daily java

Daily Java:

You must not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you are called to testify in a dispute, do not be swayed by the crowd to twist justice. And do not slant your testimony in favor of a person just because that person is poor. (Exodus 23:2-3 NLT)

I was reading my daily Bible reading this morning and came across this verse. At first glance, it seemed just normal. Then I got to thinking about it.

Which is of course, the point of the Bible reading, to think.

Don’t follow the crowd.

I had a friend who was an undercover narcotics officer in Houston, Texas. Stacey was his name. At one point several years back, he and several others were sent into the midst of a riot in Houston to try to defuse it. They were to supposed to kind of blend in and attempt to stop things from escalating from the inside.

The crowd got bigger and bigger and began to get that surge mobs get. He said he threw a brick through a window and suddenly realized, wait a minute. I am the police.

He told me that he got so caught up in the mob mentality that he just followed the crowd.

There was a gang rape of a young woman several years back. When they asked one of the young men why he had participated, he said that there was nothing else he could do at the time. Everybody else was doing it and so did he. He hated himself for it but he, at the time, seemed powerless to stop.

One of the ways crowds act is to automatically assume the poor person is in the right. A few years ago, there was a rape charge leveled by a young black prostitute against four or five young white men from affluent families. The media, the “civil rights” people, everybody jumped all over it. The university where the young men attended condemned them, the district attorney went out of his way to convict them.

Then it turned out to be false. No real apologies, nothing. The young men were convicted in the court of public opinion because they were well-off and the woman was poor.

Mobs work all kinds of ways. And almost always, when they do, they go in the wrong direction.

After all, the group that shouted for Jesus’ death was a mob. Just a week ago, they wanted to proclaim him as king and threw palm branches in front of him in honor, shouting Hosanna.

Now they were a mob. And in a month or so, they would repent. On the day of Pentecost 3000 repented and were brought into the kingdom of the king they screamed to be killed.

It is hard to be independent when everyone else is going a direction you don’t want to go.

When I was in 7th grade, a science teacher started to talk about evolution. He stopped and said, by the way, is there anyone in here who doesn’t believe in evolution? I, being the good Church of Christ boy that I was, raised my hand. No one else did. I knew full well these people didn’t, but, as seventh graders are wont to do, they were afraid to stand out.

The teacher said, okay, Johnny, explain why. I said never mind and lowered my hand. He pushed. Tell us why you don’t believe in evolution. I stood steadfast in my cowardice. There was no way Jose that I was going to do that in front of a bunch of people.

I remember that to this day. And I remember the teacher and his name. It has haunted me at times.

Of course, I was a child. If I had been 40 and a minister, it would have been different, but a child is afraid of looking different.

An odd thought just occurred to me. What if he had to teach that and wanted someone to refute it. My hand went up quickly because I did not and do not believe in evolution. What if I had said something? Would he have been grateful? Would another child have agreed with my strong polemic defense of creationism? Would the class have turned to God in grateful appreciation? Would unicorns have danced through the room?

I don’t know. Probably not. I may have been laughed at, but that is the worst thing that can happen to a seventh grader.

But I followed the crowd. God forgave me, of course.

I hope I don’t do it again.