Truth vs Indoctrination What is the DifferenceKnow the

Truth vs. Indoctrination: What is the Difference…Know the Difference…Live out the Difference. By Paul R. Shockley © www. prshockley. org

Question: Are you “trained” or “well learned? ” A person admitted to me that he realized that there were two types of Christians: “trained” and “well learned. ” He confessed that he was of the former and not the latter. As a result, he often found himself struggling with and negatively reacting to ideas, positions, terms, and words that were counter to, never addressed, or ridiculed by his former pastor. The reason why he believed what he believed was because he had embraced, for the most part, the worldview of his former pastor, a man he sat under for many, many years. In essence, his basic problem was that he was not a lover of truth, but a lover of his pastor’s instruction. While I empathized with his struggle of indoctrination, I tried to motivate him to become a lover of a truth. See, truth, no matter where it is found, points you to the Author of all truth: the God of the Bible.

Question: Are you “trained” or “well learned? ” A person who loves truth will pursue truth, no matter where it is found or who proclaims it. In fact, the disposition of a lover of truth is one of honest inquiry, thoughtful & careful investigation, and rational discourse-no matter if the person holds different theological beliefs, shares foreign or unfamiliar ideas, or even communicates or expresses him or herself differently. See, the person who loves truth realizes that one should not merely seek instruction, but truth. The most noble instruction is that which is true. The importance of this factor cannot be over estimated because:

Are you a lover of truth? “What our mind LINGERS on will INFLAME our emotions which will slowly CAPTIVATE our will & eventually CONTROL our life. ” Read Romans 12: 1 -2.

Are you a lover of truth or are you merely indoctrinated? Quite frankly, indoctrination is all too commonplace in our academic settings and in our churches. As Christians we must recapture the wonder and pursuit of truth, not merely be indoctrinated. We must be characterized with a disposition of honest inquiry and possess a teachable mindset, ever delighting in “true truth”-rather than habitually distrusting, alienating, or even mocking those who ideas or expressions are unfamiliar or different. We must be bearers of truth and Christ-like love rather than people who obstruct, ridicule, and reject those who think and communicate differently. If truth is not harmonized with love and love is not harmonized with truth, then the indoctrinated Christian is not reflecting Jesus Christ, no matter how well intended he or she may be (2 John). Consider…

Why do you believe what you believe? Sociological • • Parents Friends Society Culture Peers Colleagues Community Network Psychological • • Comfort Peace of Mind Meaning Purpose Hope Identity Significance Intuition Religious • • Scripture Pastor Priest Guru Channeler Church Tradition Experience Philosophical Biblical • Consistency • Coherence • Completeness (best explanation of all the evidence) • Accurate Exegesis (i. e. , plain, normal, grammaticalhistoricalliterary) • Systematic Coherence

Could the reason be because you have been indoctrinated? What does “indoctrination” mean? Indoctrination is imbuing or saturating another with instruction to the extent that this teaching becomes a habituated way of “seeing” and “doing. ”

Or are you person who seeks after truth no matter where it is found? What is truth? Truth is that which corresponds to reality, identifies things as they actually are, can never fail, diminish, change, or be extinguished, and is sourced in the God of the Bible who is the Author of all truth.

Truth points us to God: Both General Revelation and Special Revelation should lead us to worshipping God (Psalm 19). Beauty of General Revelation: Logic, evidence, aesthetics, and science help us discover objective facts about God and His ways. These facts are ultimately sourced in God since He is the Creator & Designer of Universe. Beauty of Special Revelation: God of the Bible Facts Discovered; General Revelation Given Accurate exegesis and systematic coherence helps us discover, understand, and live out objective truth given to us by God. ALL TRUTH IS GOD’S TRUTH Special Revelation Correspondence: both compliment each other.

Indicators of Indoctrination: • Do you dismiss any other presentation without honesty inquiry? • Do you only represent what you have been taught? Answer these Questions: • You are unsupportive of those who think differently than you? • Do you look upon those who think or communicate differently with contempt, mockery, ridicule, and suspicion? • Do you only study what you have been previously taught?

Are you a product of Indoctrination? Do you only represent what you have been taught? • Are your conversations & studies spent articulating, discussing, programming, & re-hashing what you have been taught? • Are you able to think through alternative views with any sense of competence? • Do you find yourself unable to wrap your mind around words, terms, or ideas are that do not know readily fit into what you have come to believe is true? • Do you identify yourself with the source of or sub-culture where the indoctrination takes place? • Do you readily accept what the instructor says to you without critically examining the justifications for those truthclaims? • Even when the instructor has moved on to another ministry, become discredited, or has passed way, do you tend to live in the past with nostalgic sentiments? • Do you only promote & proclaim your instructor’s lessons & literature? Do you seriously consider any other viewpoint than what you have been taught? • It is difficult for you to trust any other source? • Do you enjoy the opportunity to intellectually inquire or investigate & engage materials that are different from what you have been taught? • Do you find yourself unwilling to listen to any other person? • Do you readily dismiss any other presentation without honest intellectually inquiry? • Do you only intimately associate with those who believe what you believe? • Are you fearful to investigate what lies beyond what you have been taught to believe? • Do you cloak this fear with dogmatism? • Do you find yourself studying any other source than what you has been given to you by your instructor? • Do you love your instructor’s instruction? If so, why? Do you tend to be unsupportive of those who think or express themselves differently from you? • If anyone disagrees with you or the view you have embraced, do you tend to take it personally and reject them? • Do you look upon other viewpoints with suspicion? • Do you tend to misrepresent, mock, and ridicule other views a& those that believe or proclaim them? • Do you tend to alienate those you know & love even if they have been hurt or damaged by either the source of or the implications that flow from that instruction? • Do you equate intellectual or spiritual maturity with the amount of saturation of your instructor’s teaching?

Be a pursuer of truth, not merely an indoctrinated Christian. If one’s character may be defined as the sum- total of your habits, then it behooves every Christian to develop a disposition, a habit of excellence that is truth-centered, truthgoverned, truth-desired, and truth-lived. To be a pursuer of truth means having a disposition to think, feel, desire, and act in such a way that you habitually strive to know, practice, and protect the truth.

Be a pursuer of truth, not merely an indoctrinated Christian. If you will develop this skilled disposition by conforming yourself to truth in the way you live and who you are as a person, you will go beyond what you ever thought possible-for people are longing for truth, for something to believe in that is true and trustworthy. In fact, if you will seek to to know, practice, and protect the truth, then you will bear the following characteristics:

Truth-Bearing characteristics: Truth rather than personality. Intellectual honesty rather than closed thinking. Broad education-for you will go beyond the beliefs and personalities of your sub-culture. Surprising insights as you discover truth in extraordinary ways. A life established on truth rather than indoctrination. Attractiveness-because you are able to offer truth that goes beyond programmed instruction and propaganda. Characteristically point people to God and not your instructor by your words and works.

Truth-Bearing characteristics: Adventure-because your pursuit of truth enlightens you in ways you never considered. Competence and creative insight as you engage others rather than simply repeating what you have been taught to believe. Scope of relationships continually enlarges as you engage others who compliment and add to your understanding, practice, and protection of the truth. Practice truth and love and truth because you recognize that both are inseparable (2 John). Better equipped to recognize what really is false teaching. Better equipped to recognize viable, reasonable options within the range of orthodoxy; you resist dogmatism when dogmatism is not necessary. You avoid presumptuous, premature thinking.

Truth-Bearing characteristics: You can refute lies with truth, not beliefs, perspectives, and opinions. Promote personal and social charity, not unnecessary criticism. Habitually ask questions to any truth claim being made: What? Why? Where? How? Therefore? In other words, you ask questions such as (a) What is the justification for this claim? ; (b) Why is the case? (c) Did the speaker ever consider this… ? (d) What are the implications if this is true? You pursue truth no matter the source. Worship… you realize that truth points you to the ultimate source of truth: the God of the Bible. Therefore, the pursuit of truth is not merely an intellectually inquiry, but an opportunity of worship. You experience the joy of personal discovery of truth rather than relying upon another’s interpretation of it. You fervently avoid the vices of ignorance, apathy, agnosticism, and relativism.

Final Thought:

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