weak are viewed as less than the strong..
any weakness one might have end up lowering their "picture" of themselves.. in
their eyes and others'.  So.. how can anyone dare let themselves see any of
their own weaknesses?  It reminds me of a scene in the 80's mini-series "V".
In this scene.. one of the major aliens people was commenting on the Bible..
how it showed her that she had weaknesses.. She commented on how she had
never seen them before..  and how it changed her view of herself.  She then,
out of anger, shot the priest who had brought her the Bible.  Seems rather
similar, doesn't it?  Nobody wants to see their own weaknesses.. cuz it makes
them feel like they're far less than they really are.
     And that's one of the real keys.  Everyone wants to believe that they are
special.. unfortunately, belief that God is who He is and that He sent Jesus
for the reasons the Bible illuminates does get everyone to see their
weaknesses.. and thanks to their own thought processes (as well as satan's
help) they end up running the other direction.. cuz they don't want to deal
with how seeing their own weaknesses makes them feel.  They don't want to
deal with the idea that they "need" someone who they can't see.. someone who
is more loving or more powerful than they are.. much less perfect.  It is a
real humility-booster and pride-squisher to find out that we really *can't*
make it on our own.. that we *must* elicit help from someone else.. and that
if we don't, we're doomed to perish.  Few people are willing to hear this..
and so.. many hold onto the notion that their own beliefs are just as
legitimate as the truth.. even if they disagree with it... after all..  in
their eyes.. what a Christian believes and what they believe are both just
beliefs.. and neither is any better than any other.  Unfortunately for those
who take on this notion.. some beliefs *are* better than others.. simply
because all beliefs have a "measure" of truth in them.. and some measure far
greater than others.. some have very little truth to them at all.. if any..
and some are far more filled with what is actually true.  Beliefs *can* be
rated.. as to their worth.  Yet beliefs themselves do not make you a more
worthwhile person.. having true beliefs does one very important thing.. lead
you towards more true beliefs.
     Those who are willing to acknowledge that they are wrong when they truly
*are* wrong will find themselves in a far better position in life than those
who just hold onto their false beliefs.  As I said earlier, however.. finding
out what is really true and what is really right is a huge challenge in this
world.  Many people hold onto science simply because its precepts are so easy
to write down and know and rely on.. whereas finding truth through faith is
one of the most difficult things we'll have to do in this life.  It may seem
impossible to really find the truth when it can't be empirically proven, but
God has promised us that if we seek it.. we shall find it.. if we keep on
seeking.  If we keep on looking for the truth, we can find it.. if we only
refuse to stop looking until we are completely certain that we have it.
     Ok.. so.. what about "respecting" a person's beliefs?  I tend to take a
very strong stance on this... one which makes me rather unpopular.. but
popularity isn't the key to eternal life.  I am willing to respect that maybe
someone has come to beliefs over decades.. and that.. at least in their own
hearts, what they have come up with has seemed to have done a great deal of
good.  Yet.. to truly "respect" a belief does not mean I will respect it as
right.  I will willingly acknowledge that no easily accessible standard
exists to prove what is true.. but I do know that there *is* a standard out
there.. and that those who are willing to press in and learn what that
standard is.. and then listen and conform themselves to that standard.. shall
end up with a reward that they'll never see the end of.  No "wrong" or
"incorrect" belief ought to be given the same precedence in the world that
truth is.  Yet as Jesus told us, they will be.. all the way up until He
comes back.  And when He does come back, I am rather sure that He's going
to eradicate the false understanding and show us what is really true.
     So.. the next time you ask someone to respect your belief.. ask
yourself.. "is this because I'm uncomfortable with the idea that I could be
wrong.. or because I would be uncomfortable with the consequences if I am
wrong?"  If you find this to be the case.. you might want to give your heart
a thorough look.. you just might find out that you're missing something.
     And for those of you who have heard this phrase a few times.. the "I
respect your beliefs, please respect mine".. realize one very important
thing:  Often the reason why they want their ideas respected is because.. as
children.. or even now as adults.. they often deal or have dealt with times
where they were actually correct/right.. but those around them.. maybe their
bosses.. maybe their husbands..  maybe their parents.. refused to listen..
and so.. they had to deal with their ideas being squashed.. even though they
*were* right.  Everyone wants to feel accepted.. and to know that they are
loved.  So give them what they need.  Maybe if we truly loved them, they
might be willing to see things more clearly.  But maybe not.. after all..
it's only my belief.