“Then
the
messenger
who
went
to
summon
Micaiah
spoke
to
him
saying,
‘Behold
now,
the
words
of
the
prophets
are
uniformly
favorable
to
the
king.
Please
let
your
word
be
like
the
word
of
one
of
them,
and
speak
favorably.’
But
Micaiah
said,
‘As
the
LORD
lives,
what
the
LORD
says
to
me,
that I will speak’” (2 Kings 22:13,14).
“We Couldn’t Be the Only Ones Right”
The
truck
arrives
every
other
Monday
to
pick
up
recyclables.
Yet,
sometimes
a
a
husband
and
wife
have
difficulty
remembering
whether
it
was
the
Monday
one
week,
or
two
weeks,
ago
that
they
had
last
set
out
them
out.
If
they
fail
to
put
them
out
when
they
should,
they
will
miss
the
truck
and
have
to
wait
another
two
weeks,
which
might
bring
their
bins
to
overflowing.
Yet,
putting
them
out
on
the
wrong
day
will
not
only
make
unnecessary
work
for
them
but
might
also
subject
them
to
the
ridicule
of
their
neighbors.
So,
they
resolve
this
difficulty
with
a
simple
solution:
they
check
to
see
if
their
neighbors
have
put
out
their
recycling.
The
wife
expressed
the
rationale
behind
this
with
the
words:
“We
couldn’t
be
the only ones right.”
Indeed,
her
reasoning
is
logical.
It
is
unlikely
that,
out
of
so
many
families
living
on
their
street,
they
would
be
the
only
ones
who
remembered.
Therefore,
it
is
reasonable
for
them
to
rely
on
the
actions
of
their
neighbors
as
a
cue
as
to
what
they
should
do.
If
their
neighbors
have
their
recycling
bins
at
the
curb
on
a
Monday
morning,
then
they
should
assume
that
it
is
“recycling
Monday.”
In
short,
they
can
safely
depend
upon
their
peers
as
a
reliable
indicator
as
to
the
correct
action
to
take in this matter.
Now,
someone
might
ask,
“Why
can’t
that
same
reasoning
be
applied to religion in order to determine what is right there?”
The
first
answer
is
that
it
is!
In
fact,
this
might
well
be
the
primary
reason
people
believe
what
they
believe,
whether
in
religion
or
other matters.
However,
there
are
two
related
reasons
why
it
would
be
wrong
to
apply
this
reasoning
to
religion.
The
first
has
to
do
with
people’s
perceptions
of
the
repercussions
of
a
bad
choice.
The
average
person
probably
thinks
that
it
does
not
matter,
or
that
it
is
virtually
inconsequential,
whether
a
person
gets
it
right
in
religion.
He
thinks
that
he
will
be
saved
in
his
religion
even
if
he
gets
it
wrong
,
as
long
as
he
is
sincere in his belief, and perhaps even if he is not.
The
problem
with
this
is
that
it
is
born
of
wishful
thinking.
Indeed,
it
is
selfish
thinking!
People
would
like
to
believe
that
it
does
not
matter
whether
what
they
believe
is
right
because
that
relieves
them
of
the
need
to
get
it
right
by
relieving
them
of
the
consequences
of
getting
it
wrong.
Of
course,
this
also
relieves
them
of
the
incentive
to
get
it
right.
The
other
problem
is
that
the
Bible
itself
plainly
does
not
support
this
view.
When
Jesus
was
asked,
“Lord,
are
there
just
a
few
who
are
being
saved?”
He
answered,
“Strive
to
enter
by
the
narrow
door;
for
many,
I
tell
you,
will
seek
to
enter
and
will
not
be
able”
(Lk.
13:23,24).
That
answer
sounds
like a “yes.”
The
second
reason
why
the
idea
that
religious
truth
is
not
determinable
by
the
majority
is
that
there
is
no
immediate
feedback
to
tell
those
who
get
it
wrong
that
they
are
wrong.
Again,
then,
there
is
no
incentive
to
be
sure
to
get
it
right.
There
is
no
obvious
correlation
between
Bible
interpretation
and
the
interpreter’s
quality
of
life.
In
other
words,
his
“recycling
bin”
does
not
overflow
nor
do
his
neighbors
laugh
at him.
Recyclers
can
depend
on
one
another
to
tell
each
other
when
the
recycling
truck
comes
because,
unlike
religionists,
they
have
no
incentive
to
be
wrong!
It
just
doesn’t
work
that
way
in
religion,
because
God
wants
people
to
get
it
right,
not
because
they
see
it
is
in
their
evident
physical
self-interest,
but
because
they
trust
what
He
says.
Micaiah
was
outnumbered 400 to 1, but he was the one who got it right!
image attribution: <div>Icons made by <a href="https://www.freepik.com" title="Freepik">Freepik</a> from <a
href="https://www.flaticon.com/" title="Flaticon">www.flaticon.com</a></div>
Copyright © 2017 - current year, Gary P. and Leslie G. Eubanks. All Rights Reserved.
“We Couldn’t Be the Only Ones Right”
The
truck
arrives
every
other
Monday
to
pick
up
recyclables.
Yet,
sometimes
a
husband
and
wife
have
difficulty
remembering
whether
it
was
the
Monday
one
week,
or
two
weeks,
ago
that
they
had
last
set
out
them
out.
If
they
fail
to
put
them
out
when
they
should,
they
will
miss
the
truck
and
have
to
wait
another
two
weeks,
which
might
bring
their
bins
to
overflowing.
Yet,
putting
them
out
on
the
wrong
day
will
not
only
make
unnecessary
work
for
them
but
might
also
subject
them
to
the
ridicule
of
their
neighbors.
So,
they
resolve
this
difficulty
with
a
simple
solution:
they
check
to
see
if
their
neighbors
have
put
out
their
recycling.
The
wife
expressed
the
rationale
behind
this
with
the
words:
“We
couldn’t be the only ones right.”
Indeed,
her
reasoning
is
logical.
It
is
unlikely
that,
out
of
so
many
families
living
on
their
street,
they
would
be
the
only
ones
who
remembered.
Therefore,
it
is
reasonable
for
them
to
rely
on
the
actions
of
their
neighbors
as
a
cue
as
to
what
they
should
do.
If
their
neighbors
have
their
recycling
bins
at
the
curb
on
a
Monday
morning,
then
they
should
assume
that
it
is
“recycling
Monday.”
In
short,
they
can
safely
depend
upon
their
peers
as
a
reliable
indicator
as
to
the
correct
action
to
take
in
this
matter.
Now,
someone
might
ask,
“Why
can’t
that
same
reasoning
be
applied
to
religion
in
order
to
determine what is right there?”
The
first
answer
is
that
it
is!
In
fact,
this
might
well
be
the
primary
reason
people
believe
what
they
believe,
whether
in
religion
or
other
matters.
However,
there
are
two
related
reasons
why
it
would
be
wrong
to
apply
this
reasoning
to
religion.
The
first
has
to
do
with
people’s
perceptions
of
the
repercussions
of
a
bad
choice.
The
average
person
probably
thinks
that
it
does
not
matter,
or
that
it
is
virtually
inconsequential,
whether
a
person
gets
it
right
in
religion.
He
thinks
that
he
will
be
saved
in
his
religion
even
if
he
gets
it
wrong
,
as
long
as
he
is
sincere
in
his
belief, and perhaps even if he is not.
The
problem
with
this
is
that
it
is
born
of
wishful
thinking.
Indeed,
it
is
selfish
thinking!
People
would
like
to
believe
that
it
does
not
matter
whether
what
they
believe
is
right
because
that
relieves
them
of
the
need
to
get
it
right
by
relieving
them
of
the
consequences
of
getting
it
wrong.
Of
course,
this
also
relieves
them
of
the
incentive
to
get
it
right.
The
other
problem
is
that
the
Bible
itself
plainly
does
not
support
this
view.
When
Jesus
was
asked,
“Lord,
are
there
just
a
few
who
are
being
saved?”
He
answered,
“Strive
to
enter
by
the
narrow
door;
for
many,
I
tell
you,
will
seek
to
enter
and
will
not
be
able”
(Lk.
13:23,24).
That
answer sounds like a “yes.”
The
second
reason
why
the
idea
that
religious
truth
is
not
determinable
by
the
majority
is
that
there
is
no
immediate
feedback
to
tell
those
who
get
it
wrong
that
they
are
wrong.
Again,
then,
there
is
no
incentive
to
be
sure
to
get
it
right.
There
is
no
obvious
correlation
between
Bible
interpretation
and
the
interpreter’s
quality
of
life.
In
other
words,
his
“recycling
bin”
does
not
overflow
nor
do
his
neighbors laugh at him.
Recyclers
can
depend
on
one
another
to
tell
each
other
when
the
recycling
truck
comes
because,
unlike
religionists,
they
have
no
incentive
to
be
wrong!
It
just
doesn’t
work
that
way
in
religion,
because
God
wants
people
to
get
it
right,
not
because
they
see
it
is
in
their
evident
physical
self-interest,
but
because
they
trust
what
He
says.
Micaiah
was
outnumbered
400
to
1, but he was the one who got it right!
image attribution: <div>Icons made by <a href="https://www.freepik.com" title="Freepik">Freepik< /a>from <a href="https://www.flaticon.com/"
title="Flaticon">www.flaticon.com</a></div>
Copyright © 2017 - current year, Gary P. and Leslie G. Eubanks. All Rights Reserved.
“Then
the
messenger
who
went
to
summon
Micaiah
spoke
to
him
saying,
‘Behold
now,
the
words
of
the
prophets
are
uniformly
favorable
to
the
king.
Please
let
your
word
be
like
the
word
of
one
of
them,
and
speak
favorably.’
But
Micaiah
said,
‘As
the
LORD
lives,
what
the
LORD
says
to
me,
that
I
will
speak’”
(2
Kings 22:13,14).
