Never be afraid to admit you’re wrong

I WANT to exalt the virtues of scepticism, which you may think is odd coming from a minister of religion but I’m going to do it anyway.

Let’s start with the words of the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell: “I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken.”

This was in a letter to the stony-hearted elders and ministers of the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland, written on August 3, 1650 before the decisive Battle of Dunbar.

The Kirk could not consider the possibility that it was snared in theological error and military incompetence and duly lost the battle.

The bit of Cromwell’s plea that sticks with us is the phrase “the bowels of Christ” and that word does not mean what you most likely think it does.

It picks up on New Testament thinking about the seat of our finer feelings, not the heart but the gut and the translators of the King James Bible were not squeamish about translating the Greek word as “bowels”.

“The bowels of Christ” in Cromwell’s day meant “the compassion of Christ”.

Cromwell is endeavouring to show the compassion of Christ and offer the Scots a way out of military defeat by asking them to be sceptical of their own position, their own self-righteousness and stubbornness. Scepticism needs to begin at home and will often result in damage-limitation as we recognise the error of our ways.

This has been a theme in the news of late. For example, the Cass Review, an independent review of gender identity services for children and young people in the UK, made it clear that life-changing hormone treatment and surgery were being offered to young people on the basis of seriously insufficient evidence as to efficacy.

While Dr Cass has been advised not to travel on public transport and has received death and other threats, the NHS and many other bodies around the world have pulled back in the way they offer such treatment, hopefully sparing many young people as a result.

The abuse and the death threats are one indication of just how hard it is for people to change direction, to admit they were wrong, and to be sceptical about their own motivations and thinking.

But it is absolutely essential that we learn Cromwell’s lesson, that it is possible we may be mistaken.

Long ago now, I worked as a chaplain to a retreat centre operating in a
re-purposed Tudor palace, run by an ecumenical community of Christians of every stripe.

The handyman there, John, had two great principles. The first, based on many years of experience, was this: “Never give the clueless a screwdriver.”

He would hide every tool in the place, having seen what the over-confident but clueless could do. I commend that one to you.

The second was even better: “Never be afraid to admit you were wrong. It shows you know what you are doing.”

Jesus said it all in one word: “Repent”.