day no. 17,498: knowing that you're right and realizing that you were wrong

"We have to start with the fact that we are always looking out at the world through our own eyes. And we think that we are seeing accurately, which may indeed be the case, but we are sometimes wrong. You don’t believe you are always right, but you always believe you’re right." — Douglas Wilson, Athletics and the Christian Community #6

It is arrogant to assume that you have always been right, but it is silly to assume you shouldn't think you are in the moment. Everyone believes they are right in the moment. That is not a sin. The sin is refusing to see that you have been wrong in the past when you thought you were right.

"Confronted with the question 'have you ever been wrong?' virtually everyone would acknowledge it in the abstract. But acknowledging it and budgeting for it are two different things." — Douglas Wilson, Athletics and the Christian Community #6

In the moment, I believe I am right about how wrong I once was. But how do I know I am not wrong now? I don't, but I believe that I am right this time, just like I always do. Knowing that about myself, I must continue to act in a way that believes I am right while acknowledging the possibility that I may turn out to have been wrong.

"Of course you think you are right. That is what it means to think something."  — Douglas Wilson, Athletics and the Christian Community #6

Thinking means believing. If you think you are wrong, you think you are right about being wrong. If you think you are right, you may turn out to be wrong, but at the moment, you still think that you are right.

“The modern habit of saying 'This is my opinion, but I may be wrong' is entirely irrational. If I say that it may be wrong, I say that is not my opinion.” ― G.K. Chesterton

Your opinion may be proven to be wrong later, but in the moment, your opinion cannot be that your opinion is wrong. If that is the case, then your opinion about your opinion may just as well be wrong, turtles all the way down. But no one lives like that and no one can think like. Thinking requires truth claims and fixed givens.

"If we are not all trying to convince the world of the truth of our convictions, what in the world are we doing; or why in the world do we call them our convictions at all?" ― G.K. Chesterton

So, you should know what you believe and why you believe it and try to convince others to believe it as well. It would be weirder if you didn't. But in the course of doing so, you may discover that you have been wrong. So be it. Repent and believe the right things. Agree with God that you have been wrong and be forgiven.

"I always think I am right, but I shouldn’t think that I am always right. Thinking that you are right is actually the same thing as thinking at all. So you should always carry yourself as one who understands that everything that you think is subject to review. By someone who is perfect."  — Douglas Wilson, Athletics and the Christian Community #6

Confessing our sins begins by saying what God says about them. The word "confess" is from the Greek word homologeo which literally means "say the same words." So, confessing our sins is calling them what God does, which in this case means calling them "wrong." If we are willing to concede the point and call our past confidence by its proper that, i.e. foolishness, He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us of our corrupted proclivities. And when you do, you should be sure that He will forgive you, not because you think you're right, but because you believe that He is right and that you are right for believing Him to be so.

1 John 1:8-10

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.