Experts change their minds. Remember the food pyramid, the controversy on coffee, and the diets that got rid of carbohydrates and fats?
Sometimes those changes comes from new information.
Of course, some want data to say what they want it to say, which is surprisingly easy to do.
Other times since we don’t have long term data, so we speculate a bit. We don’t exactly make it up but there are a lot of unknowns that clarify in five or ten or twenty years.
Sometimes data seems to contradict.
That can make people skeptical or confused and can create conflict depending on where you land on a particular issue.
For instance, there is a great deal of information available regarding identity.
People discuss and debate racial identity. The same can be said for identity around social classes, or belief systems, or cultural backgrounds or sexuality.
All of those are incredibly important conversations but they are also complicated ones.
They can also be conversations where disagreement emerges. People can divide or shame or cancel as a result.
And honestly information can point in more than one direction. It’s complicated.
While identity is complicated no one would argue it’s also important.
Who we are informs purpose, ultimate meaning, and the roles we fill.
All that to say I wonder if we ask too much of some of these micro-identities. While they are important, I am not certain they can answer the bigger questions we all have.
Maybe they don’t answer some of our smaller questions either.
Maybe micro identities change over time. Perhaps answers to questions about identity can change as well.
Data can be helpful, but even with the best information people who are 4 or 10, or 16, or in their 20’s, 30’s, etc. can find themselves confused about any number of things; sexuality, gender, who I am, why they are here, relationships, injustice, politics, money, anxiety, wealth, career paths, just to name a few.
Things we were certain of five years ago, aren’t as certain today.
This has ultimately led me to look for an identity that encompasses the micro identities but doesn’t depend on them to carry the full weight of who I am and why I am here.
Simply stated I have found my identity in Christ. I am a person who God loves, (and to my surprise genuinely likes).
Because of that identity, I have purpose and meaning that informs today but goes far beyond it.
This identity gives me a belief system that refuses to devalue people with other belief systems.
It allows me to be confident without being hateful.
It allows me to be in the conversation all the while knowing I have much more to learn.
It allows me to treat people with a lot of grace because a lot of grace has been shown to me.
So, if you’re confused, or overwhelmed, or unsure; you may need more or better information.
You might need some time to process.
You might need to ask some hard questions to yourself and others. You might discover others can be as confused you.
You might discover that that the unanswered questions or the nagging doubts are there because you’ve been asking something that was never designed to carry the full weight of who you are and why you’re here to be more that it is.
Maybe your identity is something more than the experts have led you to believe.
