I'm right, you're wrong

All that I know now is partial and incomplete (1 Corinthians 13:12).

For a country that claims to want peace, we sure do a lot of fighting. Republicans versus Democrats. Liberals versus conservatives. Management versus labor. Wives versus husbands. Whites versus Blacks versus Latinos. Muslims versus Christians versus atheists. The list could go on and on.

Why do people squabble so much? It’s because each of us wants to get our own way. In fact, America has increasingly become a place where it’s ‘my way or the highway.’ There was a time when political parties could find common ground through compromise; there was a time when husbands and wives worked through their problems instead of filing for divorce. America has long been billed as the great melting pot, where our differences combine to make us stronger; however, we have degenerated into a nation of individuals who are only concerned about themselves.

How do you end conflict? In his song ‘Imagine’, John Lennon suggested doing away with everything that divides people into competing groups—national identity, private ownership of property, even religion. The truth that Lennon did not see was that we are all inherently self-righteous—each of us believes that when we disagree with someone else, they are wrong and we are right. How can you end conflict when everyone is *right*?

Admitting that you are wrong is not an easy thing, but it is essential for building relationships between people. We need to accept the possibility that at any given time, we are not as completely right as we think we are. The Bible warns us that our minds are fogged by sin, making it impossible for us to see the truth of things clearly.

Truth can only be found in God, and He reveals it to us through His Bible. Yet even as brightly as the truth shines from its pages, the sin that clouds our thinking makes God’s clear revelation look fuzzy and indistinct, like headlights on a foggy road at night. This is why the Bible is repetitive; the Lord gives the same teachings over and over, trying to show us the truth from different angles so that we can see where we have failed to understand Him correctly. When it comes to deciding who is right and who is wrong, the only way we can be confident of finding the truth is by consulting God’s infallible word.