Dumb Has a Solution After All

I remember preachers and teachers saying, back in days before, that people would fall for, be deceived by ideologies that seemed to make no sense to me. Part of me rebelled at the idea. You mean that sensible human beings can be fooled by such ridiculous ideas? That they would lose grip on obvious reality and decide to follow self-destructive plans? That we could be so easily strung along by leaders and thinkers and led to false values?
I didn't think so back then. People were too smart for that. We had all this education, all this technology to use. We could access "truth" at our fingertips (yes, even back then, but we had to use library card catalogs to do it!). SURELY, people were not so dumb as that. It MUST be that those teachers and preachers were making assumptions, or that SOMEONE was unfairly assessing human intelligence.
Then we find 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12, which says "The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
Ok- those old time teachers actually got this out of the Bible (I know that now, of course, and so do you!). As a Christian, I have to say, and I BELIEVE, that the Scripture is true BECAUSE it comes from God. But I know all sorts of nice people who still think like I did so long ago. People aren't that easily swayed! We are not that dumb!
Then I see the news. All the time. On TV, on the web, in print. I see government officials blandly stating absolute lies, and their fans follow along with no question, even OFFENDED if anyone else suggests the lies are, well, lies. I see people choosing to believe the improbable- questioning obvious biology and sanity and replacing them with ideologies with ALL SORTS of PROBLEMS. People who no longer see the benefits of family, or faithfulness. People who see truth as relative, and even as some sort of private concern, maybe even a liability.
People are willing to believe almost ANYTHING they are told, by whatever leader they admire. Yes, people, including you and me at times, CAN be dumb. Don't waste time being offended...it is a simple truth. And it almost ALWAYS comes from a simple issue. Human beings don't really LOVE the truth by nature. We love...what we WANT. If the truth conflicts with what we want, we try to find SOMEONE, anyone, with ANY idea that lets us keep what we WANT in sight.
Maybe YOU aren't doing that at the moment. I hope that I am not. But the truth is that there is another issue that can trip us up. You see, loving truth and SEEKING truth takes...effort. Attention. Even a bit of sacrifice. At the least, when we FIND truth and it stands against what we WANT, we have to decide whether we will sacrifice what we want. Tough choice. All this effort is, at times, unpleasant. We may not BE lazy in general, but we can struggle with it HERE. We have to work to keep food on the table and a roof overhead. We need to focus to keep the kids out of trouble and to bless our family. Why this extra work to "get hold of truth?" We CAN slip at times.
My point is not to blame anyone. I put myself right here as well, and part of what I DO is all about seeking and communicating truth. It is more a diagnostic warning. Is what you hear and see in the media making SENSE? How much of it makes sense? If it seems that it does, even from your own favorite outlets, it MAY be that you are lazily accepting what you are told...because it sounds like what you WANT.
Maybe it is time to get into the Word and dig deeper...