Hot or Cold Versus Luke Warm

"Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of  ill will" - MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.

There will always be people around who are evil and want some people to suffer.  This may be due to absolute misunderstanding or it may be due to just being evil.  The apostle Paul comes to mind when I read this statement.  He persecuted the Jews because he had an "absolute misunderstanding" of what the Christian people were all about.  He thought that the Christians were blaspheming God so he thought it was his duty to put an end to it.  Because he was pure hearted and trying to serve God faithfully, the Lord revealed to Paul that he was persecuting Christ who is God Incarnate.  He did a 180 degree turn around and became a Christian, eventually dying for Christ.  This shows what can happen when someone is passionate about something.  If a person is convicted and passionate, even if it is on the wrong side of things, he can change and turn to the good if someone proves to him that he is misguided.  This is because a person of conviction, actually cares enough to be convicted.

Contrarily, the person who is of "goodwill", but has a shallow misunderstanding, is not convicted about anything.  There is no passion, rather there is a merely superficial acquiesce to whatever the issue is.  I think of the passage in the Bible that states that it is better to be hot or cold than lukewarm.  God says he will spew out of his mouth, those that are lukewarm (rev. 3:16).  The reason for this is because people who are lukewarm have nothing to stand on and merely blow whichever way the wind is blowing. God can work with those that are hot because they are passionate toward Him.  He can work with those who are cold because they, like Paul, have cared enough to feel or think strongly about something. Lukewarm people have a shallow understanding of things because they have not cared enough to take the time to have a deep understanding of things and most likely never will.

If people have a shallow understanding of things, but are of  goodwill it will not be of benefit to anyone.  One cannot have a good argument with a person of goodwill who has a shallow understanding of things because he will not know how to argue his point.  He will not care enough to look deeply at the issue at hand to truly understand the effects of whatever he believes.  He will not even care enough to change his mind.  He will not be able to advocate for anyone or anything of any importance.  He will not effect change.  A person who has an absolute misunderstanding and is ill willed will argue vehemently and passionately and if he is on the wrong side, a person will be able to point out where the person's logic is failed.  This will in the end, help the person's side he is against.  He may also see the error of his reasoning because he cares enough to think about it.  Martin Luther King Jr. is correct, a "[s]hallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will."