I have just finished a tremendous biography of Charles Ponzi, of the eponymous "Ponzi Scheme." He began his project in 1920 in Boston, promising to give people a 50% return on their investments in 45 days. He actually had a notion of how he might do that, using the difference in values of currency in other countries and their exchange rates in postage, but soon after accepting investment monies he realized it wasn't workable, and so he paid off the early investors with money coming in from new investors. His first investor only put in a few hundred dollars, but soon he was taking in $10,000 a week, then $100,000 a week, and then a million dollars a week. People trusted him with their money, in some cases their life's savings, and when it all fell apart they were wiped out.
One of my earlier articles described the difference between truth and belief, terms that are frequently misused. In summary, a thing that is true cannot be untrue at the same time; this violates the law of non-contradiction. A true thing must be true for all people. A belief, however, can be correct or incorrect. You may believe something to be true that is not, or believe something that is not true that is. Your belief, however, does not change the fact that something is true or not.
"Trust" is a belief. If we trust someone or some thing, it means that we hold a belief that person or thing is true or reliable. If I trust you, I believe you to be reliable; it does not guarantee that you are in fact reliable. Trust is a vital and essential property for any relationship to succeed. We have to have trust in the grocer that our food is unspoiled, trust in the pharmacist that our medicines are correct, and trust in our banker that our money will not be stolen. The Bible has many, many verses on love, but I would submit that trust is a predicate for love's fulfillment. It is possible to love someone that you do not trust, even love your enemies, but love in its fullest sense requires trust.
Another pair of words that are commonly misused, or at least used in only their negative sense, are prejudice and discrimination. "Prejudice" actually means to "pre-judge", and in many cases this is also an essential practice. In fact, it may even be life-saving. I confess that I am prejudiced about rattlesnakes. If I see a rattlesnake, I may pre-judge it to be highly dangerous and likely to strike me, based on what I know about rattlesnakes. It is not feasible for me to get to know each and every rattlesnake, to determine if every single one is nasty or if some like to have their bellies rubbed. I therefore pass judgment rather quickly, and this saves time and prevents envenomation. To discriminate means to "divide" or "separate". This is also a necessary part of life. I chose to marry a human, not some other species. I discriminated on the basis of sex, and chose to only marry a woman. In fact, I discriminated against all other women by choosing only one, eliminating the legions of other women that I could have chosen. Well, maybe not that many. A few. A couple of them. (In fact, it was my wife that discriminated and chose me from all the other men.)
Trust and mistrust, prejudice and discrimination, are therefore essential parts of daily living. I trust my airplane mechanic to make sure that all the parts on my 1993 plane are still in working order. I am prejudiced against every single grizzly bear. And I discriminate against many fruits (wishing Eve had done the same). Prejudice and discrimination are wrong when they are done unfairly.
It is when someone violates our trust that our foundations in our relationship with that person are shaken. We judge someone to be reliable, we trust them to do something for us, and they let us down. Now our trust is broken, our belief in their reliability is shaken, and we must determine if this is a single event or if it requires us to define them as untrustworthy. Do we become prejudiced against them, and assume that we must now "pre-judge" their future reliability, and do we discriminate against them, separating them from the people that we do trust?
The Bible give us some direction. First, as Christians we are to love them. If we have a problem with them, we are to take it to them. If they still do not see the error of their ways, we are to take other Christians with us to discuss the matter. If they repent, we are to forgive them. If they reject us, we are then entitled to mark them as untrustworthy, meaning judge them as untrustworthy, and discriminate against them. We are still obliged to love them and forgive them, but it does not mean that we do not see the truth about them.
In the 1980's, Ronald Reagan had many negotiations with the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev. Reagan frequently appropriated and used a Russian proverb when dealing with Gorbachev, "doveryai, no proverai", meaning "trust, but verify", and it was through Reagan that this phrase actually entered modern discourse. However, I would submit that this is a false proverb. If you have to verify that someone is truthful or reliable, you can not really trust them. An accurate belief of trust does not require verification.
Many of us are too trusting, and will be shaken time and again when we find our beliefs to be untrue. Many others are incapable of trusting, and will never be able to have fulfilling relationships or even successful lives because at some level a basic level of trust is a requirement to function in society. Only the recluse or hermit has one person that they can trust, themselves--to some extent.
There are some lessons for the Christian here that are essential if we are to deal with our fellow man. First, we are to ardently strive in advance to determine if someone is worthy of our trust. The Ponzi investors were looking for something that would make them rich quick, and they failed to assess the man or his methods to correctly decide if he merited their trust. The Bible warns us in Psalms 118:8, "It is better to put trust in the Lord than confidence in men." Secondly, none of us are perfect, and others will let us down from time to time. We must not rush to judgment, nor become incorrectly prejudiced against them, or unnecessarily discriminate against them. We are to continue to love them and forgive them. Yet nowhere are we to be commanded to be fools. We must use our God-given wisdom to evaluate and discern how to proceed. As mentioned earlier, love in its fullest sense requires trust; to love those we do not trust we must trust in God.
Thirdly, we must always strive to ensure that no one ever has any doubt to trust us, and it is sobering to ask yourself, "Have I ever done something that would cause another person not to trust me?" Fourth, the hermit or recluse, and even ourselves, must be careful about trusting in one's self. We learn in Proverbs 3:5 to "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding." Finally, there are three persons that are perfectly and always trustworthy, the Father, Son, and Spirit. There never needs to be any verification of their reliability. In fact, not trusting in them will result in spending eternity with Satan, the most untrustworthy being of all. You don't have to trust me on this, just His Word. And I don't care how cute your pet rattlesnake is, I don't trust him.
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