“That’s just not true!” she screamed in disbelief. Although her disbelief was communicated via a message, my mind pictured a 4-year-old pitching a fit, stomping her feet.

What had I done to deserve her ire?

We were in the midst of a policy debate, and she claimed there was no precedence or law governing the policy.

I quoted the controlling Supreme Court case and summarized the details of the case.

“But there is no law,” she shouted back, while completely dismissing the action of the Supreme Court.

So, I gave her a link to the legislative action passed years ago.

And that friends, is when I heard, “That’s just not true!”

Despite being confronted with clear evidence to the contrary, her opinion was intractable. She wasn’t changing her mind for anyone or anything.

My acquaintance suffers from hardening of the attitudes.

A few years ago, I was consulting for a ministry who was transitioning from traditional radio to a podcast. I showed the boss a mockup of a website screen with a podcast icon. He objected, saying no one would know what that icon represented, and he wanted a radio icon in its place.

I did a quick survey among members of his audience. 100% of respondents understood the podcast icon but the radio icon confused them.

Guess what? He insisted on the radio icon, despite the evidence I gave him showing the podcast icon was the better choice.

In the walled estate of his mind, no evidence to the contrary was going to change his mind.

He suffers from hardening of the attitudes.

It seems hardening of the attitudes is a disease that is spreading rapidly throughout our society. Usually, it happens over time without us even realizing it.

Christians should be especially wary of this insidious disease.

Christians and Hardened Attitudes

When we first accepted Christ, we reveled in God’s grace and mercy toward us.

Growing in our walk with Christ our attitudes and values begin to change. We strive to be more like Christ.

As we become more like Christ, we see the difference between the way we live and the way those outside of a relationship with Christ live.

We start to feel self-righteous and pity those who don’t have a relationship with Christ.

A sign of hardening of the attitudes among Christians is when we believe we are more valuable to God because of our faith.

Another sign the disease has progressed in us is when we believe there is only one right way to do things and that way is our way!

Our attitudes are now firmly hardened as they are both self-righteous and narrow-minded.

Jesus warned us about just such attitudes!

Jesus and the Pharisees’ Attitude

Jesus befriended Levi, (aka Matthew) the tax collector (Luke 5:27-39). He went to Levi’s house for dinner and surrounded himself with Levi’s tax collector friends.

The ultra-religious Scribes and Pharisees went nuts saying Jesus shouldn’t be associating with such people.

But Jesus answered them saying, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:31-32).

Imagine a doctor who refused to be in the presence of the sick. The doctor can’t treat the sick unless he or she is willing to spend time with the sick.

Likewise, Christians we should never think there are those who are not worth knowing about Jesus.

As tempting as it might sometimes be, we should not shut ourselves off from non-Christians in a holy huddle.

Christians, if we think the sick are not worthy of care, if we think non-Christians are not worthy of knowing Christ, then we, like the Pharisees and Scribes, are suffering from hardening of the attitudes!

Join the Conversation

As always, questions and comments are welcome. Do you know someone who suffers from hardening of the attitudes? Do you? Does it affect your relationship with others?

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Category: Relationships | Healthy Alliances