While the quote I’ll share at the end, came from an article about how people in the US should consider their vote in late 2024, the sentiment shared here is why I don’t hold anyone up on a pedestal. I’ve had people get upset with me for saying that I don’t care how well-researched someone is, if their views contradict Scripture, or read into Scripture things that otherwise aren’t there, I’m not going to agree with or concede that they are right. For as long as humans have lived on this earth, they have remained human, even those in the faith. Their humanity places their education and authority below that of God’s, and I’ve personally known people face to face, who honestly felt they were hearing from God when in reality they were hearing from a deceiving spirit. Unfortunately, anyone who tried to point this out would get shut out and if the pointing out was done online, they were blocked/banned, rather than seek God for clarification on what they thought they were hearing or teaching.
I’ve had people put ME on a pedestal, then got royally disillusioned or upset when I slide off that thing right on top of their heads! They can’t for the life of them understand how I was capable of sliding off that pedestal in the manner I did or said. But I am human too! It isn’t wise to elevate people to a position where they can’t do or say anything wrong. There was only one person to walk this earth to earn that position, and He was God in the Flesh, our Soon-coming King Who will walk this earth in the not-to-distant future, Jesus Christ!
Only God can handle being put on a pedestal, because He is God! People get disillusioned and upset with God too, because He didn’t play the part of the celestial slot machine or genie granting every wish they demand. But even when we don’t understand what He is or is not doing all the time, for those in the faith, situations always turn around for our good. Faith instead of fist-shaking, allows this to happen.
For fellow human beings, giving them space to be fallible is 100% necessary! Big name teachers can misinterpret Scripture just as well as someone who may never see a microphone or stand on a stage. The person studying the Scriptures at the dining room table has more clout in the mind of the Apostle Paul, than those who take his word at face value and never question it. So I leave you with this quote from a man who is no longer alive.
“John Adams, our second president, said, “We electors have an important constitutional power placed in our hands; we have a check upon two branches of the legislature … the power I mean of electing at stated periods [each] branch. … It becomes necessary to every [citizen] then, to be in some degree a statesman, and to examine and judge for himself of the tendency of political principles and measures. Let us examine, then, with a sober, a manly … and a Christian spirit; let us neglect all party [loyalty] and advert to facts; let us believe no man to be infallible or impeccable in government any more than in religion; take no man’s word against evidence, nor implicitly adopt the sentiments of others who may be deceived themselves, or may be interested in deceiving us.””
