How to Think — Not What to Think

Today's Reading

Read Proverbs 18:17: "The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him."

Then read Proverbs 2:1-5: "My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God."

Reflection

Before we can think well about what to believe on political questions, we need to learn how to think. Scripture is deeply concerned with the formation of wise minds — minds that are humble, careful, open to correction, and disciplined in their pursuit of truth.

Proverbs 18:17 is one of the most relevant verses in the Bible for our polarized age. "The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him." In a courtroom, you would never convict someone based on the prosecution's argument alone. You would insist on hearing the defense. Cross-examination is fundamental to justice.

And yet, in our political lives, most of us violate this principle daily. We consume news from sources that confirm our existing views. We follow commentators who tell us what we already believe. We share articles that make the other side look foolish and never read the thoughtful arguments from the other perspective. Proverbs says this is not just intellectually lazy — it is a form of injustice.

Tim Keller applied this principle to how Christians should engage political discourse: "The first to plead his case seems right, until another comes and examines him. This is the most basic principle of intellectual honesty, and it is one we violate every time we consume only the news and commentary that confirms what we already believe." If you cannot state the strongest version of your opponent's argument — if you can only describe a caricature — then you have not done the work that wisdom requires.

Proverbs 2 takes us deeper. Wisdom is not a casual acquisition. It requires effort — the effort of a miner digging for silver or searching for hidden treasure. You have to want it. You have to call out for insight, make your ear attentive, incline your heart. Wisdom does not come to those who are already sure they have all the answers. It comes to those who seek it with the urgency and humility of someone who knows they are missing something.

C.S. Lewis made a parallel observation about the value of engaging with perspectives different from your own: "In reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself... The man who is contented to be only himself, and therefore less a self, is in prison." The same principle applies to political thinking. The person who only listens to voices they agree with is intellectually imprisoned. The person who genuinely engages with different perspectives becomes wiser, humbler, and more capable of discerning truth.

This does not mean all positions are equally valid. It means that wisdom requires the discipline of listening before judging. It means approaching political questions with the same rigor you would expect in a courtroom: hear both sides, examine the evidence, weigh the arguments, and then — and only then — form a conclusion.

Going Deeper

This week, try a practical experiment in intellectual humility. Choose a political issue you feel strongly about. Then find the most thoughtful, charitable articulation of the opposing view — not a straw man, but the strongest argument from a serious thinker on the other side. Read it with an open mind. You may not change your view, but you will almost certainly deepen your understanding of why others hold theirs. That is the beginning of wisdom.