acting in good faith

something I've been doing more of lately is reading books and articles that I disagree with. 

everything is open to question, but it's possible to be sure about some things. 

when there's an apparent contradiction in a narrative or an argument or whatever, we generally think that it undermines the message, but what we see as a contradiction could also reflect our level of understanding. 

apparent contradictions can be an indication that we need a more nuanced understanding - that we are seeing circumstances and issues in a too simplistic way. 

One of my favourite illustrations of this is an example from the Old Testament. Zedekiah was the last king of Judah before its people (or most of them) were carried into exile in Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel (2 of the greatest Old Testament prophets, who were also contemporaries) were prophecying that Jerusalem was going to be conquered by the king of Babylon and that Zedekiah and all the people of Jerusalem were going to be carried into exile in babylon. Zedekiah actually locked Jeremiah up because he wasn't happy about this message, which makes sense given that Jeremiah was prophecying not only the exile of the people, but the downfall of Zedekiah. 

A bit of background though....Nebuchadnezzar had already invaded Jerusalem, taken its king into exile, and it was he who had set Zedekiah up as the king of Judah, but with the condition that he was under the authority of Nebuchadnezzar. But Zedekiah had begun to plot against Nebuchadnezzar with other states. So, one of the subtexts of Jeremiah's message is about acceptance....stop plotting and rebelling and accept the situation you're in. And after nearly all the people of Jerusalem and Zedekiah had been carried into exile in Babylon, Jeremiah continued to convey a similar message in his prophecies. He told the people that, although they would eventually return to Jerusalem, it wouldn't be for another 70 years, so they should settle down in Babylon - make homes, establish relationships, assimilate. I think part of the lesson that God was teaching them is that their relationship with him, and their privilege as God's people, was not about material things - the temple, the rituals, etc that could only be accessed in Jerusalem. They thought being in exile was the end because they had lost everything that they considered good. 

This is how this relates to contradiction ➝ In his prophetic message Ezekiel had said that Zedekiah would die in Babylon but he would not see Babylon. That seems like a contradiction, but it's exactly what ended up happening. When Nebuchadnezzar once again laid seige to Jerusalem and ultimately took control, because Zedekiah had broken his oath of allegiance by plotting with the king of Egypt and other kings, the king of Babylon was particularly brutal in his punishment of Zedekiah. That seems to have been the way though, in those times. Earlier in Israel's history, Joshua was brutal in his treatment of the kings that fought against Israel and lost. 

Zedekiah and his men tried to escape, but he was captured and Nebuchadnezzar had Zedekiah's sons put to death in front of him and then blinded him, carried him in chains to Babylon, where he lived the rest of his life in prison. So, what seemed like a contradiction was not. He didn't see Babylon, but he died there. 

something interesting I discovered....the Japanese word for contradiction contains two characters /// the first character means 'spear' || the second character means 'shield'.