The Circular Reference Club - Revisited
Discerning truth from fiction or wishful thinking.
By Pastora Cate Covert
Person #1: The tree has green leaves. I saw it.
Person #2: Person #1 said the tree has green leaves. He is a witness, and I believe him. Therefore, I am affirming that the tree has green leaves, even though I didn’t see them.
Person #3: Person #2 is known to me to be a person of great integrity. She said that person #1 witnessed the tree having green leaves. Therefore, I believe it and would stake my reputation on it.
Person #1: Person #2 has listened to me speak about the tree having green leaves; therefore, she can testify to the truth of what I have said. Furthermore, Person #3 knows that Person #2 is a person of great integrity and is willing to stake his reputation on what I have said. Therefore, it is an established FACT that:
The tree has leaves of green. I saw it.
Person #4: I saw the tree in its fall foliage and would argue vehemently that the tree had fiery gold, orange, and crimson leaves, and not one green leaf was to be seen.
Persons #1, #2, and #3 are not interested in this fact presented by Person #4 because they have a mutual admiration society going on, and they are stuck on validating each other in order to convince others of their veracity. But Person #4 has never seen green leaves on a tree, so he won’t believe such a thing exists unless he sees it himself.
The preceding is an example of what I term a “Circular Reference Club.” Each of the first three persons wishes to be seen as an authority, so they all bolster each other's assertions.
Metaphors and parables can only go so far, and we all know most green deciduous trees have a green stage, and then in the autumn, after the first cold snap, the leaves begin to turn into a riot of gorgeous colors before the trees shed them altogether for winter.
Person #1 is correct in saying that the tree has green leaves, but this is incorrect because he does not admit that the leaves may turn another color later. Person #4 is correct in saying that the leaves are fiery gold, orange, and crimson and that not one green leaf was to be seen. If Person #4 stops there, he may be spared the embarrassment of repeating the same mistake Person #1 is making. If Persons #1 and #4 did their research, they’d see that both had a point, and they would do further diligence to discover the entire truth.
However, Persons #2 and #3 are merely pawns and fawns who do not check their facts; instead, they form a cultish-groupie situation around Person #1 to feel important. They are, to use a rather harsh term, sycophants.
We see this in so-called “Literature,” where certain “noted” or “expert” authors are commonly cited because they started the rumors that somehow came to be considered “fact” in the first place. This action could also be termed building upon an error.
In the science laboratory, the purity of the agar in the petri dish is crucial for growing only the cells one wishes to grow. If the agar were contaminated with E. coli, for example, and the lab tech was trying to grow pseudomonas, the test would have a false result and have to be re-started.
Those who know me already understand that something has happened to “set me off” – that I am writing to address a situation that I find is wrong. In this case, I am addressing the personal integrity of believers in Christ. I’m not interested in naming names (though there is a time and a place for doing this, as Paul clearly showed us in the case of Alexander the copper-smith), and I’m not interested in causing trouble for others. Unless so-called ministries come out and start blaspheming God, I will leave them to their consciences and let the Holy Spirit do His work with them.
However, I choose to address the ramifications of this behavior as it affects others –non-believers and believers in Christ Yeshua.
What happens when we parrot what others say through their works of fiction-presented-as-fact and don’t check to see if it is confirmed before we repeat it? Isn’t this sloppy and irresponsible reporting? If we build upon a faulty foundation, what we build may seem lovely to behold, but the first big wind that comes along will blow it down.
I am speaking about personal integrity and taking accountability for what we say or write when it is to be shared with others.
I may have a “theory”, and if I wish to share it, I must honestly state it is a theory. I may hypothesize, postulate, or posit, but in each case, I must state that I am merely hypothesizing, postulating, or positing so that others do not take what I say as an intention to state a fact. If I believe something to be a fact, and if I can prove it is a fact to the best of my ability, then I will state it as a fact. It comes with the territory that someone else may work equally hard to discover that what I have said can be disproved, and then they must present their facts to cause me to reevaluate my own conclusions.
There are problems in this war of “facts vs. theories”.
Pride enters when we become invested. Perhaps monetary considerations cause us to hedge when we know that we have been bamboozled, and we refuse to give up the game because it would damage the reputation we have built for ourselves. Building a kingdom for oneself is risky business, especially for Christians, and there is always someone who wants to depose the king.
Chief among those who would depose self-made kings is the King of Kings! God won’t share His glory with those who try to steal it, yet He will share His glory with those who love Him and faithfully serve Him. It is HIS glory and not OURS. When we eat, sleep, breathe, and work for our glory, we go further away from the One to Whom ALL Honor and Glory are due!
Let us return to our Bibles, return to our diligent study and research, and prove all things, holding fast to that which is good (right) and forsaking every other wind of doctrine that exalts itself against the name of Jesus Christ! Truly, the fields are still white with the harvest, but there are few laborers. Could it be because they would rather build castles than humble themselves to help in the harvest?
May the Lord Yeshua keep His servants in His care, keep them from error, and lead them in a plain path.
Shalom shalom,
Pastora Cate Covert
Friends,
We sincerely appreciate tips and donations.
You can donate here—> Paypal.com @PastoraCate,
or
BuyMeACoffee.com @CateCovert.
Thank you.