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AN ADVENTURE IN CONITIVE DISSONANCE Part 1
AN ADVENTURE IN CONITIVE DISSONANCE
What is cognitive dissonance? Do Christians suffer cognitive dissonance? Is there an example of cognitive dissonance in the scriptures?
Let us begin by looking at the words ?cognitive dissonance?
? Cognitive ? A mental thing. Mentally aware
? Dissonance ? Not in harmony with. Is not ?resonance?.
We all hold ?core beliefs?, things which we have accepted as true. A body of knowledge in our minds we hold to be ?truth?. When new information comes along, we compare it to what we already know. If it agrees with our body of truth then, we like it, we agree with it, it resonates with what we know. Things are fine. But, if not, ??then we reject it???..?IF- we can.
Sometimes the truth cannot be rejected because it is ?self evident? and if it does not agree with what we already know, we suffer mental anguish. We suffer cognitive dissonance.
Perhaps this news story by Wray Herbert ?in the June 19, 2007 edition of Newsweek can help to illustrate:
?The Nuer and the Dinka tribes of southern Sudan share an unusual custom. Both of these cattle-herding societies remove several of their kids' permanent front teeth as soon as they sprout: two on the top and four to six on the bottom. It's a very painful procedure, done with a fish hook, and it leaves all tribe members with a distinctive slack-jawed look and speech impediments.
This practice probably started long ago, when tetanus was rampant in central Africa. Tetanus causes "lockjaw," but the tooth removal would have allowed children afflicted by this infectious disease to drink liquids even when their jaw muscles clamped shut. Although there has been no tetanus or lockjaw in the southern Sudan for ages, both the Nuer and the Dinka continue the custom of extracting the front teeth. Indeed, they believe the sunken jaw and lower lip are beautiful. People with front teeth, they say, look like jackals. Social psychologists Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson describe this odd custom in their new book, "Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me)," as an example of the psychological process known as cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is the extreme emotional discomfort we feel when two important beliefs, attitudes or perceptions collide. Humans cannot tolerate dissonance for long, so they ease the tension by making a change in belief or attitude?and justifying the change. In the case of the Nuer and Dinka, they "choose" to believe that the toothless look is aesthetically pleasing in order to justify the infliction of such trauma on their children.?
Do you know anyone like the Nuer and the Dinka? Someone who just can?t see how things really are? ?they in effect "choose" to believe that the toothless look is aesthetically pleasing? By use of this mental trick, they avoid the effect of cognitive dissonance.
What follows is an example from the Scriptures where truth caused an extreme episode of cognitive dissonance. These people had not developed a mental process to deal with it and the result was a violent reaction.
From Luke Chapter 4: verses 17-30;
?And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?
And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
But he passing through the midst of them went his way,?
Here we have a people that were presented with ?self evident truth?. Truth which they could not deny because it was right there in their own sacred writings! But, all along they had been taught that these stories were just an indication of the power of their God, the ?Jewish? God.
And, here was Christ, presenting this ?truth? to them. The truth that God took care of and healed people who WERE NOT Jews. And so you see the effect this bit of ?truth? had. It caused a significant event of ?cognitive dissonance?.
The rest of this article will give my Seventh Day Adventist friends the opportunity to personally experience cognitive dissonance. The depth of this experience will vary from one individual to another because; everyone has variations in their core beliefs.
Years ago the Adventist had a large Church and Health Institute at Battle Creek, Michigan and during this time, controversy had arisen regarding Sister White.
Sister White said God would help her provide an answer.
A.T. Jones and others took her at her word and wrote letters to her in which they listed their concerns which Sister White had said her God would help her to answer.
.
Let us read about the biblical Joseph?s God and contrast him with Sister Whites God.
We will also read excerpts from A. T. Jones letter to Sister White
The God(s) of Joseph and Sister White
Joseph's God
Joseph's God was dependable. He meant what he said. He carried through on his promise. Four hundred years did not diminish his promise. Your faith is increased when you read of this God?s faithfulness. Thousands of years later, bible writers would cite Joseph's relationship with his God as an example of faith.
Joseph's God never went back on his word. The following scriptures illustrate this relationship and example.
KJV Genesis 50:24-26
And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.
So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
KJV Exodus 12:40-41
Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.
And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.
KJV Exodus 13:19 And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you.
KJV Joshua 24:32 And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.
KJV Hebrews 11:22 By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.
AN ADVENTURE IN CONITIVE DISSONANCE
What is cognitive dissonance? Do Christians suffer cognitive dissonance? Is there an example of cognitive dissonance in the scriptures?
Let us begin by looking at the words ?cognitive dissonance?
? Cognitive ? A mental thing. Mentally aware
? Dissonance ? Not in harmony with. Is not ?resonance?.
We all hold ?core beliefs?, things which we have accepted as true. A body of knowledge in our minds we hold to be ?truth?. When new information comes along, we compare it to what we already know. If it agrees with our body of truth then, we like it, we agree with it, it resonates with what we know. Things are fine. But, if not, ??then we reject it???..?IF- we can.
Sometimes the truth cannot be rejected because it is ?self evident? and if it does not agree with what we already know, we suffer mental anguish. We suffer cognitive dissonance.
Perhaps this news story by Wray Herbert ?in the June 19, 2007 edition of Newsweek can help to illustrate:
?The Nuer and the Dinka tribes of southern Sudan share an unusual custom. Both of these cattle-herding societies remove several of their kids' permanent front teeth as soon as they sprout: two on the top and four to six on the bottom. It's a very painful procedure, done with a fish hook, and it leaves all tribe members with a distinctive slack-jawed look and speech impediments.
This practice probably started long ago, when tetanus was rampant in central Africa. Tetanus causes "lockjaw," but the tooth removal would have allowed children afflicted by this infectious disease to drink liquids even when their jaw muscles clamped shut. Although there has been no tetanus or lockjaw in the southern Sudan for ages, both the Nuer and the Dinka continue the custom of extracting the front teeth. Indeed, they believe the sunken jaw and lower lip are beautiful. People with front teeth, they say, look like jackals. Social psychologists Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson describe this odd custom in their new book, "Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me)," as an example of the psychological process known as cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is the extreme emotional discomfort we feel when two important beliefs, attitudes or perceptions collide. Humans cannot tolerate dissonance for long, so they ease the tension by making a change in belief or attitude?and justifying the change. In the case of the Nuer and Dinka, they "choose" to believe that the toothless look is aesthetically pleasing in order to justify the infliction of such trauma on their children.?
Do you know anyone like the Nuer and the Dinka? Someone who just can?t see how things really are? ?they in effect "choose" to believe that the toothless look is aesthetically pleasing? By use of this mental trick, they avoid the effect of cognitive dissonance.
What follows is an example from the Scriptures where truth caused an extreme episode of cognitive dissonance. These people had not developed a mental process to deal with it and the result was a violent reaction.
From Luke Chapter 4: verses 17-30;
?And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?
And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
But he passing through the midst of them went his way,?
Here we have a people that were presented with ?self evident truth?. Truth which they could not deny because it was right there in their own sacred writings! But, all along they had been taught that these stories were just an indication of the power of their God, the ?Jewish? God.
And, here was Christ, presenting this ?truth? to them. The truth that God took care of and healed people who WERE NOT Jews. And so you see the effect this bit of ?truth? had. It caused a significant event of ?cognitive dissonance?.
The rest of this article will give my Seventh Day Adventist friends the opportunity to personally experience cognitive dissonance. The depth of this experience will vary from one individual to another because; everyone has variations in their core beliefs.
Years ago the Adventist had a large Church and Health Institute at Battle Creek, Michigan and during this time, controversy had arisen regarding Sister White.
Sister White said God would help her provide an answer.
A.T. Jones and others took her at her word and wrote letters to her in which they listed their concerns which Sister White had said her God would help her to answer.
.
Let us read about the biblical Joseph?s God and contrast him with Sister Whites God.
We will also read excerpts from A. T. Jones letter to Sister White
The God(s) of Joseph and Sister White
Joseph's God
Joseph's God was dependable. He meant what he said. He carried through on his promise. Four hundred years did not diminish his promise. Your faith is increased when you read of this God?s faithfulness. Thousands of years later, bible writers would cite Joseph's relationship with his God as an example of faith.
Joseph's God never went back on his word. The following scriptures illustrate this relationship and example.
KJV Genesis 50:24-26
And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.
So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
KJV Exodus 12:40-41
Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.
And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.
KJV Exodus 13:19 And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you.
KJV Joshua 24:32 And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.
KJV Hebrews 11:22 By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.
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