Having to parse through every bit of information flung at us is too great a burden. For some odd reason, I find that Christians in specific are expected to entertain and to listen to every view, granting each and every statement the same legitimacy and validity. We are not allowed to discard information, because if we do, we are all called “close-minded”.

I think this is unfair. Every other belief system has its “sacred cows”, so-to-speak. Often, if you critique an atheist’s faith in evolution, you will find that they will throw away every critique you hand them. This same principle applies to every group, from the most scientific to the most religious.

This critique of being close-minded is a very powerful one, it would seem. Many people are afraid of being “close-minded”, and being called close-minded will often lead people to re-evaluate even the statement found most offensive by their initial judgement. This is because we people often do not know what hills are worth dying on. In modern society, it is almost praised as virtuous if you are so “open-minded” that you have no hill worth dying on. It even seems that, especially if you are a Christian, you need to be open-minded, because open-mindedness is conflated with Christian virtue.

I am calling that into question. It is quite clear to me that everyone has some belief they hold so dearly. Ironically, those who praise open-mindedness are often not open-minded enough to handle critiques of being open-minded; this alone illustrates that close-mindedness is built into every paradigm.

If being closed to change in some belief is built into every system of belief, then I propose we ought to find what is worth not changing. It seems foolish to affirm the belief that we should embrace contradiction just for the sake of openness; instead, we should fiercely stand by some beliefs. It is rational and admirable to plant your stake on some beliefs and say, “this is something I value deeply and is True; I’m not willing to change it”.

Christians especially need to understand this. We also need to understand that we should not go around with fierce dogmatism on every single issue. I think there are only a handful of issues in life that are worth standing on until death.

We Christians must understand the value of our faith. Speaking now for Orthodox Christianity, we must understand that this isn’t a feel-good group. St. Paul says that the Church is the pillar and ground of all Truth. Christ is the God-Man that descended unto humanity so that we can be made like Him. He is the Word; all things make sense through Him. All things were created through Him.

These are far from light statements. These are truths that are so foundational and so earth-shattering that they must be stood by. Us Orthodox Christians must be willing to stand by these beliefs. These truths are so strong, so true, and provide so much value that we cannot back off of them out of fear of being called close minded.

We have to embrace these truths with so much certainty that we are called close minded. St. Athanasius the Great is credited with saying that “if the world is against the truth, then I am against the world”. These fundamental truths of Christianity are what brought the Light to the world – the world without hospitals, charities, and a self-sacrificial love for neighbour and enemy is the world which decided not to hold these fundamental truths.

The martyrs saw the immeasurable value of these truths. They said to themselves, “Christ and His Church are worth more than my own life”. They chose to die for their Lord. For them, to live in rejection of these truths was death. To die for Him was to live.

I think then, with all of this said, we shouldn’t be afraid to be close-minded to some things. In fact, being open-minded to some things is incredibly dangerous. In the Beatitudes, Christ says to ^“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”

Our Lord commands us to discern. “False prophets” implies the knowledge of the truth, and that we need to stand by the truth, lest we lose our souls. If we know the Truth – Christ – and the Church, which is the pillar and ground of all truth, then it only seems rational to stand by this. If standing by the Truth means that I am close-minded to falsehood, I want that. If being called “close-minded” by those who do not stand by the Truth means that my soul may be with my Lord, I want that. I think that’s completely reasonable and worth standing by and being close-minded about.

I likewise do not think that this view necessarily falls into pride. If we are primarily concerned with our eternal destinations, then it follows that some things must remain inconsiderable. For the mathematician, they must uphold the laws of mathematics. The moment they begin to doubt that 1+1=2, everything collapses. For the Christian, the moment we begin to listen and lend credence to the words from the Evil One, everything collapses. It is best, therefore, to shut out some beliefs and show no willingness to budge. We have to be as certain in our Christian beliefs with the same unwillingness to change as we are about mathematical truths.

I propose we live in joy and a humble boldness holding these things sacred. We should embrace our obstinance to change our beliefs on these things. I don’t see there being any virtue in skepticism regarding the addition of one and one. In fact, I see that the refusal to hold some things dogmatically leads to the destruction of the whole. Likewise, I don’t see there being any virtue in skepticism regarding the Truth that upholds all truths. We need to embrace our unwillingness to change our core beliefs about Christ; the Truth has descended from above, died, and rose again: all should hear this, and all who believe it should hold it with absolute certainty. We have the Light, and we need to be firm in our foundation to be the light-tower of the world (Matt 5:14-16).