Willful Blindness

85% of you know that there is a problem. Eighty Five Percent. That’s a big number. Really big. And, I can bet that only one of that 85% is actually doing anything about it. Eighty five percent – that’s the verdict of a video that I just watched. The ‘one in 85’ is my own contribution.

I understand the fear that keeps you inactive. Our societies punish those who stand up and point out problems. No one likes a person who disrupts the rhythm of life. No one likes the little boy who exclaims that the emperor has no clothes.

But, knowledge brings responsibility. If you see a danger to your family or community and say nothing, then you are also responsible for what happens to them.

Poor Ezekiel was given a job by God. God said:

But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.  – Ezekiel 33:6

…and:

When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.Ezekiel 33:8

But, in the same breath God also said this:

And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not.Ezekiel 33:32

No one was going to listen to Ezekiel. God said so, and Ezekiel knew it. And, even though Ezekiel continues to speak from the Bible, still no one listens. But, Ezekiel kept speaking because he knew something very profound.

He knew that he would have to give an answer to God for the knowledge that he was given. He knew that one day, he would stand before God and be judged for what he did AND did not do.

Deep down, you know that there’s a problem, but you aren’t saying anything to anyone.

True, some of you quietly come to me and murmur into my ear that I’m on the right track, but you say nothing to anyone else.

What will God say to you when you stand before Him?

This article was inspired by the story of Gayla Benefield who saved her town from the terrible scourge of Asbestosis because she would not shut up even when everyone said that she was crazy. She wasn’t special. She was just a normal person who knew something that everyone else needed to know. That’s what heroes are.

Here is Margaret Heffernan telling Gayla’s story and talking about Willful Blindness:

One day, you will stand before God, and He will ask you about what you did to warn others of what was coming.

Will God be pleased with your answer?