THE INDOCTRINATED MIND IS SET IN CEMENT
I have personally encountered many sources through the Internet that cannot be penetrated in their thinking. It includes some in splinter groups of the Worldwide Church of God. Most often when confronted they are
silent, although some are antagonistic. A good friend of mine in Canada and myself were once on a Mennonite Forum, and my friend was excommunicated from the forum because the moderator did not like his comments about the world of "Churchianity." I was blasted by one of their "pastors" who informed me that he was a "real pastor" and let me have it with two barrels. Naturally I took an exit. Why waste my time?
My sister is a Mormon and although I love her dearly, she is programmed into a cult belief. I cannot penetrate the cement of her thinking. I have found over the years that this is true of many no matter what their religious affiliation. The Worldwide Church of God is only one of many cult religious groups. Splinter groups of the Worldwide Church of God are off base and the bottom line is CONTROL and MONEY. It matters not that they tell their people that they are doing the "work of God" or call them "brethren." That is just part of the deception. Sure the common people are most likely good people, sincere and friendly, but they are under cult domination.
Indoctrination of the human mind happens the world over and it not only applies to religions, but to many other aspects of human life. For example those in police work or enforcement are programmed and indoctrinated to believe, act and perform based upon their schooling. Are they necessarily programmed correctly? Who decides this? Who determines the standard of right and wrong? Was it right for the government to martyr innocent men, women, children and babies in Waco (for those who remember and are aware of this atrocity)? Naturally the public is fed a steady stream of propaganda and lies to "justify" this mass murder. So they had some beliefs that were different? So what? What right does the government have to destroy? If they will do it to one group, they will do it to any group or individual they so choose to do so.
The indoctrinated mind is the mind of those in the Worldwide Church of God, the Roman Catholic Church, the Mormon Church, the Jehovah Witnesses, Scientology, Baptists, Pentecostals, Methodists, Presbyterians, Church of Christ, Seventh Day Adventist, Sacred Name and a myriad of other groups. It is endless and yet every group thinks they have "truth." Trying to convince anyone that what they believe is not the truth is next to impossible. Even in the world of government and its agencies, they are all programmed to perform based upon their training or schooling. Who sets the standard and is it right?
It would almost seem that only when people begin to reason within themselves will they question and if anyone tries to influence them in a different direction, they will automatically resist. I have been chewed up and spit out by many Bible apologists and others who defend their religious beliefs tenaciously. No matter what you say, they have a different answer or twist to the issue. This is a great source of frustration, because the indoctrinated mind will not receive alternative possibilities to the cement that is set in stone in their thinking. Ever try to convince a Saturday Sabbath keeper that days of the week are inconsequential? Ever try to convince a tithe payer that they are not blessed or cursed on the basis of tithing? Ever try to convince a "Christian" that God does not micro-manage their lives, and that He does not cause them to get a better paying job because they keep the Saturday Sabbath?
My own son-in-law thinks he got a better paying job because he started to keep the Saturday Sabbath. I wonder what he would think about how many Saturday Sabbath keepers have been killed in car accidents and why they were not protected? Many think they are "blessed materially" because they are tithe payers. I wonder why many human beings the world over are financially well off and many even wealthy, who are not tithe payers, and who do not even believe in Jesus Christ or God? It just proves that many have faulty reasoning, but it is next to impossible to convince them otherwise because they are programmed to think as they do. Their minds are set in cement.
Van Robison
Any time you join an organization, especially a church, you subconsciously agree to give up your free will choices. Few churches tolerate divergent beliefs though the more liberal ones to which many flock will. Some don't care what you believe in reality, as long as you show up and support the organization.
ReplyDeleteAdd to the mix the concept of an organization being the "True Church" and you can forget about holding contrary views within the organization. Both of you can't be true.
Ultimately, leaving people be is probably the only way to be. I am responsible for my beliefs and that's about where it stops. I don't need to change anyone nor should anyone feel a compelling need to change my views. I change my views. I do my own homework. I accept or don't accept what others tell me.
Giving one's brain and mind to an authority figure, real or imagined and then believing or doing what he or she says is to be done or believed is fundamentally silly. I'm thinking of theology and how it all is and not whether we should stop for a red light.
We can offer information to others but the change or shift comes "when the student is ready, the teacher will come."
Buddhism teaches that "you can't have an argument with an enlightened human being. They have no need to engage you." I like this.
People violently defend their turf IMHO because when you challenge a religious belief, the primordial fear of death and what is going to happen to "me" is reignited and it simply feels safer just knowing, "we shall not all die, but we shall all be changed..."
When I was gung ho for the cult, my mind was certainly set in cement. It took a long time for me to begin to question what I had accepted as "truth." It was a scary step.
ReplyDeleteIt has taken me nearly forty years to arrive where I am today.
How true. You cannot even have a conversation with a COGer without getting into an argument. They twist whatever scripture you bring up into their view point. When you don't agree they start to get angry. Since when is shouting someone down proof of anything?
ReplyDeleteYou are wrong of course.
ReplyDeleteFor the Armstrongists, it's not just about control and money.
They have a unique stake in their beliefs.
Even when I was a WCG member, my mind worked like a lawyer's. Mind you, I have always attempted to find truth, but it just seemed as if virtually everything was subject to constant review, often based on further thought or new input.
ReplyDeleteIt's not only the WCG that took a firm mindset, it's often contributers to the various forums and blogs, as well, as part of the continuing recovery process from the Armstrong problem.
But, alas. We're faced, on a daily basis, with a situation very similar to what transpires with expert witnesses in a court of law, and frankly, what can often happen is that we choose beliefs with which we are comfortable.
For every person that catalogues the conflicts and problems in the Bible, there is the one who reads the footnotes in a study Bible, compiled by scholarly and authentic theologians, which resolve and satisfy about 98% of these issues. One might read circumstantial evidence suggesting that Jesus is a fictional character modeled after Mithra, only to discover Dr. Manfred Claus, considered by some to be the premier academician in the field of Mithra, who says that this is just not so. You have some who believe that evolution is a process totally independent of a creator, while others point to statistical analysis, probability, and convenient simultaneous events demonstrating that evolution had to be a divinely guided process.
We think. We analyze. We make the best possible educated choices, and still we end up not being able to totally relate to, or agree with the majority of the population at large. Regimentation, and forced uniformity are indicative that there had to be some sort of switching off of the mind. That switching process is the only thing that could make something such as the Armstrong movement possible!
To me, the most important facet of physical life is that we do our best to make sure we're not artificially making an enemy out of a God whose character is such that he rains not only on the just, but also on the unjust. Problem is, we've been set up to do exactly that!
BB
Everywhere you look in society this "cult" mentality exists. Both the church and state have traditionally set themselves up as pseudo-"messiahs" indoctrinating successive generations to conform to the norm since according to this faulty logic the majority is never wrong. But, they have a vested interest in perpetuating the status quo, a dumbed down people, to solidify their own power and wealth. This is why freethinking, critically-minded people who question sacrosanct notions or controversial issues are silenced by any and all means necessary. Indeed, it has been said "perception is reality" and many in the Western world especially are living a form of psychosis, a severe case of the emperor's new clothes, hence if you can control the way a person looks at the world the battle is already half won and the enslaved mind will do the rest. They'll see connections where none really exist and deny those that do for they are told so by their trusted "minders." Only those who dare to look behind the curtain will see through the illusions to free themselves from the chains.
ReplyDelete