Missing Commandments Found!

I wonder what extra-Biblical requirements
were on those missing tablets? Oy!

A merry heart does good, like medicine
(or makes medicine even better!)

Proverbs 17:22a, NKJV

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Problems with Proper Context And Misreading the Bible

A few months ago, I wrote a post about the problems of context when an author uses a common term but applies and uses the term with a different definition than is commonly understood. Redefining a term and clearly communicating your new definition (without changing the term) does not constitute an informal logical fallacy in itself, but it does set one up for slipping into a linguistic booby trap and sets up a high probability for falling into an error of equivocation and ambiguity. The listener tends to slip back into a common understanding of the term. James Sire touches on this issue in his book "Scripture Twisting: 20 Ways the Cults Misread the Bible," though Orthodox or Evangelical Christians with the highest view of Scripture can also fall prey to these same pitfalls and errors as well.

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The Manifesto for Christian Education?: Just More Patriarchal, PT Barnum Spin

Taking a brief interlude away from examining different ways the cults misuse the Bible, I would like to present an update on the awaited Men's Homeschooling Leadership Summit that was held by men and for men (and boys, of course), sponsored by the Christian Home Educators of Colorado (CHEC). One of the grand achievements of this summit, I understood per the advertisement and information on the internet, was the writing of a grand patriocentric Manifesto for Christian Education.

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“The Biblical Hook” (Using Nancy Campbell’s Ontological Subordination of Women as an Example of Sloppy Rhetoric)

From pages 41 -42 of “Scripture Twisting" by James Sire:

When Scripture is quoted, especially at the beginning of an argument which turns out to promote a cult doctrine or point of view, it may be that it is being used primarily as a hook to grasp the attention of readers or listeners. “The Bible says” gets the attention, but what follows the quotation may be far from traditional Christian teaching and far from the intention of the Bible itself.

We use shortcuts to help us sift through the tremendous amounts of information that we are bombarded with every day, and we do not have time to search out the truth about every fact. Cialdini’s book “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” presents one of the best reviews and descriptions of this “rule of thumb” we use to help us get through daily life. For instance, when we see a person in a police uniform, we tend to assume that the person wearing the uniform is actually a policeman. This is a reasonable assumption to make, and we automatically respond to the person in the uniform as though they are with the police, but we may learn that they are only wearing the uniform as a costume or could be trying to be deceptive.

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George Simon on the Characteristics of Wolves in Sheep's Clothing

  

Excerpts from

In Sheep's Clothing:

Understanding and Dealing with Manipulative People

By George K. Simon, Jr, PhD

Disordered Character Personalities

Character-disordered personalities lack self-restraint when it comes to acting upon their primal urges. They’re not bothered enough by what they do and have too little conscience, unlike neurotics who also have difficulty with self restraint. (Pg 18)

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Does The Bible Really Say That?

Often, doctrinal errors arise from inaccurate translations of the Bible, or sometimes merely because verses are misquoted or misapplied. This is actually a common and sometimes an easy error to make. Mixing up a word or two can form a whole new doctrine or an unrelated Scripture can be used to form a new doctrine, merely based on a bad quote or misapplication. Recently someone brought the verse “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me” to my attention (Philippians 4:13), but they stated it as “Christ who strengthens me.” The first statement implies that doing things through Christ makes one stronger. The second misquote means that Christ gives strength first so that all things can be done, something not necessarily contingent on being “in Christ.” It’s a simple mistake that leads to serious doctrinal error. It might also be misapplied to state that Christ will strengthen a Believer as they commit a sin, for example.

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Different Drums and Multigenerational Faithfulness

Today, within an hour, I read two new similar blog posts that describe aspects of this problem with multigenerational faithfulness from a different perspective than the one that I presented in "Part II Addendum: Spiritualizing All Activities, First Time Obedience, Multigenerational Faithfulness and Unquestioned Obedience."



From "The Unconventional Approach" by Richard Sandlin:

You choose what you’re comfortable with. That’s the way to decapitate the foe that faces you. Never let anyone force you to go in their armor; you were not fitted for it, and it certainly does not fit you.

From "Giving our Children the Freedom to be Different ~ Grace in Parenting, Part 3" by Karen Campbell:

As I read these words, I realize how often I have been loath to extend grace to my children and have allowed my own tastes and opinions to be presented to them as a holy standard, when the truth is that God’s Word is the standard we ought to be pointing toward. How often I have even been tempted to put my own spin on Scripture in order to “prove” that my preference is the “right” one. And I have remembered the times when my first thought was “what would other people think about me, especially as a homeschooling mom, if my kid does x, y, or z.” It has caused me to repent of my own sin of loving myself more than I have loved God or my children.

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Loaded Terms

From Page 20 in James Sire in "Scripture Twisting":

Unfortunately, there is one loaded word that I cannot conveniently avoid. The word cult itself is heavy with negative connotations. Imagine a friend you haven’t seen for a while greeting you and saying, “Oh, by the way. Last week, I joined a cult. Would you like to hear about it?”

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Emergent Conversations

When Francis Beckwith and Greg Koukl sat down to write “Relativism: Feet Planted Firmly in Mid-Air,” I don’t think they were thinking about talking to Christians about Christian doctrine. Sadly, I find that their strategies recommended in their book more useful to me when conversing with the Emergents than I do when conversing with Athiests and New Age Pagans. It’s really quite sad.

On pages 145 and 146 of their book, they offer this strategy, one I have used when discussing the Emergent Church with it’s advocates:

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Emergent Thoughts

Here’s a quote for you to consider. I read it and thought it sounded a great deal like another odd quote from Brian McLaren. At first glance, to me it sounds like some kind of Emergent Church challenge that says we really don’t know enough about what God’s Word says to make any kind of definitive statement about what it tells us, save that we should be universalists. The problem with our Christianity is the traditional and orthodox interpretations of the Word of God, and Christianity have become old and antiquated because it is just culturally irrelevant.

Mystery Quote:

The Bible itself and its various interpretations which have become a part of traditional theology form the biggest obstacle to the study and understanding of life beyond death by the average man… The other scriptural idea blocking our pursuit of this path is the belief that the so-called New Testament theology of resurrection and future judgment invalidate anything research may claim to discover. It is possible that the opposite is true; that is, that the results of careful investigation may force a rewriting of some of our theology.

Well, anyone want to guess where this quote came from? Think about it for a few minutes and keep reading. I'll tell you soon.

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Understanding Cognitive Dissonance ~ Thoughts to Remember

Simply stated, cognitive dissonance occurs any time something "Does Not Compute." We feel pressure and discomfort because things do not add up. Our emotions become engaged so that these emotions conflict with our thoughts and our behavior. Or someone says something that does not make sense in context (e.g., when my former pastor who seemed to be doctrinally orthodox told me that people had horrible things happen to them when they left the church against the blessing and better judgment of the elders -- not because they made a necessarily unwise choice but primarily because they did not let the elders make their decisions for them). Biblically orthodox Protestant pastors do not make such statements unless they believe just as strongly in extra-Biblical doctrines as well. The context or the circumstances do not match whatever new thought, emotion or behavior has been introduced.

Behaviors can also throw us into cognitive dissonance. If we are asked to perform a task that does not match the context of the situation, this can temporarily suspend our critical thinking and our understanding of the environment which is disconcerting if not actually painful. Biderman points out that small and seemingly insignificant requests for behavioral compliance set up a pattern of compliance between the target and the manipulator. Over time, the requests can be made more relavent, but this also serves to sear the conscience. One becomes desensitized to the disturbance of the congnitive dissonance created by requests that don't seem to have any purpose or logical end. Hassan also adds information into mix, as information that does not correspond to a person's continuity of self; the internal agreement and consistency of thought, emotion and behavior; does induce a state of cognitive dissonance.

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Understanding Cognitive Dissonance Part VIII: A Summary That Goes Back to the Beginning

Revisiting old posts from

Under Much Grace, posted in 2007

Closing the Ideological Sale

Indoctrination and reinforcement of the changed aspects of self that have been set off balance through cognitive dissonance are often accomplished through social mentoring and this helps solidify the transformation. So if I can get you to feel something, the quicker that I can get you to behave in accordance with your feelings, the more solid the transformation becomes.
"Can you say, Amen?" That's a "three-fer." I've invited you to think in agreement with me, I've asked you to respond with an action of repeating me, and I've likely engaged your emotion. The quicker that I can get you to reinforce the shift or change, the better. This is great to know when buying a car. The salesman wants you to get in the car, drive it, love it and want it. If he can get your name and number (if you weren't absolutely determined to consider buying the car), and you like him, he's much closer to closing the sale. The quicker that he can facilitate this, all the better.

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Understanding Cognitive Dissonance Part VII: An Ideal Environment for Covert Influence?

Previous posts discussed how cognitive dissonance works, but they did not really discuss what this might look like in a religious setting when the individual enters a place with tremendous pressures designed to support a particular state of mind? Entering into a setting like this is fine if it is done without coercion and with the individual’s full and informed consent.

It becomes objectionable, however, when manipulators make use of techniques of influence in order to covertly exploit individuals. Previous discussions examined single examples and elements of manipulation and thought conversion, but it did not discuss how individuals become bombarded by this information and can find it overwhelming when experiencing nearly every type of influence concurrently. Techniques of manipulation intensify their effectiveness when done in social settings and when they are layers upon one another.

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Imagine that you walk into the sanctuary of a church. You hear music playing, but you do not realize that this music’s meter, rhythm, chords and patterns induce a particularly prayerful state of mind. Though you do not realize it, your body and mind synchronize with this music, shifting you from the state of mind where rational, critical problem-solving takes place into a more emotional and experiential state. The service begins, and the more simplistic seem repetitive, and they do not focus on doctrine or confession but upon emotions and experience. It is not balanced, and the music minister repeats the chorus of the last song 12 times before concluding the singing portion of the worship service. You feel a bit out of touch, particularly after the repeating chorus at the end.

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Understanding Cognitive Dissonance Part VI: Informal Logical Fallacy

In a previous post, we discussed confirmation bias: the human tendency to interpret new information in such a way as to (subconsciously) confirm what one already believes, a type of selective thinking.

Within manipulative groups, spiritually abusive churches, and cults, the system of control capitalizes upon this human trait in order to surreptitiously manipulate its membership in order to maintain milieu control. Free flow of information, both within the group and from outside of the group is tightly controlled so that members have no cause to doubt group teachings and to reinforce them in the minds of members. When groups cannot contain information that provokes thought and reveals truth that will challenge the follower, the group will strive to contain the information from permeating throughout the entire group.

Attaching a negative connotation to information or a source of information will discourage members from seriously considering these challenging ideas. Some have already been mentioned here, but I wanted to note the power that connotation has. We’ve already established that information within the manipulative group generally targets one of the aspects of the “self,” either the thoughts, the emotions or the behaviors of a person, in order to establish control of the entire personality or self, thus establishing the group mindset within the follower. I would like to point out that informal logical fallacies tend to be very effective because they target two aspects of the self at one time through appeal to both thought and emotion. These fallacies also prove to be very subtle, and as a general rule, unless you are prepared to spot them, they also prove quite powerful. Knowledge of how these fallacies are employed provides the best defense against the power of the covert manipulation that the fallacies impose.

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Understanding Cognitve Dissonance Part V: Confirmation Bias

Confirmation bias describes the human tendency to interpret new information in such a way as to (subconsciously) confirm what one already believes, a type of selective thinking. When confirmation bias manifests, information that contradicts one’s preconceived ideas and assumptions fails to catch the attention of the individual, or it is ignored or downplayed. Errors in logic, faulty statistical analysis/interpretation and errors in memory result from this type of bias of thought. New information that confirms one’s favored hypothesis is considered good data, and any information that disproves one’s hypothesis is considered and defined as faulty data.

~~In this diagram and for the purposes of this discussion of the overall phenomenon of cognitive dissonance, I have depicted confirmation bias only as a filter that does allow some information in through the barrier. Please note however that confirmation bias can just as easily result in a complete and total rejection of all new information (denial), not only a partial filtering of information exclusively. I have singled out “denial” separately, but confirmation bias also plays a role in both denial as well as filtering out and accepting only selected information.~~

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Understanding Cognitive Dissonance Part IV: Likely Denial Unless the Spiritual Abuse Becomes Personal

As noted in the previous post, people experiencing cognitive dissonance in response to challenging information can respond in a whole host of ways, but primarily they reduce to three basic categories: (1) denial, (2) filtering/rationalizing the information to limit cognitive dissonance or (3) actually receiving the information, making no effort to escape the cognitive dissonance.

The first two options demonstrate the thought squelching processes necessary for manipulative groups to maintain milieu control, and the third option stimulate critical thinking which will ultimately guide a person away from the group influence. This post will deal primarily with denial but will also discuss why some people might be more predisposed to denial than others.

Denial, a form of isolation or withdrawal is fairly self-explanatory. (It is also employed as a result of confirmation bias which I will discuss in a later post, but I included denial here as an independent factor.) The most obvious way that people can compensate is to avoid the information through isolation, though eventually one does encounter dissonance, even when immersed in the neotribal subculture. When messages do penetrate the group’s barriers, one can esteem the messages as lies so that they do not have to be weighed and evaluated. All veracity of the information is denied and rejected because the pain of the truth becomes too great for the person to easily process. It is easier to abandon the new information.

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Understanding Cognitive Dissonance Part III: Responding to Cognitive Dissonance

In the last three posts, we established that cognitive dissonance is the psychological stress experienced when a person is presented with information, asked to do something, or is encouraged to feel emotion that contradicts the different aspects of the self including thoughts, emotions and behaviors.



Steve Hassan adds “information” to these aspects of the self as another means of bringing about cognitive dissonance, as information has the power to produce this same kind of painful psychological stress that manifests when the aspects of self are challenged. If a manipulator can gain influence over one of the aspects of self or over the information that a person receives, the mind usually always shifts the remaining elements of self to conform to the aspect that the manipulator has affected, all in order to avoid great psychological stress. A salesman who makes you feel guilty or who can entice you to try a free sample has a much better chance of convincing you to change your mind about purchasing their product.

The first key to resisting this type of surreptitious manipulation and coercion is realization of how the process works.

Please also note this important point: Any aspect of the self and of information can cause a shift of all of the other aspects of self, given the right conditions.


The more pressure that is applied to a person under stress, the more likely that thought reform can occur, if the person is unaware of tactics of manipulation and their inner resources show depletion. The process of converting someone to new thoughts, emotions and behaviors is termed thought reform, a process identified by objective, predictable criteria (Lifton’s Thought Reform criteria, Henke’s Spiritual Abuse criteria, etc). Manipulative groups employ these methods and techniques in order to make new converts as well as keep existing followers under control in a closed social, ideological system. This blog post will concern itself specifically with how manipulative groups or even how individuals receive, attribute and process information that contradicts the group’s position.

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Understanding Cognitive Dissonance Part I: How Thought Conversion Works

Robert Lifton’s Thought Reform model remains the gold standard describing how manipulative groups can cause a person to transform, accepting beliefs and practices that they otherwise would reject. Steven Hassan has also described an important aspect of manipulation that Lifton's Model does not discuss regarding the role that cognitive dissonance plays in manipulation.

Hassan states that there are three intrinsic aspects of the self: a person’s thoughts, their emotions and their behavior. He also adds in information as another factor, but for now, consider the three internal aspects of a person.

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Human beings need a degree of consistency, and the aspects of self must all be congruent or in agreement. Consider this simple example: If a person thinks that it is wrong to ride a bike, they generally will express negative emotions concerning bike riding, and they will not engage in bike riding, likely doing things that discourage people from riding bikes. Now imagine that this person is forced to ride a bike for some reason. This creates a great deal of psychological stress for them, because their thoughts and emotions oppose their behavior. If compelled to ride a bike for very long, the person will have to create some justification to ease their emotions as well as their thoughts to decrease the stress that they experience.

According to Hassan, if a force, group or person can gain some degree of control over just one of the aspects of self of an individual, they have a very high likelihood of converting the other aspects of the person. In terms of our example, compelling our anti-bike exemplar to ride bikes will eventually result in making a bike believer out of him. The individual, because of the nature of how the mind works, will have to shift to accommodate the behavior. The stress of cognitive dissonance is so powerful and psychologically painful, most people will follow the path of least resistance, converting the other remaining elements of self to accommodate the element that is out of sync.

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Hassan includes the aspect of “information” as another element of self, because when a person is bombarded with information, this also produces painful dissonance and acts just like another element of self. Information can cause a person to shift beliefs as well.

Consider an example of how cognitive dissonance can cause a person to change their mind. I like the example of a car salesmen and an impulsive decision to purchase a car. Imagine that you have gone to the car dealer where you purchased a vehicle for service. You have no real interest in buying a car, and you go to the dealership with no such intent. In fact, it is not in your best interest at the time to purchase a car, and it behooves you to just use the one you have. But as you drive in, a new car catches your eye. The new model really is nice, and you like the way it looks as you drive by to get to the service area.

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Then someone comes out to you from the service department to explain that your car’s warranty has expired, and they discovered that a particularly expensive component of the car needs to be replaced. Your emotions have been stimulated. Not only have your emotions been engaged through your like of the look of the car, you’ve actually thought about how nice it would be to have one while you were waiting. The dealer has the part you need in stock, and it will just be another hour to complete the repairs. You decide to stay to wait on the car, but you are emotionally engaged because you did not anticipate having such a high repair bill which creates a great deal of stress for you.

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You have another hour to wait, but you finished reading all the material you brought with you. You pick up some literature on the new model, and you wander out into the showroom to actually look at the new model. You are very stressed and confused about the high repair bill, and this does not fit with what you anticipated. It doesn’t make sense to you that the car should need repairing at this point, and it certainly should not cost so much. Feeling a little trapped, you have just begun to feel cognitive dissonance because your feelings and your thoughts about your old car do not match sense. Your emotions and the situation have just influenced your behavior, and you have taken action. Now you have engaged two aspects of the self.

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As you stand in the showroom, you think about how you don’t need a new car. You should just pay the repair bill. Cars have problems and they show the signs of ware and tear. It’s really not in your best interest to buy a car at this time, and the one you have now meets your needs. But as you stand there in the showroom under the guise of occupying yourself while you wait, you are approached by a salesman. He reads the signs of stress on your face, and he may have even asked the service department about your circumstances.

He approaches you, and he offers to let you take a test drive while you’re waiting. You figure that you might as well drive the car since you did really like the way it looked and wondered how it handled on the road. Bingo. That salesman knows that he is well on the way to making a sale. The more he engages your emotions and the more small shows of behavioral compliance he can elicit from you, the greater his chances of selling you the car. The salesman knows what he’s doing, and he appeals to Cialdini’s principle of scarcity to engage your emotions even more. He tells you the car that you want is actually the very last car on their lot. They also have a limited time offer on financing that just so happens to be available for a short time, and he would have to check, but the deal may be gone tomorrow, along with the car itself.

From an emotional standpoint now, you really do not want to think about your old car. This has become a problem for you, and the fact that you did not anticipate problems is painful. At the same time, the idea of buying a new car that you like is quite pleasant. You have a choice as to which emotions you will entertain, even though it does not feel much like a choice because it is subtle. Who wants to occupy their time considering that life is not really fair, things wear out and break down, and even when you take good care of your belongings, they may not last? How much better to think about something pleasant instead? You can entertain the idea of how much you like that new model in the showroom. And your behavior has now further reinforced your shifting emotions, because you really do like how the car felt when you drove it. Your behavior and emotions have begun to shift into a state of agreement making your thoughts the odd element.

The salesman knows that he has a fish that is getting quite interested in the bait he’s put out. Now he will focus on getting your cooperation, because even the small acts of compliance will dramatically increase his chances of getting you to change your mind. If he can get you to give him your name and phone number, he has just dramatically increased his chances of selling you the car, even if you still do not want to buy the car. The process of cognitive dissonance has begun. The individual has the choice to walk away from the action and rethink his actions and emotions to bring them into alignment with his thoughts (No New Cars!). Entertaining the emotions involved and continuing the behavior that demonstrates interest in a new car creates stress if a person’s thoughts do not correspond to these emotions and behaviors.

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The salesman also knows that he is highly likely to make a sale if he has engaged emotion and secured compliance, because these two factors will strengthen. Actually, the fact that he has your name and phone number may be helpful to him, but it is just important to him because he has secured your cooperation. You then call the bank to see exactly how much money you have in your savings account.

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You started out your day planning only to have your car repaired, and now you are considering buying a new car. What has happened?

Lets look at the process again.

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You started out with no dissonance. Your thoughts, emotions and behavior all corresponded, and you were comfortable.

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Your emotions became engaged, challenging what you believed and what you anticipated in a negative way. You also saw something that appealed to your sense of pleasant emotion at the same time. You allowed the stress and the pleasure to overflow into another facet of self, and you change your behavior, though it seems quite insignificant.

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The process progresses, and you have been engaged even further. The emotional stress spills over into your behavior as you try to get information in order to make a decision about what to think.

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At this point, you have put yourself into a position where you will need to make some kind of decision about the information you have learned. You are subject to emotional stress, but your behaviors have introduced some new emotions – ones of pleasure that counter your stress. Your problem of confusion over the stress of having a high car repair bill that you did not anticipate makes the emotions associated with buying a new car quite pleasant. It seems to solve a problem for you. You can shed the old car and buy a new one, even though it is not exactly in your best interest from a thoughtful perspective.

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Discontinuity created when thoughts, emotions and behaviors creates a great deal of psychological stress, and engage and control of one element of the self usually always causes the all three elements to shift in some way. The individual must choose whether they will follow the path of least resistance or whether they will work to bring their self back into alignment. If you do nothing at this point, your thoughts will shift to accommodate your behavior and your emotion. Either way, you need to make a change. If you do choose not to buy the car, you will have to accept the situation and stop entertaining the emotions and behaviors that do not correspond with buying a new car. If you choose to follow the path of least resistance, you will change your thinking and buy the car. You cannot float indefinitely in this dissonance and discontinuity.

In an upcoming post, I will explain how information challenges the self, introduces its own type of dissonance, and how we can choose to respond.

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