Website owner: James Miller
How are the beliefs of a particular society or culture created?
How are the beliefs of a particular society or culture created? The beliefs of most people are created by oft-repeated assertions. If a person hears something asserted to be fact enough times, and especially if he hears it from a number of different sources, he is likely to believe it. The vast majority of people are not thoughtful people who question, examine, think, and have minds of their own. They tend to believe what they are told. Even if it doesn’t make much sense. For example, if you told the people of a particular society that 2 + 2 = 5 enough times and had a number different sources making the assertion, the most of the people of the society would believe that 2 + 2 = 5. If then you were to say to one of them, “But that doesn’t make sense. How can 2 + 2 = 5?”, they would reply, “I don’t understand it, but I know it is true.” It has been said, “If you repeat a lie enough times, people will believe it.” And it is true.
It is a basic fact of life that most people just don’t like to think. They want others to do their thinking for them. They want to be told what is true and what isn’t true. They don’t want to figure it out for themselves. People are followers. They have no confidence in their own ability to arrive at the truth. They will believe what they are told even if it goes against common sense.
Indoctrination. Propaganda. Oft-repeated half-truths and falsehoods. Hitler shaped the mind and outlook of an entire highly literate country through oft-repeated half-truths and falsehoods.
How has it happened that the modern western world has gotten so far from Christianity? The answer: The basic mechanism through which it has occurred is oft-repeated falsehoods. Especially when you have different trusted sources all making the same false assertion. Suppose you have some trusted source such as a well-known psychiatrist or group of psychiatrists making some assertion such as, “Such and such is the best way to raise a child.” This assertion then gets picked up and re-broadcast by other sources and you have the assertion coming from a number of different sources and the population of the country starts believing it even though the assertion may in fact not make much sense and be totally false. The fields of psychiatry and psychology have indeed been the source of a great many assertions that are in conflict with the Bible. Their assertions get picked up, re-broadcast, and come to be accepted as fact by the population. If the assertion is in conflict with the teachings of the Bible, people familiar with the Bible are forced to decide what they are going to believe. For people unfamiliar with Biblical teaching, there is no confrontation involved and no problem.
There have been massive changes in attitudes, outlooks, and values in America in the past hundred years. Part of the reason for this has been the work of atheistic theologians and other atheistic intellectuals who have challenged the reliability and trustworthiness of the Bible and its absolutes. Another reason has been the ideas, beliefs, and assertions advanced by psychiatrists and psychologists. It has been false assertions of psychiatrists that have been behind the massive change in attitude in the West over the past fifty years toward homosexuality. Homosexuality has gone from being highly wrong to morally acceptable. From the basic assertion “Homosexuals can’t help it. They were born that way.” people have come to the opinion that homosexuality must be morally OK for how can you condemn someone for something if he was born that way. Falsehoods from one source get re-broadcast from many sources and come to be accepted by the population as fact. The change in public opinion on the subject of homosexuality has been so dramatic that no politician now dares take a stand against it. Almost no one in the society dares take a stand against it. If he tries to, he will be cut down from every direction. He will lose his job and livelihood. What is behind all of this? Satan. What he has accomplished in America (and in the entire western world) over the last fifty years is truly amazing. He reigns so totally that no one dares challenge him.
May 2018
Jesus Christ and His Teachings
Way of enlightenment, wisdom, and understanding
America, a corrupt, depraved, shameless country
On integrity and the lack of it
The test of a person's Christianity is what he is
Ninety five percent of the problems that most people have come from personal foolishness
Liberalism, socialism and the modern welfare state
The desire to harm, a motivation for conduct
On Self-sufficient Country Living, Homesteading
Topically Arranged Proverbs, Precepts, Quotations. Common Sayings. Poor Richard's Almanac.
Theory on the Formation of Character
People are like radio tuners --- they pick out and listen to one wavelength and ignore the rest
Cause of Character Traits --- According to Aristotle
We are what we eat --- living under the discipline of a diet
Avoiding problems and trouble in life
Role of habit in formation of character
Personal attributes of the true Christian
What determines a person's character?
Love of God and love of virtue are closely united
Intellectual disparities among people and the power in good habits
Tools of Satan. Tactics and Tricks used by the Devil.
The Natural Way -- The Unnatural Way
Wisdom, Reason and Virtue are closely related
Knowledge is one thing, wisdom is another
My views on Christianity in America
The most important thing in life is understanding
We are all examples --- for good or for bad
Television --- spiritual poison
The Prime Mover that decides "What We Are"
Where do our outlooks, attitudes and values come from?
Sin is serious business. The punishment for it is real. Hell is real.
Self-imposed discipline and regimentation
Achieving happiness in life --- a matter of the right strategies
Self-control, self-restraint, self-discipline basic to so much in life