PET BELIEFS
The two professors stood nose to nose as they shouted at one another. "The craters on the moon are the result of volcanism," cried one.
"You are an idiot," screamed the other, "the craters on the moon are the result of meteor impact."
This scene played itself out all across campus; time and time again you could hear these two debating that which could not be proven. Most certainly there were indications of meteor impact on the moon, but then, there was just as much evidence for volcanic cratering. It wasn't until we began sending spacecraft to the moon that the debate was ever settled. What a wonder, it turned out that some of the craters are the result of impact and some are the result of volcanism.
How often we only see what we want to see. One professor could only see indications of impact and the other professor could only see indications of volcanic activity. Isn't this the same attitude we often display when studying scripture? We have a preconceived notion of what we believe, and then when we go to the bible all we can find is scripture to support our position. Somehow, we are completely blind to any scripture that contradicts or does not support our pet belief.