Decide ahead of time which side of a story you’re going to be on.
Your motives will come out later.
But be sure you choose to be on the side of the truth.
Don’t decide you are always going to believe She Said or He Said.
Decide that you are going to not be involved or decide that you are going to find the truth before you get involved.
Never make a decision based on gender, race, or any factor that can NOT be controlled by an individual.
In other words, or in more practical sense, look and listen like this:
I will not make a decision based on your gender. I will not make a decision based on your race.
Those are both things that the person you are listening to can NOT control, right? So be sure to not let ‘external’ factors influence your hearing level.
Decide that you ARE going to listen and listen carefully. Listen with the understanding and the knowledge that the other person really wants to be believed.
The other person wants you to have ‘Faith’ in anything or everything that they are telling you.
Remember to Decide Which Side you want to be on before you ever start listening.
You can choose to listen based on male or female, or you can choose to find the truth over a lie. Either way, you will choose a side.
You can choose to listen to a pastor over a lay person, or you can choose to find the truth over a lie. Either way, you will choose a side.
You might even want to believe a police officer over a citizen. You can always make a public records request to decipher the truth from a lie. Either way, you will choose a side.
The point of all this is simple.
As you listen to someone, as you hear out a claim, & as you asses a situation, remember that you have already chosen a side before the situation ever started.
You’ve already chosen what you’re going to hear long before the other person started talking, long before you started reading their social posts, their book, or their claim.
Be careful you do NOT decide to listen to a lie.
Always decide to find the TRUTH.
Never decide whom you’re going to believe based on a circumstance that the other person can not control. While race and gender are only a couple of examples, never decide to enable a lie based on a quality which the other person has not cognitively and purposely chosen.
Decide today, that whomever you listen to, you will tell yourself,
“I will not be blinded by your gender. Be it man or woman, you will not insult my intelligence, try to rewrite history-of-events, and I will not be deceived.”
Simply because someone wants you to believe them, that does not mean you should.
Almost everyone engaging in deception or blatant lie will really, Really, REALLY want you to believe them!
Decide that you will participate in listening for the truth, listen for facts that can be verified, listen for facts that don’t add up, listen for the other person’s level of relentless desire to be believed, listen meticulously for things which can be clarified via public records, listen carefully for how much they want you to have Faith in them.
Either you run the risk of enabling a lie, or you make a blatant choice to pursue the truth.
Either way, you will decide a side.
