{"id":7076,"date":"2016-07-15T13:31:22","date_gmt":"2016-07-15T13:31:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/?p=7076"},"modified":"2016-07-15T13:39:10","modified_gmt":"2016-07-15T13:39:10","slug":"what-would-make-you-change-your-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/demolition-squad\/what-would-make-you-change-your-mind\/","title":{"rendered":"What Would Make You Change Your Mind?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A friend and I were having a conversation recently. \u201cI was so<\/em> left,\u201d he said, referring to his political persuasions. \u201cThat was my background,\u201d he explained. \u201cWhen I then, later on, began to ask why<\/em> I thought that way, I began to change my mind on a few things.\u201d<\/p>\n

This interested me. My friend (now self-identifying as more moderately left) had examined what he believed, questioned why he believed it, and ultimately changed his mind under that examination. It was, I thought, an act of honesty and bravery.<\/p>\n

Why We Believe What We Believe<\/h2>\n

I suppose we believe all manner of things for all manner of reasons, but many of the big things we believe are in large part shaped by our communities \u2013 our families, our friends, our colleagues etc. These social groups can produce strong feelings of loyalty, and to change our mind can sometimes feel like a betrayal of the people we are closest to.<\/p>\n

There are of course natural break points in life where we are afforded chances to examine our beliefs. Going off to university for many brings a cessation \u2013 or at least a pausing \u2013 of old community ties and an introduction to new ones.<\/p>\n

When our families grow \u2013 marriage, children, grand-children \u2013 we can re-evaluate a number of things closest to us.<\/p>\n

But for most of the time we continue to operate as we have, more or less, always done.<\/p>\n

Collisions With Reality<\/h2>\n

Have you ever noticed that within many sadness\u2019s there\u2019s often a secondary, deeper pain? When the man in his 50s is made redundant it is sad, and it is proper for he and you and I to grieve his loss. But the grief is made more protracted when this pain causes him to question his place in the world or lose his sense of value and purpose.<\/p>\n

In another way, we might never think long about what happens after we die, until someone close to us passes away.<\/p>\n

At the exact moments that our belief frameworks need to stand strong in the face of massive disruption, they all too easily collapse. Our loss then becomes total loss to us.<\/p>\n

Testing Our Beliefs<\/h2>\n

Unless we want to run a similar risk to the man who suffers a heart attack brought about from poor diet and lack of exercise, we need to begin doing the right things now. We don\u2019t want a shock in the future to cause us to think if only we had changed something in the past, the present would be avoidable or made more bearable.<\/p>\n

Ravi Zacharias, the Christian thinker, is fond of saying that there are three ways we can test a belief or thought to see how strong it is.<\/p>\n

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There are 3 tests for truth: logical consistency, empirical adequacy, & experiential relevance.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Ravi Zacharias (@RaviZacharias) 12 January 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n