Closing one's eyes

Those who do not close their eyes to the actual Jesus of History, who do not evade Him, but respond to His claim, can do no other than confess with Peter: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”. Those who refuse to bear this witness cannot appeal to historical reasons. The refusal of this witness can only be based on one’s general “philosophy of life”, not on history. But if this frequently occurs then it can only be that our “world-view” unconsciously affects our historical judgment, and obscures our historical insight. What is really at stake is not the claim of historical truth against dogmatic prejudice—as will be maintained—but, quite simply, faith or unbelief. The fact that this is so will, however, only be recognized by faith; unbelief will always find excuses for this state of affairs, and will feel obliged to justify itself on “intellectual” grounds.—Emil Brunner, The Christian Doctrine of Creation and Redemption, 327

<idle musing>
Yep. It's always the case. You don't want someone telling you what to do, so you create an intellectual excuse. Doesn't matter whether it's God or a boss or the gov't. Gotta find an excuse to "just be me."

Not much changed since the garden, eh? : (
</idle musing>