I read about an experiment on human behavior. A control group was instructed to get on the same elevator at various floors, and turn around to face the back of the elevator. By the 5th or 6th floor, the people not in on the experiment decided to turn and face the back as well! As ridiculous as the act was!
Do you know what a serious statement this makes about our nature? And do you know how it applies to many other choices we make in life? There is simply something about feeling alone. We don’t like it!
“If God saved mankind through one man’s obedience, He is still in the business of honoring the remnant!”
How many times did your mother ask: “If Billy jumped off a cliff would you?”
The absurdity of the statement isn’t as extreme as you may think.
Ever heard of a Lemming? While I’m not sure how true it is, it is said that lemmings, (a type of rodent) will run together in packs and plunge into the ocean because, well, “everybody else is doing it”.
We have to be so careful to scrutinize the choices we make, and be certain that we are not just going along with the crowd.
Sometimes I think about certain things that we do or don’t do, that are not only considered normal, but you are abnormal if you are doing something different than the norm. Practices we’ve let others dictate for us, without giving any thought to the reasons or consequences.
Buying bottled water…a minuscule example.
I know, I’ve bought it too! But who would have ever thought, in the days of our grandparents, that you could make a lucrative business bottling and selling water! Over and over it is reported that the bottled water is no cleaner, or healthier than tap water. WHY ARE WE BUYING IT??!!
In short, because everyone else is. Because we allowed someone (media, advertising) to convince us that it was healthier, or trendy, or convenient. And so, we took their word for it and now it’s big business. We spend millions of dollars buying tap water. (BTW, guess what the most popular brand, EVIAN, is spelled backward?) Naive.
(Hmmm…the entrepreneur in me is thinking….air? Could I sell bottled air? 😉
But more serious than water drinking are many other things we’ve just adopted as normal, giving them very little thought. I could list a bunch, but I’d make a lot of people mad 🙂
We are no longer a “thinking people”…to our detriment. Just tell us what everyone else is doing…surely a bunch of people can’t be wrong!
Noah walked a lonely road. When God told him to build an ark, his obedience separated him from every other human being on the planet. NO ONE was believing it was going to rain. It never had. Noah and his family were totally alone. And remember, it took some 120 years for Noah to see the truth that God promised Him.
Has God asked you to build an ark? Are you willing to build in faith? Even if you’re alone? If God saved mankind through one man’s obedience, He is still in the business of honoring the remnant!
7 comments
I don’t want to take away from your points, because they’re very good, but I have a side note. The thing about lemmings is, strangely enough, not true. The nefarious story behind the lemmings suicide idea is that Disney was filming a nature documentary in the 1950’s, and the film crew induced them to jump off a cliff. True story! So now you know that Disney is a little bit evil. 😉
Yea, I was thinking I’d heard it was a myth…too bad. Would have made a great illustration 😉
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! This is just what I needed to hear today. We are like NONE of the people in our church, and we know only a couple of families that homeschool in our town. Sometimes I just get so TIRED of being different – of being the “strange” family that is doing things so differently than everyone around us. Sometimes I just want to SCREAM, b/c I hate drawing attention to myself and standing out in the crowd! Not so strange, I guess, that God would be asking me to grow in that way. ; ) Thank you for reminding me of Noah – I am NOT totally alone like he was, but sometimes it feels like it. Thanks for reminding me that I’m building an ark. =)
Great post!
You’ve got me curious though about the list that would make everyone mad. 😉
Here anyway, there are “oxygen bars” where people go and pay to breathe scented oxygen! Ridiculous.
I just want to say again how much I am enjoying your site, and I am totally adopting and claiming the Generation Cedar tag for my family!
We’ve also been talking a lot in our home school and Bible time about Noah (we also have a Noah, which makes it even more exciting!) and making cultural comparisons in the hopes of encouraging our children in our “uniqueness.”
I’m also in the process of reading the Relaxed Homeschooler (so I can review it!) and am really enjoying it. The Lord is also using it to confirm a lot of things that He’s been talking to me about for this coming year.
So thanks again for your encouragement, it is appreciated!
I love this post. One of the reasons we choose to homeschool is so we can teach our children to think! It’s so much easier to do that in a controlled enviroment instead of out in the world (or school) where everyone just does what the next person is doing!
Oh, Kelly! Praise the Lord! This post blessed my heart and encouraged me so much. It is just what I needed to hear and be reminded of.
Lindsay S.