3 Essential Tools to Build Your ‘Mental Filter’ In The Art Of Deception Prevention

Should Christians approve same-sex marriage? This was the question that one book author was trying
to address. His answer was in the affirmative. While I only got through the first chapter or two, what I read stunned me. What struck me was not his arguments or even his position, he did not bring anything new or compelling to the table, rather his case was all emotional. Unsurprising, his arguments were not biblical nor based on biblical precepts. It seemed that he was trying to change people’s minds with emotions first, then when (or even if) he would come to the arguments, people would be more likely to be persuaded. While he was a great writer, I could see right through his superficial emotional arguments. I already knew the truth of the Scriptures, I knew proper thinking skills and logic, and I also knew how rhetoric works. In a previous post (see here) I gave an overview of knowing how to prepare others, and yourself, against deception. The first and main step in helping build a “bulletproof” mind is to know the truth and why it is true. However, knowing the truth is just one aspect of a whole package that needs to work together for deception prevention.

The Art of Discernment, the Tools That You'll Want to Know for Mind Protection

Ideas Have Consequences

Let's call him Joe. He was armed with a charming and charismatic personality. He was smart, bold and confident. In addition he was a follower of Christ. He came from a “sheltered” Christian home.

I still can remember it like yesterday, he would sit at the college library's desk checking out books for patrons. However, he was not alone. I'm really not sure why I thought his coworker was an atheist, maybe it was something to do with the words on his shirt or maybe it was the books he read. But I would see these two in deep conversation from time to time. A couple years later, Joe became an atheist. I'll let you make the mental connection if you want, did this other guy plant seeds of doubt? Was Joe too confident trying to deal with strange philosophies that he was not prepared to deal with?

Colossians 2:8 comes to mind “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”

Six Concerning "Christian" Ideas, And What The Bible Says About Them

A recent conversation got me concerned. The ideas were not new to me, but what was interesting was the volley of ideas that kept coming, kept coming without biblical justification. A Christian of a number of years, explained it is not good when Christians have “head knowledge”. In other-words, we should not study the Bible and he was also negative about memorizing Scripture. Preparation before hand for our interactions with those who would oppose the Gospel was also criticized. Rather silence in the face of opposition was promoted by him. In addition, he was very negative concerning being evangelical, meaning we should not share the Gospel verbally. Our lives only should shine our Christianity (This should be a given for all, but it's not to be our only witness, it does not negate our verbal evangelism. Our words are part of our life.).

However, none of these thoughts were backed up with Scripture. One can't be too surprised because these ideas are not scriptural and second, since it was expressed that one should not study Scripture, how could one know?