For Christian fundamentalists, being taught to suppress critical thinking begins at a very early age. It is the combination of the brain’s vulnerability to believing unsupported facts and aggressive indoctrination that create the perfect storm for gullibility. Due to the brain’s plasticity, or ability to be sculpted by lived experiences, evangelicals literally often become hardwired to believe far-fetched statements.

This wiring begins when they are first taught to accept Biblical stories not as metaphors for living life practically and purposefully, but as objective truth. Mystical explanations for natural events train young minds to not demand evidence for beliefs. As a result, the neural pathways that promote healthy skepticism and rational thought are not properly developed. This inevitably leads to a greater susceptibility to lying and gaslighting by manipulative politicians, and greater suggestibility in general.

To combat the brain’s habit of taking the path of least resistance, which has destructive consequences for critical thinking, more emphasis and value must be placed on empirical evidence. For the human mind, believing is more of a reflex than a careful and methodical action.

Interesting that this also applies to the political mindset, especially to the right-wing of the spectrum. It is not surprising that the largest demographic of the right-wing is composed primarily of fundamentalist/evangelical Christians.

Just an assortment of ideas and accusations with no support whatsoever. He might want to take his own advice. "...more emphasis and value must be placed on empirical evidence."

Are these people those gullible, careless evangelicals at work?

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The North Carolina-based Samaritan's Purse deployed a 52-bed emergency field hospital near Antakya in southern Turkey to help fill the void after a major hospital in the region was damaged by the Feb. 6 earthquake. Over 40,000 people were killed, and tens of thousands need medical care.

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Samaritan's Purse opens field hospital in Turkey after earthquake | Church & Ministries News (christianpost.com)

Does this sound like what close-minded fundies would do next, to try to help Puerto Rico? (Oops. That's already been done.)

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The Samaritan’s Purse DC-8 flew to Puerto Rico from Greensboro, North Carolina, on Monday delivering more than 26 tons of emergency supplies to the island devastated by Hurricane Fiona.

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DC-8 Brings More Relief to Puerto Rico (samaritanspurse.org)

I provide links because, as you said (and I agree), we must be careful lest we, "train young minds to not demand evidence for beliefs."

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Originally Posted by jlisenbe

Are these people those sadistic, hateful evangelicals at work?

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Being unable to think critically and accept metaphors as objective truth doesn't mean those people are sadistic and hateful.

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Being unable to think critically and accept metaphors as objective truth doesn't mean those people are sadistic and hateful.

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I was going off of former comments. But even at that, the underlined part of your comment cannot be verified. Remember that, "more emphasis and value must be placed on empirical evidence."

There's still no correlation with "sadistic and hateful" behavior.

As I said, there were correlations with former posts, but I edited my post to make it more palatable for you. Now perhaps you would address this?

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But even at that, the underlined part of your comment cannot be verified. Remember that, "more emphasis and value must be placed on empirical evidence."

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Originally Posted by jlisenbe

As I said, there were correlations with former posts, but I edited my post to make it more palatable for you. Now perhaps you would address this?

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As Athos said in the first post:

"To combat the brain’s habit of taking the path of least resistance, which has destructive consequences for critical thinking, more emphasis and value must be placed on empirical evidence. For the human mind, believing is more of a reflex than a careful and methodical action."

"As Athos said," is far removed from serious documentation. But even then, just posting a general statement of that sort certainly does not demonstrate that evangelicals do not think critically or are peculiarly prone to accept metaphors as objective truth. Perhaps that was not your intention to begin with?

Fundamentalist/evangelical taking the path of least resistance: "You ask, how did Noah feed all those animals on the ark for over a month? My answer: Doesn't matter. God took care of it."

Nothing sadistic and hateful, just no critical thinking.

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Fundamentalist/evangelical taking the path of least resistance: "You ask, how did Noah feed all those animals on the ark for over a month? My answer: Doesn't matter. God took care of it."

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How was Jesus raised from the dead? Can you explain that naturally?

Liberal believer taking the path of least resistance: What do you think of Jesus' statement about judgment in Mt. 25? Answer: I don't think he said those words. Reply: Why do you say that? Answer: Well...because.

Of course both of our anecdotal instances are basically useless so far as documentation is concerned. It's just inventive fiction.

You've never discussed Bible stories with another Christian? You've definitely missed out on strengthening your faith!

What on earth are you talking about?

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Originally Posted by jlisenbe

How was Jesus raised from the dead? Can you explain that naturally?

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Have you discussed that with other Christians, as in a Bible class?

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Liberal believer taking the path of least resistance: What do you think of Jesus' statement about judgment in Mt. 25? Answer: I don't think he said those words. Reply: Why do you say that? Answer: Well...because.

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Discuss it!

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Of course both of our anecdotal instances are basically useless so far as documentation is concerned. It's just inventive fiction.

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I don't understand. We aren't allowed to discuss the people in, the reasoning for, the finer details of, and the meaning of Bible stories?

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Originally Posted by Wondergirl

You've never discussed Bible stories with another Christian? You've definitely missed out on strengthening your faith!

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That's an excellent point which will go right over the head of a fundie.

Also excellent was your catch of the disinformation by Jl when he wrote "sadistic and hateful". He quickly changed that line after you caught him.

For the rest, he is unable to reply directly to your comments without doing a dance of "whataboutism". I'm enjoying the show.

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I don't understand. We aren't allowed to discuss the people in, the reasoning for, the finer details of, and the meaning of Bible stories?

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The topic was the need for documentation and the fact that anecdotal stories, such as the one you used, did not even begin to reach that level. Please pay attention.

As to the "sadistic and hateful" descriptors, would that happen to agree with the past sentiment shown below? I changed it only to keep WG from making a big issue about it and thus distract from the main subject, but there certainly is a specific "correlation".

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Many prominent evangelicals have called for the execution of women who have abortions and the doctors who perform them. Others have called for adulteresses to be executed (but not adulterers, funny how that works). We've seen what happens when the church gets political power. It was called the Inquisition, among other atrocities.

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A little honesty would have compelled a person to admit that there is a LOT of material out there to back up my statement.

Why did you avoid this question? "How was Jesus raised from the dead? Can you explain that naturally?"

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Originally Posted by jlisenbe

Why did you avoid this question? "How was Jesus raised from the dead? Can you explain that naturally?"

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It certainly would be an interesting and challenging question to discuss!

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It certainly would be an interesting and challenging question to discuss!

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More like an interesting and challenging question to avoid for you.

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Originally Posted by jlisenbe

More like an interesting and challenging question to avoid for you.

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Wow! I could keep you up all night discussing this one!!!

You are too fearful to answer such a question. It's your usual MO.

Every time I read this, I think about you. Like them, you are smart enough to spot a question that, if answered honestly, would prove to be damaging to your beliefs, so you just avoid it. Sad.

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they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” 27So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.”

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Originally Posted by jlisenbe

You are too fearful to answer such a question. It's your usual MO.

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Fodder for discussion, Sir!!!! Fear has nothing to do with it!

"How was Jesus raised from the dead?' Discussion point #1 -- Was He raised or did He raise Himself?

As usual, the fearful person tries to answer a question with a question. Like I said, it is your MO.

It's why you consistently avoided the question until you could not do otherwise. As I said, it's a sad sight. Fear makes us act in strange ways.

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Originally Posted by jlisenbe

As usual, the fearful person tries to answer a question with a question. Like I said, it is your MO.

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Apparently, you do not understand how discussion works. It isn't a war of flat-out belief statements from each participant.

To continue the discussion, Bob joins in with:

Hmmm, "Was He raised or did He raise Himself?" Well, Jesus is God so He very likely raised Himself, yet various Bible verses say God raised Him. Soooo, why couldn't Jesus raise Himself and save His Father the work? Was Jesus REALLY God? And why would Jesus lay back and let His Father do all the work?

Thank you for an answer to a question that has not been asked. This is the question you claim to be "discussing", but in reality are doing anything but.

How was Jesus raised from the dead? Can you explain that naturally?

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Originally Posted by jlisenbe

Thank you for an answer to a question that has not been asked. This is the question you claim to be "discussing", but in reality are doing anything but.

How was Jesus raised from the dead? Can you explain that naturally?

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I added more to Bob's discussion point in Post #24. Yes, discussion.

Yes, you have done all you could do to avoid answering a simple question, including conducting a fantasy "discussion" with an imaginary person.

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Originally Posted by jlisenbe

Yes, you have done all you could do to avoid answering a simple question, including conducting a fantasy "discussion" with an imaginary person.

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Discussion does not always answer a question, but brings up additional points of view, things to consider. Discussion is not the same as answering.

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Discussion is not the same as answering.

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With you it certainly is not.

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Originally Posted by jlisenbe

With you it certainly is not.

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So, I gather you aren't interested in discussion. You want an answer that, no matter what it is or how correct it may be, you will then stomp on it. I get it.

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You want an answer that, no matter what it is or how correct it may be, you will then stomp on it. I get it.

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Why is it always someone else's fault with you? Can you not take some responsibility for your own actions/inactions? You have refused to answer which is your privilege, and I'm not surprised. Really, there is no point in this continued waste of time.

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Originally Posted by jlisenbe

Why is it always someone else's fault with you? Can you not take some responsibility for your own actions/inactions? You have refused to answer which is your privilege, and I'm not surprised. Really, there is no point in this continued waste of time.

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The question has several possible answers (not just one). It would be fun to explore the possibilities!

You want an answer to that question? Okay, I will answer. I will give $100 to Athos if I answer and then you tell me what I suspect you will, that it's wrong.

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lisenbe
You want an answer that, no matter what it is or how correct it may be, you will then stomp on it. I get it.
Why is it always someone else's fault with you? Can you not take some responsibility for your own actions/inactions? You have refused to answer which is your privilege, and I'm not surprised. Really, there is no point in this continued waste of time.

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So let's hear your answer. That might make a good starting point.

If you had kept up with this thread, then I think you would have seen that answering the question was not really the point. WG had mocked evangelicals with this. "Fundamentalist/evangelical taking the path of least resistance: "You ask, how did Noah feed all those animals on the ark for over a month? My answer: Doesn't matter. God took care of it."

My point in asking her about the resurrection was to show that God raising Jesus from the dead makes all other events in the Bible possible. That's why, I think, she did not care to answer it. Too dangerous.

As to my answer, it would be this. "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you."

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Originally Posted by jlisenbe

As to my answer, it would be this. "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you."

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Why didn't Jesus, being part of the Godhead, raise Himself?

Please explain what "quicken your mortal bodies" means?

So now I'm supposed to do all the answering? Oh well.

1. It makes no difference, but I would imagine that it had to do with the total dependence on his Father that his life exemplified for us.
2. Quicken is an old English word that means to bring to life.

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Originally Posted by jlisenbe

So now I'm supposed to do all the answering? Oh well.

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No. This is a discussion. You answer, then ask a related question of your own.

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1. It makes no difference, but I would imagine that it had to do with the total dependence on his Father that his life exemplified for us.
2. Quicken is an old English word that means to bring to life.

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Thank you. I like your first answer and agree wirth it. As for "quicken", I wasn't sure where you were going by citing that verse.

Now, please ask a related question.

"How was Jesus raised from the dead? Can you explain that naturally?"

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Originally Posted by jlisenbe

"How was Jesus raised from the dead? Can you explain that naturally?"

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Since He was a Person in the Trinity, I would have expected Him to raise Himself -- as a proof He's God. His Father raising Him did, as you stated, indicate the total dependence He had on His Father and thus gave us an example.

My question: Why three days in the tomb?

So why you could not have done that days ago is just a mystery. But since His Father was fully able to do so, then I would think feeding a bunch of animals on the ark would have been a piece of cake.