SHIFTING CONTAINERS – Intellectual Capacity

“To help thinking people believe, and to help believing people think.”  This was how Ravi Zacharias, Christian apologist, author of more than 30 books and host of the radio programs LET MY PEOPLE THINK and JUST THINKING summarised the vision of his ministry (Dr. Zacharias sadly passed away last week)

Once we have started the process of expanding our SOCIAL CAPACITY  (see previous week), we need to expand our INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY.    If we have to be brutally honest with ourselves, the intellectual capacity of many believers is often sacrificed on the altar of spirituality.  Sometimes we sin more through ignorance than malice.  It is easier to spiritualise an event and remain ignorant than engage in research and find practical solutions.  This has especially been emphasised during the current COVID-19 season.  YouTube recently studied the most popular searches about COVID-19 and found 67 videos that contained deliberate misinformation.  These videos had been viewed more than 250 million times on social media.

For Christians, there needs to be an expansion of our INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY if we want to escape the snare of manipulated news.

However, expanding our intellectual capacity is not always about getting the right answers, it’s more about asking the right questions. If we want to expand our intellectual capacity, we will have to invest time and effort into seeking an explanation before sensation.  This is probably one of the greatest challenges in Christian circles today.

The story in John 20:25 of Thomas who did not believe the apostles when they told him that “they have seen the Lord,” gave him the nickname of Thomas the DOUBTER.  I believe the nickname should have been Thomas the RESEARCHER, or as my friend Richard Baird says: FORENSIC THOMAS.  His concerns were legitimate, and his request was sound:  “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” (John 20:25)

With all the fake news bombarding Christian media today and all the false prophets flooding our technological pulpits, we need more followers of Christ with the mentality of Thomas: People who will seek the marks of the cross – forgiveness, reconciliation, and redemption – before simply passing on any information as truth.

In his book, The rise of political lying, Peter Osborne, suggests that we now live in a “post-truth” environment where “public statements are no longer fact-based but … are constructed to serve an agenda”. That is exactly what we are seeing with the rise of fake news and conspiracies.

What we mostly suffer from in this age of information is not over-exposure but filter-failure.  For Christians, the challenge is to use Biblical filters when surfing through the internet, common sense when reading articles, and a critical analysis before passing it on.  It has become far too easy to like, copy, paste and distribute negative reports that serve a specific spiritual or political agenda in making a point.  It has become equally easy to simply post links to videos that confirm, explore and feed on our fears and prejudices.   We should never see opportunities as enemies and interpret God-at-work as the enemy-at-work.

As Christians, we desperately need to embrace a culture of research before believing anything that bears the name of Jesus and to draw the line when information contradicts the radical call of a Saviour who called His followers to BE different.  We need to offer the world an alternative spirit to hatred, fear, suspicion, and division.

SOLDIERS OR SCOUTS

The questions we need to ask ourselves in this regard, says decision-making expert Julia Galef at a recent TED forum, is whether we are SOLDIERS or SCOUTS?  The answer to this question, according to Galef, could determine how clearly we see the world.  She elaborates as follows:

“Imagine for a moment you’re a SOLDIER in the heat of battle — perhaps a Roman foot soldier, medieval archer or Zulu warrior. Regardless of your time and place, some things are probably constant. Your adrenaline is elevated, and your actions stem from your deeply ingrained reflexes, reflexes that are rooted in a need to protect yourself and your side and to defeat the enemy.

“Now, try to imagine playing a very different role: the SCOUT. The scout’s job is not to attack or defend; it’s to understand. The scout is the one going out, mapping the terrain, identifying potential obstacles. Above all, the scout wants to know what’s really out there as accurately as possible. In an actual army, both the soldier and the scout are essential.

“You can also think of the SOLDIER and SCOUT roles as mindsets — metaphors for how all of us process information and ideas in our daily lives. Having good judgment and making good decisions, it turns out, depends largely about which mindset you’re in.   We often view information that differs from our convictions as “the enemy”, and we want to shoot them down and defend our own opinions.

“So, the question arises: What does it say about the human mind that we can find such paltry evidence to be compelling enough to convict a man? This is a case of what scientists refer to as “motivated reasoning,” a phenomenon in which our unconscious motivations, desires and fears shape the way we interpret information. Some pieces of information feel like our allies — we want them to win; we want to defend them. And other pieces of information are the enemy, and we want to shoot them down. That’s why Gale calls motivated reasoning a “SOLDIER MINDSET.”

What’s most concerning about motivated reasoning or the SOLDIER MINDSET is just how unconscious it is. We can think we’re being objective and fair-minded and still wind up breaking relationships along the way.”

What mature Christianity represents is what Galef calls a “SCOUT MINDSET”, the drive not to make one idea win or another lose, but to see what’s there as honestly and accurately as we can, even if it’s not pretty, convenient or pleasant.

Here are 6 guidelines to follow in our endeavours to be true scouts and Christians who seek to expand our intellectual capacity by researching well.  When reading or posting an article, first determine the following:

1. Does it encourage reconciliation or division, discord and suspicion? – 2 Corinthians 5:18-19  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:  that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
2. Does it give life or drain life?  Proverbs 18:21  The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
3. Does it provide hope or create fear?  2Timothy 1:7  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
4. Does it inspire love or hatred?  Luke 6:27  But to you who are listening I say: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.”
5. Does it gather or scatter?  Matthew 12:30  Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
6. Does it stimulate peace or conflict?  James 3:18  Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

Amazingly, once we start building our intellectual capacity we will soon discover the need to build our mental capacity.

You are most welcome to order the book CAPACITY from Mike at thirdwayinfo@gmail.com