Thousands visit this site, but contacts from people who are encouraged by it are only a trickle. One turned up this evening, when I was in need of a bit of encouragement, not only saying that he found the site refreshing after reading many others, but that he had come to the conclusion that Christianity was simply about following Jesus. I emailed back and pointed out that the article on that exact topic is effectively the most unpopular article on the site. (Alongside Christianity Hijacked by Church.)
We all know that following the crowd is a very human instinct. We observe it all the time. Those who don’t follow the big crowd follow a smaller one. Politicians like their Party to be ahead in the polls, because they know that fact of itself will draw more support. I once taught 1066 (The Norman Conquest) in History. Only once, since I mainly taught Science and Maths. I followed the text book pretty closely. It seemed fairly balanced in its treatment of the three contenders for the English Throne in 1066. It asked a whole class question at the end of the topic about who should have become King. The obvious answer was Harold, because he was English, and also because he was already acting as King, and also because he was a good one. However, the class voted almost as one man for William. Why? Because that put them on the winning/majority side. There is also Psychological research showing how heavily people are swayed by majority opinion here.
In spite of all this, I remain gob-smacked by how people follow the crowd on even the most important of all issues. Is there a God? Is there a life after this one? What happens in that life? Why? Most follow the evolution crowd. Small minorities follow various church crowds. Some follow different religious crowds. It’s not accidental that this site is called Christian Rethink. I hope to move people to think again.
Are you following Jesus, or just one of the crowds? That’s the most important question of your entire life.
Final Thought.
When I first became a Christian at the tender age of forty, a line in Psalm 91 always troubled me:
A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.
It makes perfect sense now.