I don’t understand…

Pastor Matthew Best
3 min readNov 13, 2020

I struggle with the right words for this. I struggle with how to respond. I struggle with gaining any type of understanding of this — anything that would allow me to connect with those who embrace this way of thinking and believing.

I struggle with how people become so attached to the idea that they are right that they will sacrifice literally everything in order to maintain a belief that they are right. This irrational attachment causes people to go through incredible lengths to attempt to bend reality to one’s belief just so they do not have to deal with the idea that they are wrong. I have read articles about family members who have rejected other family members over political beliefs — not just fighting about these things, but actual rejection and shunning of family members. There’s something seriously wrong with this when an attachment to a political party, politician, and ideology (all things that don’t care about you one ounce) become more important to you than family members.

When people get hoodwinked or realize they are conned, too many will come up with some kind of strange reasoning that convinces themselves that what they experience is actually far different. For many, admitting they were wrong is too painful to deal with. Which is sad. There is no growth with such responses. Too many would rather be wrong and screwed over, losing possessions and relationships rather than admit they were wrong and have to deal with being uncomfortable and doing the hard work of self-examination.

--

--

Pastor Matthew Best

My name is Matthew Best. I’m an ELCA (Lutheran) pastor who attempts to translate church and churchy stuff into everyday language.