From Aspartame to Zappa

So, I'm surfing a page full of quotations for no reason other than that's how the web works - I linked from a link from a link...um...

But I came across this quote from Frank Zappa:

One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds.

Here's the thing: he's pretty much right. We rarely argue people into changing their minds. EVEN if we point out that what they've hung their hat on is complete fiction - How many times have you been told that Aspartame causes cancer? It doesn't seem to matter if you SEND PEOPLE TO THE FDA or the American Council on Science and Health. Nevermind that the AMA (yeah, search the document - you'll find it) seems to suggest that all the studies thus far linking artificial sweeteners to higher cancer rates are pretty much bunk...

And why are there warnings posted at gas stations to not use cell phones while pumping gas?

Yet - most people who think Aspartame causes cancer and most people who believe they will blow up the Shell station if they answer Aunt Betty's urgent cell phone call about her neighbor's brother's wife's uncle's gallstones at the pump. No proof is good enough. No argument is strong enough. I believe it - and that's that...

But that's why these urban legends are so pervasive - we'd almost rather believe the really interesting and detailed lie than the boring and ordinary truth.

You know what - I'm like that. I can justify every wrong thing I do - and you can't argue me out of one of them. You can show me proof, statistics, Barna research, you name it - but I can continue to believe the interesting and detailed lie rather than the boring and ordinary truth.

Bill - you're a sinner.

But here's where the change comes for me. I get loved out of it. I EXPERIENCE the truth in love in the lives of the people around me. My wife's understanding and patient listening - not correcting, but listening. My daughters who will both just spontaneously say, "I love you, Daddy!" My friends who know how I get - yet are still my friends. Folks at the church who reveal the same kind of struggles that I have - and are finding release in their faith. And a patient and loving God who was willing to die to express His love for me.

Call me at the gas station, I'll answer. Grab me another Diet Pepsi. Let's live the truth in love with each other - "By this will the world know that you are mine: that you love one another."