Majority Truth

On a recent trip to Walmart, an aisle display for Gillette Fusion Proglide shavers caught my eye.  It was not the need for a new shaver that made me stop.  It was the wording on the advertising.  Blazoned across the display, in big, bold lettering, was this phrase: “Millions Of Guys Can’t Be Wrong.”  My first (tongue-in-cheek) thought was this: “Obviously there are no women in the advertising department of Gillette.  If there had been, such a blatantly false statement would never have seen the light of day.  Only a room full of men could delude themselves into believing such a thing!”  Right, ladies?

But further, more serious, reflection on the matter still led me to the same conclusion.  The statement is still a lie.  Millions of men can be wrong.  Millions of women also can be wrong.  Truth is not determined by popular consensus.  If a vote were to be taken tomorrow and 99.9 percent of the people on earth voted to repeal the law of gravity, that still would not keep me from falling to my death if I jumped off a skyscraper!

The majority can be right.  But the majority can also be wrong.  The Bible testifies often to that fact.  Nearly everyone was in favor of wickedness and evil thinking in Noah’s day, but that didn’t make it right.  The majority was wrong.  Apparently everyone but Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego bowed down to King Nebuchadnezzar’s golden idol, but that didn’t make it right.  The majority was wrong.  When Pilate appealed to the crowd regarding the fate of Jesus, most called for His crucifixion.  But that didn’t make it right.  The majority was wrong.

When it comes to spiritual truth, don’t be swayed by the popular vote.  Seek the counsel of those around you whom you trust but always compare their words with God’s words.  And when the majority disagrees with God, the rightl choice is to “...obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).  After all, millions of guys CAN be wrong!

God loves you!

Mike