The Jews also joined in the charge, affirming that all these things were so. (Acts 24:9 ESV)
Majority
One morning, my family wanted to spend the day goofing around, but my father had work planned. In a spurt of reasonableness, I asked for a vote… and the ‘goof around’ party defeated the ‘responsibility’ party 4 to 1. I was overjoyed, until my father reminded me, “this is not a democracy.”
It startled me, because somehow, I had felt that the democratic ideal was THE foundation of society!
Years later, some students attempted to persuade me that it was time for a ‘game day’ instead of a ‘recite Latin paradigms day.’ They voted, and the tally was 7 to 1 in favor of fun. I smiled, as I quoted my father, “this is not a democracy.”
Full democracy actually frightens me. The Jews in Acts 24 are one of the reasons why. They tried to persuade a magistrate that Paul was wrong in his presentation of the gospel because they ALL said so. The vote was ‘some huge number’ to 1.
But that did not change the fact that Paul’s truth, because it was God’s truth, was THE truth.
Maybe majority is a grand idea. But if so, we have to remember that Jesus’ one vote on ANYTHING outweighs everything else.
The majority can be easily swayed. The masses are often incorrect. Group-think does not equal reality.
But we Christians have a source of truth that is absolutely reliable.
In fact, if it comes to a vote, Jesus’ vote always counts more than the rest of the world combined. That’s why the world so often does not like Jesus.
We cannot make a reliable majority, but Jesus can and is.