cognitive dissonance

[shadowman]

I have trouble accepting christianity and many other religions mainly because of cognitive dissonance.

here is a definition:

cognitive dissonance is a psychological term describing the uncomfortable tension that may result from having two conflicting thoughts at the same time, or from engaging in behavior that conflicts with one's beliefs.

In simple terms, it can be the filtering of information that conflicts with what one already believes, in an effort to ignore that information and reinforce one's beliefs. In detailed terms, it is the perception of incompatibility between two cognitions, where "cognition" is defined as any element of knowledge, including attitude, emotion, belief, or behavior. The theory of cognitive dissonance states that contradicting cognitions serve as a driving force that compels the mind to acquire or invent new thoughts or beliefs, or to modify existing beliefs, so as to reduce the amount of dissonance (conflict) between cognitions. Experiments have attempted to quantify this hypothetical drive. Some of these have examined how beliefs often change to match behavior when beliefs and behavior are in conflict.




I wrote a poem about some of the key things stressing me out, but it was deleted as spam.

some parts are in retrospect a little pointless since blacks in egyot and ethiopia were christians before whites in the first place, neverhteless the trend of christianity spreading through excessive violence is something I feel needed to be addressed as a form of cognitive dissonance...



COGNITIVE DISSONANCE

bigging up malcolm, yet believing jesus is the only way
believing in love, and believing in a place called hell
awareness and loving life while being forced to think eternal torment is right
these are the things that keep me up at night
condemnation, yet told not to judge
forgiveness is divine, but yahweh holds an eternal grudge
how would blacks have gotten salvation without slavery, is this how the divine hand works?
he works in mysterious ways, a man owns a woman?
god must be a man because no woman would expletive up this much
jesus makes me worry and fret
while the music of obatala brings me to tears
do good, while faith is the only thing that matters through the long years
dont think, just listen and believe
its the good book, but god lets satan decieve
i can go on and on the full has never been told
a lord of hosts I should with awe behold?
who the expletive thought of war before we did

and finally, how much could god have loved us or cared about us seriously, if we end up in hell. ending up in hell negates an entire human lifetime of expereinces. it may not be much to ALLMIGHTY GAWD, but it is an eternety to mere mortals. I know I know, we dont mean jack to god, but still. Im speaking from a human perspective, the only one I got.

another question. once someone is on hell and realizes that their athiesm or other religion was wrong, why doesnt jesus let them turn to him?

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[micah4]

...
god must be a man because no woman would expletive up this much
...

okay then
why don't you come back when the cognitive dissonance starts to kick in for you on that.

[shadowman]

lol

[Adrift]

Interesting that you bring this up now because I'm reading a chapter in a book called "Objection #4: God isn't Worthy of Woship if he Kills Innocent Children" In which Lee Strobel interviews in his book "The Case for Faith" Norman L. Geiser, PH.D. In which he states:

"...I just did a study of every time the Bible uses the word that the King James Version translates as 'mercy.' I found it occurs 261 times in the Bible—and seventy-two percent of them are in the Old Testament. That's a three-to-one ratio. Then I studied the word 'love' and found it occurs 322 times in the Bible, about half in each testament. So you have the same emphasis on love in both.
"Ironically," he added, "you could make a case that God is more judgemental in the New Testament than the Old. For example, the Old Testament talks very little about eternal punishment, but the New Testament does."

"There's no evolution in God's character, then?"

asks Strobel

"That's right. In fact, the Bible says, 'I the Lord do not change.'[9] In both testaments you've got the identical, unchangeable God—the one who is so holy he cannot look upon sin, and yet the one whose loving, merciful, gracious, and compassionate heart wants to pour forgiveness on all the people who repent."

If you don't mind I'd like to dissect your poem a bit in order to answer some questions from my understanding of the scriptures. Please correct me where you find fault... that applies to all viewers of this thread. There's so much to this poem that it could go on to many separate posts so I'll address those that I have at least some understanding of... if you don't mind.

bigging up malcolm, yet believing jesus is the only way

I don't really understand the beginning of this line, so I'll pass on this.

believing in love, and believing in a place called hell

Love is what keeps people from running head long into hell, but seems to be why hell is also necessary. This is such a deep issue that we could spend the whole thread on just this point. Would a loving God disallow freedom of choice? Without consequences could we love at all? Great question, and again I think this leads in all types of areas (as does much of your poem) that could be explored far further than this simple thread even begins.

awareness and loving life while being forced to think eternal torment is right

This connects with the second line. Eternal torment is right, but its not "good". It's the consequence of rebellion, of choosing ones own path rather than a path of righteousness. Does the unrepentant murderer not deserve prison? Is this not just? What is justice?

these are the things that keep me up at night

As they should, for anyone of any conscience.

condemnation, yet told not to judge

there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, but we are not told to not judge, after all, we are to judge the angels... We are accountable to those whom we hold in judgment however. If the judge at your local court judged that murderer a murderer and yet he was a murderer himself, there would be no justice in that. We are allowed to judge only as far as the plank in our own eye". In the end, Jesus is the final judge because he had/has no sin with witch to not judge others. Does that make sense or am I being too abstract?

forgiveness is divine, but yahweh holds an eternal grudge

God is eternally merciful, that's the whole purpose of allowing his Word to come into flesh so that we might be forgiven. I know this point can be expounded upon, but for brevity I'll stop there.

how would blacks have gotten salvation without slavery, is this how the divine hand works?

Are you assuming that blacks could not have found salvation outside of slavery? This seems like a loaded question, but I can see where your heart is in it. All I know for sure is that God is merciful, and that He's just, and in the end... Jesus is the final judge in these matters. Again, another great question that deserves its own thread.

he works in mysterious ways, a man owns a woman?

God is not a respecter of persons. Again, I think I see where your going with this, but it deserves its own thread probably.

god must be a man because no woman would expletive up this much

I'm not sure where this is coming from as God is known by many names. One being "El Shaddai" the many breasted-one, the Almighty. God the nurturer. God is a spirit, not a man or woman. If you're asking, why did God represent himself as a father, and in flesh as his Word the male "Jesus". I'm assuming it has much to do with the culture in which God first made himself present. Again, God is not a respecter of persons as he/she/it is not a person, but a spirit who is all love.

jesus makes me worry and fret

I don't know how to really respond to this because Jesus brings peace to me. Jesus is the Prince of peace. there's no reason to fret.

while the music of obatala brings me to tears

I'm not sure how to respond to this but to quote what I've read on Wikipedia (which isn't to say much) that he's the owner of heads and that he made retarded people in a drunken state.
What this line does remind me of is the quote from the old German Opera house that reads "Bach gave us God's Word. Mozart gave us God's laughter. Beethoven gave us God's fire. God gave us Music that we might pray without words."

do good, while faith is the only thing that matters through the long years

We aren't saved by works, but how strong can anyones faith be if it doesn't represent itself in good works? How can anyone know that their faith is good without works that follow?

dont think, just listen and believe

Again, I'm not sure where you're getting this from... what is faith without evidence? A blind faith... Who says we require a blind faith?

its the good book, but god lets satan decieve

Thankfully Jesus came to give life and give it more abundantly

i can go on and on the full has never been told

A simple God in a complex world wouldn't be much of a God.... now would he?

a lord of hosts I should with awe behold?
who the expletive thought of war before we did

you got me... how's that? I don't really understand this last stanza.

[spitndirt]

...congnitive dissonance is the result of thinking that we know something. The clashing of misunderstood realities which will inevitably lead to illogical action. The clear indicator is the presence of assumptions and false premises.....like God is love and yet He sends people to hell...therefore I refuse to believe in God (the illogical action).

One who arrives at this conclusion both misunderstands love and presumes that such a place as hell (after-life eternal torment) actually exists.

Cognitive dissonance is prevalent among those who are perpetually stuck in a mode of self-justification. The only way to rectify this disorder is to discount 'self' as a possible source of truth. At this point there are left only two options....seek and find an omniscient being or commit to coasting along in blissful ignorance. Admit it.....both are better than being stuck on stoopid.

Peace....