Weak Minds in Adult Bodies
My activities in creation science, theology, apologetics and also politics have given me some interesting experiences. And, I think, insights. Back in my "away time", when I had rudely put God on the shelf for about fifteen years, I was involved in the "Save Tibet" movement. It was alarming how my online arguments with ChiComs paralleled talking to American liberals. Years later, I noticed how liberals are driven by emotion rather than logic. As Chris Plante says, "It's like chasing a squirrel around the back yard with a tennis racket".
But I noticed the same thing with atheists, cultists, fundamentalist evolutionists, Bible compromisers and people who hold to aberrant theology. They appeal to emotion when they are losing the discussion (especially resorting to ridicule). And then the logical fallacies go into high gear. (I saw this the other day when I pointed out to a Ron Paul supporter that he was acting just like an Obama supporter.) Although atheists are a small minority, a small number of them are politically Conservative. The majority that I encounter are angry leftists.
I must repeat something I have said before, that I know full well that people have to be people. We have emotions, and we use them. To be eminently logical at all times makes for a boring person and a boring life. However, when engaged in discussions about issues, putting forth arguments and defending viewpoints, we should attempt to use rational thinking more than emotion.
A friend sent me a link to an article (which follows), and it was discussing how people are physically adults, but think like children in many ways. Although the article was about political matters, I saw the parallels between political liberals and religious liberals (including atheists, agnostics and deists who do not have the courage to admit that they are actually atheists). In the political realm, those of us with adult minds and thinking abilities need to take control of the situation from the child-minded people. In the spiritual realm, Christians need to stand up for the truth and not let the religious liberals intimidate and take control.
But I noticed the same thing with atheists, cultists, fundamentalist evolutionists, Bible compromisers and people who hold to aberrant theology. They appeal to emotion when they are losing the discussion (especially resorting to ridicule). And then the logical fallacies go into high gear. (I saw this the other day when I pointed out to a Ron Paul supporter that he was acting just like an Obama supporter.) Although atheists are a small minority, a small number of them are politically Conservative. The majority that I encounter are angry leftists.
I must repeat something I have said before, that I know full well that people have to be people. We have emotions, and we use them. To be eminently logical at all times makes for a boring person and a boring life. However, when engaged in discussions about issues, putting forth arguments and defending viewpoints, we should attempt to use rational thinking more than emotion.
A friend sent me a link to an article (which follows), and it was discussing how people are physically adults, but think like children in many ways. Although the article was about political matters, I saw the parallels between political liberals and religious liberals (including atheists, agnostics and deists who do not have the courage to admit that they are actually atheists). In the political realm, those of us with adult minds and thinking abilities need to take control of the situation from the child-minded people. In the spiritual realm, Christians need to stand up for the truth and not let the religious liberals intimidate and take control.
Ever wonder why conversations with adults often leave you feeling like you were arguing with teenagers? Take heart, you're not alone: author Diana West, in her brilliant book, The Death of the Grown-Up: How America's Arrested Development is Bringing Down Western Civilization, explains how and why America has become a nation overrun by adolescent minds disguised as mature adults.
Although West makes numerous compelling and superbly crafted observations, she intentionally offered no specific conclusions as to the impact of her thesis in the realm of politics, stating: "I'll leave it to someone else to argue whether being a grown-up is the same as being a conservative." But a look at the Obama '08 election and the 2012 campaign does reinforce this extension of her assertion: In general, juvenile minds vote liberal; mature minds lean conservative. (And I'll leave it to someone else to argue whether being a conservative is necessarily the same as being a Republican.)You would do well to put on your "all gwowed up" panties and read "Grown-Ups, Take the Wheel", here.
