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Everyone who has an opinion strong enough to give voice to it typically assumes that his or her opinion is the correct one.\u00a0 Nevertheless, there\u2019s always somebody who will disagree with that opinion and offer one of their own.<\/p>\n
So how do you determine whose opinion is the right one?<\/p>\n
Well, the truth is that NO opinion is the right opinion.\u00a0 Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Why Opinions Don\u2019t Matter<\/h2>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
An opinion is based on belief and perception <\/a>with varying degrees of fact sprinkled in.\u00a0 Different facts, beliefs and perceptions will lead to different opinions.\u00a0 The one thing every opinion has in common, however, is that they are all based on an incomplete picture of the situation at hand.<\/p>\n Remember the maxim of the five blind men describing an elephant?<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n This parable dates all the way back to Buddha in the 5th Century BC. In it, a group of blind men, who have never encountered an elephant, come across one and attempt to describe it. And so these men of Indostan<\/em><\/p>\n Disputed loud and long,<\/em> And all were in the wrong.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Each of these men knew facts about an elephant. Individually, their facts were accurate.\u00a0 However, facts are not Truth. Facts are independent nuggets of information that require context to form a complete picture. These men had strong, fact-based opinions, but no context in which to test them. Therefore, as long as each clung to his opinion, Truth eluded them all.<\/p>\n From this, we can conclude that an opinion is simply somebody telling you what they think <\/em>about what they don\u2019t know<\/em>.<\/p>\n Because opinions are based on incomplete information, and because people giving voice to theirs are convinced that they are right, opinions only serve the purpose of starting arguments.\u00a0 Furthermore, these arguments have little hope of resolution.\u00a0 For even if people make a show of listening to another\u2019s opinion, they likely will still inwardly cling to their own.\u00a0 Such conversations tend to arrive at a mock-civil status known as \u201cagreeing to disagree.\u201d<\/p>\n I believe the technical rhetorical term for that is \u201cload of crap.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n A Truthseeker <\/a>never <\/em>agrees to disagree.\u00a0 Rather than attempting to win the argument by holding an opinion in a death-grip to the end, a Truthseeker will do an end run around the argument to the common ground, seeking resolution in the relationship along with the Truth.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Opinions simply do not fit these criteria.\u00a0 If it is an opinion that you formed yourself, it started with you and will die with you (unless you manage to convince some people to carry it on after you are gone).\u00a0 Therefore, opinions are not eternal.<\/p>\n Opinions definitely do not affect everyone the same way, or everyone would have the same opinion.\u00a0 Therefore, opinions are not universal (duh).<\/p>\n Even more of a \u201cduh\u201d is that opinions are not indisputable.\u00a0 In fact, they are at the very core of every<\/em> dispute.<\/p>\n Therefore, we can only logically conclude that opinions are not Truth.\u00a0 As such, NO opinion can be the right one.<\/p>\n Now here\u2019s the sticky bit\u2014that means that YOURS isn\u2019t the right one either.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n So, what do we do then?\u00a0 It\u2019s simple, really.\u00a0 Seek Truth instead of an echo chamber. You can\u2019t stretch your perspective by only hanging around people who already agree with you.<\/p>\n Share Truth when you find it. The more people are aware of the Truth, the less they will seek out those echo chambers.<\/p>\n Above all, have nothing to do with opinions, regardless of the source. \u00a0As Paul advised Timothy:<\/p>\n Don\u2019t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.\u00a0 And the Lord\u2019s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.\u00a0 Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth. <\/em><\/strong>(2 Timothy 2:23-25 NIV 1984)<\/strong><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n If opinions lead to arguments, and arguments are \u201cfoolish and stupid,\u201d then how does an opinion profit anyone? The result is always division.\u00a0 Even if you find someone who agrees with your opinion, someone else will disagree with both of you, and NONE of you will know what the elephant looks like.<\/p>\n Finding Truth is great, but we all must remember that, being eternal, the Truth was here before we were. Therefore, none of us OWNS the Truth. All we did was encounter it. We must maintain this sense of humility when sharing it.<\/p>\n The purpose must always be to lift a listener up to equal standing through the sharing of knowledge, not to tear them down with a superior attitude. The only difference between you and that person is what you learned today.\u00a0 Yesterday, you were the same. The purpose of sharing Truth, then, is to restore balance, not to publicly esteem our own knowledge.<\/p>\n Also, we need to heed Paul\u2019s advice to GENTLY instruct. This is easy for some people, but hard for most. If you open the conversation with, \u201cYou\u2019re wrong,\u201d or worse, \u201cWhy are you such an idiot?\u201d, then whatever Truth you have found is neutralized by the fact that the other person isn\u2019t listening to you because they think you\u2019re an asshat.<\/p>\n![\"Early](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1779\/2023\/05\/Blind_men_and_elephant4.jpg\")
\nHowever, because each blind man is only touching one part of the elephant, his perception, and therefore his description, is incomplete.
\nAmerican poet John G. Saxe set this story to verse,<\/a> concluding thus:<\/p>\n
\nEach in his own opinion<\/em>
\nExceeding stiff and strong;<\/em>
\nThough each was partly in the right,<\/em><\/p>\nAgree to Disagree?<\/h2>\n
![\"Two](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1779\/2023\/05\/Agree-to-disagree.jpg\")
Remember the criteria for Truth<\/a>:<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/a>The Solution<\/h2>\n
Avoiding the Foolish and Stupid Arguments<\/h2>\n