#2 - Perspective

What if the problem with TRUTH isn't that we have many perspectives, but that we have difficulty understanding what we see in the perspectives?

This question was asked in class this week and started me thinking about a few ideas.

Example 1 - Crusaders. We generally think of them as doing a good thing, attempting to bring western culture to those who didn't know of Christ. They are viewed as heroes. However, from the perspective of a Muslim, crusaders weren't such awesome characters. The crusaders invaded someone else's civilization in order to claim a "holy land" that they had no right to to begin with.

Example 2 - Jesus: Christ versus Rebel. Many areas of modern society believe that Jesus was the Christ, Messiah, and Savior. They believe by faith. When examined objectively though, it is hard to use faith as a justification for that belief. People believe that Jesus is the Son of God who was sent with a distinct purpose, and not just an ordinary human being who disrupted Roman society for kicks. They are comfortable with that belief. Therefore, the prospect that Jesus was not divine seems blasphemous. It is possible, however, that from an alternate perspective, Jesus may not have been quite the divine hero that scripture paints him as.

Now, I am not arguing either way on these examples. Perspectives to tend to blind people to the reality of a situation. No one wants to believe that their opinions are "wrong," however, at the same time no one really wants to find out what's right and true either. People become comfortable with what they think and believe, and that sense of comfort can often be used as a crutch, making it difficult to adapt their thinking process to understand other perspectives.