Reading for February 21-25
Acts 19:22-41
Paul’s 3nd Missionary Journey
Thursday
“Citizens of Ephesus,” he said. “Everyone knows that Ephesus is the official guardian of the temple of the great Artemis, whose image fell down to us from heaven. 36 Since this is an undeniable fact, you should stay calm and not do anything rash." Acts 19:35-36 (NLT)
Are You Under the Spell of “Everyone Knows”?
Pastor’s Reflections
“Everyone knows Andy Reid can’t win a super bowl”. “Everyone knows that time is money” “Everyone knows the earth revolves around the sun”.
Ever heard an “everyone knows” statement? When I hear one, it stifles me. I’m silenced, at least for the moment. If I politely disagree, I put myself out of the mainstream of “common knowledge”. Or I put the commenter on the defensive, not polite in social circles. If I am silenced by the all knowing “everyone knows” statement and then simply forget about it I run the risk of empowering a completely false yet dominant way of thinking, even empowering a completely false view of the world.
“Everybody knew” that slavery was economically necessary, that blacks were inferior, that they were built to be “beasts of burdon”. It was common knowledge. William Wilberforce spent 40 years standing up and saying “Not so!”. What “everyone knew” was wrong!
The mayor of Ephesus calmed the crowd by saying, “Don’t worry, Everyone Knows Artemis is God and we are the center of Her worship” “Don’t worry about it, we know she’s a real goddess.”
I wonder how many Ephesians went home that day placated into dismissing Christ because of the authority of the one in authority simply saying, “everyone knows”.
Very well said. There is a corollary to the "everyone knows" and that is the "experts say." There is one way out of that one. It is to ask, "Why do the experts say?" or "What evidence do the experts use to support that."
ReplyDeleteMaybe we can ask how everyone knows...