“What you believe to be true will control you whether it is true or not.” Jeremy LaBorde

Recently I was following a thread relating to William Dempski and Intelligent Design movement originating in RichardDawkins.Net, which led me to the web site of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. It was there that I found this extraordinary quote from Jeremy LaBorde. I read the quote at face value and was really impressed. Who is Jeremy LaBorde? He had to be a philosopher or thinker of some repute.

No.

It turned out that Jeremy LaBorde is Pastor Jeremy LaBorde of the Gloryland Church, Macgregor, Texas, a rather unexceptional example of Southern Baptist Christian.

That doesn’t stop me from liking the quote.

We have to be very careful about the information that we chose to accept because what we understand about the world directs our actions. Incorrect understandings can lead to incorrect actions. It is very important that what we believe to be true is proven to be true, or at the very least comes from an authority of appropriate credibility.

The fact that millions of Britons currently think that Swine Flu is a beat up on the authority of the Daily Mail rather that the Medical Association is one of the more bizarre current instances of misplaced faith.

I don’t think that Jeremy LaBorde intended his words to be understood as I have read them. I suspect that he wants us to believe the Bible to be true and for us to be controlled by those understandings, whether they are verifiable or not. What was he thinking about? The brashness of such a statement is almost worthy of Dr. Goebbels.

Richard Oakes