HomilyFromthePew

Yesterday, I listened to a number of conversations, private discussions, public presentations, and teachings. By the end of the day, one thought would not leave me:

Who is thinking for you?

It is a simple question, yet perhaps one of the most important questions of our generation. I say that as a man knocking on the door of 60 years of existence.

We live in an age of the tyranny of thought leadership or, more accurately, the tyranny of unexamined opinion presented as unquestionable truth.

Every one of us has opinions, experiences, biases, fears, limitations, and convictions shaped by the seasons through which we have travelled. There is nothing wrong with that.

The danger begins when we package personal experiences as universal laws and present our conclusions as instructions everyone else must follow.

That danger increases when the speaker carries authority as pastor, lawyer, teacher, politician, coach, consultant, parent, expert, or social-media influencer.

People stop listening critically.

They simply receive.

And that is dangerous.

I see this particularly in religious circles.

Someone has a personal experience with God. Instead of presenting it as testimony, it gradually becomes doctrine. Before long, anyone whose experience differs is considered spiritually deficient.

Yet Scripture presents another model.

The Bereans received Paul’s teaching eagerly but still “searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11).

Paul was an apostle.

They still checked.

That was not rebellion. It was spiritual maturity.

Paul himself instructed:

“Test everything; hold fast what is good.”
1 Thessalonians 5:21

John adds:

“Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits…”
1 John 4:1

Notice the order:

Test first. Hold later.

The Socratic method similarly reminds us that knowledge advances through disciplined questioning. Truth does not fear inquiry.

Unfortunately, the democratisation of information has also democratised misinformation.

Anyone can publish almost anything. Confidence is mistaken for competence. Popularity is confused with credibility.

I learnt something about this as a young undergraduate during Nigeria’s military era. I submitted articles to THISDAY. Some were published; others were not.

As an energetic and admittedly angry young man, I confronted Professor Bola Akinterinwa, then Chairman of the Editorial Board, wanting to know why.

His response, in essence, was that although I had something to say, some of my writing was too raw, some could expose me unnecessarily, and publication also required editorial judgment.

I did not appreciate it then.

I do now.

He was not merely editing my words. He was helping to mature my judgment.

Many of those institutional filters have disappeared. Today, a person can speak to millions before anyone examines whether what is being said is accurate.

As a lawyer, I was trained differently.

Law does not permit casual assertions.

A serious legal proposition requires authority: legislation, judicial precedent, or recognised scholarly authority.

And even within a judgment, distinctions matter. The ratio decidendi, the reasoning necessary for the decision must be distinguished from obiter dicta, observations made along the way.

You cannot simply declare, “This is the law,” because you feel strongly about it.

Authority matters. Evidence matters. Distinctions matter.

Life deserves no less.

The same discipline should apply to research and expert opinion.

Not every expert agrees. Not every study begins with identical assumptions. Research remains indispensable, but it can be affected by methodology, funding interests, confirmation bias, publication bias, or the assumptions of those commissioning it.

So critical thinking asks more than:

“What does the study say?”

It also asks:

“Who conducted it? How was it conducted? Who funded it? Has it been independently tested?”

Wisdom is not anti-research.

Wisdom simply refuses to surrender discernment.

Perhaps the greatest tragedy of our age is therefore not merely misinformation.

It is becoming a dumping ground for another person’s untested opinions.

Dr. Mike Murdock once made an observation that has stayed with me:

“Those who pass information also pass error.”

If information can carry error, then receiving information carries responsibility.

We must process before we surrender.

And processing requires another discipline:

Know yourself.

Proverbs 14:10 says:

“The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger shares its joy.”

The proverb reminds us that there are dimensions of your experience no expert, teacher, pastor, consultant, or influencer can fully know.

Others may advise you. They may see your blind spots. They may possess knowledge you do not have.

Remain teachable.

But they cannot live your life for you.

I recall John C. Maxwell’s account of surviving a heart attack. Afterward, as I understand it, he found himself pulled in every direction by confident, contradicting health experts, until he turned to studying his own body instead. What he wrote, he was careful to say, was not a health expert’s counsel, but the record of his own tested experience. The principle it reminds me of remains important: expert knowledge should inform us, not relieve us of the responsibility to understand our own circumstances.

That is why I often speak of four levels of ignorance:

There are things we know we do not know.

There are things we ought to know but do not know.

There are things we do not know that we ought to know.

And most dangerously, there are things we do not know, do not know that we do not know, yet confidently conclude that we know.

That is where intellectual arrogance begins.

So ask questions.

Verify sources.

Distinguish evidence from opinion.

Separate conviction from proof.

Know where testimony ends and doctrine begins.

Know yourself.

Remain teachable.

But refuse to surrender the government of your mind to another person’s certainty.

Life is lived under personal accountability.

And Scripture ultimately says:

“Each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.”
Romans 14:12

So before accepting the next viral post, expert opinion, celebrated doctrine, research finding, or thought leader’s certainty:

Pause.

Search the Scriptures.

Examine the evidence.

Ask questions.

Know yourself.

And ask:

Who is thinking for you?

Thought leaders can illuminate.

Experts can inform.

Mentors can sharpen.

But none of them can think for you, discern for you, live your life for you, or stand before God for you.

The tyranny of so-called thought leadership ends where the discipline of discernment begins.

That is my #HomilyFromthePew.

———-
Follower of Christ. Husband. Father. Egalitarian. Attorney. Author. Thriver. Culture-Edge Family Strengthening and Child Safeguarding Innovator and Practitioner. Value-Based Parenting Ideologue. Change Agent. Rebel with a Cause.