The Experts vs. The Children

 “Do you hear what these children are saying?”

Our social media feeds are flooded with so-called experts, reporters, influencers, and “journalists” on all sides of issues asking “trick questions” with a faulty premise trying to suck people into “their truth.” The goal is to make a lie the accepted truth of the masses. Millions take the bait—literally called clickbait—and succumb to a deception. I am not suggesting that the people asking pre-loaded questions are stupid: they are often knowledgeable in some field or other, perhaps even experts. Yet it is precisely their expertise that locks them into a pre-determined “truth” and causes them to spin a “reality” around such truth.

Look at the dialogue in Matthew 21 (see the parts I emphasized in italics if you miss the whole passage):

¹² Jesus went into the Temple area. He threw out all those who were selling and buying things there. He turned over the tables that belonged to those who were exchanging different kinds of money. And he turned over the benches of those who were selling doves. ¹³ Jesus said to them, “The Scriptures say, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer.’ But you are changing it into a ‘hiding place for thieves.”

¹⁴ Some blind people and some who were crippled came to Jesus in the Temple area. Jesus healed them. ¹⁵ The leading priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he was doing. And they saw the children praising him in the Temple area. The children were shouting, “Praise to the Son of David.” All this made the priests and the teachers of the law angry.

¹⁶ They asked Jesus, “Do you hear what these children are saying?”

He answered, “Yes. The Scriptures say, ‘You have taught children and babies to give praise.’ Have you not read that Scripture?’”

The experts ask a question that presumes Jesus must agree with them: they don’t actually ask, “Do you think what the children are saying is biblical and warranted?” but besmirch Jesus by the very words in the question—you can almost hear their sneer—“Do you hear what these children are saying?”

There is a spirit behind this line of questioning, namely, the father of lies. Christians join in with this spirit, swallowing it hook, line and sinker without consulting the word of God. Many do so because they are biblically illiterate. Yet Jesus ends the short conversation by answering the questions directly (“Yes.”), establishing a platform of truth, then asking another question.

He answered, “Yes. The Scriptures say, ‘You have taught children and babies to give praise.’ Have you not read that Scripture?” 

The supposed expertise of the religious leaders was Scripture, so they didn’t want to say, ‘Uhm, we didn’t read that verse...’ They also offered no counter viewpoint that said, ‘Well, what it really means is...’

Left and Right one sees the political theater, the social media madness, the virtue-signaling outrage on topics far and wide. (How often do you see people re-post a critique of a speech, for example, without ever having listened to the speech itself?) We must ask ourselves, “How does this align with the Word of God? What is the spirit behind what the experts are saying?” Do not ask, ‘What is my truth?’ or ‘How do I feel?’ but “What does the word of God have to say about this matter?” If you are an expert, check your assumptions. If you are feeling angry, check your bias. And if you are going on a social media rant based on a premise you have concocted, make sure the premise is not something you fabricated out of your bias. If it is, repent.

Now, to be clear, there are times to speak truth to power. When leaders make false statements, fact-check. When someone sins against you, speak to them directly, as Matthew 18 urges. But don’t ask loaded questions that put words or meanings of words in the mouths of others. Cultivate some fear of God and set a guard on your lips. 

And remember, when it came to “The Experts v. The Children” the children were correct, and the experts got it wrong.