{"id":6449,"date":"2024-01-23T15:14:11","date_gmt":"2024-01-23T09:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/23\/its-not-a-lie-if-you-believe-it\/"},"modified":"2024-01-23T15:14:11","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T09:44:11","slug":"its-not-a-lie-if-you-believe-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/23\/its-not-a-lie-if-you-believe-it\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s not a lie if you believe it"},"content":{"rendered":"


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By Robin Schumacher<\/span><\/a><\/span>, Exclusive Columnist
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Pixabay\/Gerd Altmann <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lamenting the resignation of Claudine Gay from Harvard, an Associated Press\u00a0article<\/a>\u00a0read: \u201cHarvard president’s resignation highlights new conservative weapon against colleges: plagiarism\u201d.<\/p>\n

I see. So, it\u2019s those darn conservatives who scowl on plagiarism (are the article\u2019s authors suggesting the left esteems plagiarism?) that brought Gay down and not her actual behavior that most recently included not condemning antisemitic activities?<\/p>\n

I used to wonder whether activists who broadcast such falsehoods really know they\u2019re lying but continue to do so anyway to push their agenda ahead or they actually believe the lies they\u2019re espousing. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPorn use in a marriage is a good thing.\u201d \u201cThe real victims of lootings and smash-and-grabs are the looters themselves.\u201d \u201cSocialism really works.\u201d \u201cRice cakes taste great.\u201d<\/p>\n

The scary thing is, it\u2019s looking more like people truly think the lies they\u2019re spreading are correct. At least that\u2019s the verdict of some psychologists who were cited on the subject in a recent\u00a0Washington Post article<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Regarding truth vs. error, \u201cOn every level, I think that misinformation has the upper hand,\u201d said Nathan Walter, a professor of communication studies at Northwestern University who studies the correction of misinformation.<\/p>\n

While one study found that even a single exposure to a fake headline made it seem truer, Walter and others in the field believe the repetition of lies is particularly important in getting them to stick.\u00a0They say the more we see something repeated, the more likely we are to believe it. This \u201cillusory truth effect\u201d arises because we use familiarity and ease of understanding as a shorthand for truth, i.e., the more a lie is repeated, the more familiar and right it feels even if it\u2019s wrong.<\/p>\n

Shocking to hear I know, but according to Nadia Brashier, a psychology professor at Purdue University, politicians in particular often repeat lies knowing the power of the illusory truth effect.\u00a0And we fall for it, hook, line, and sinker.<\/p>\n

Even worse, multiple studies have found that lies still affect our thinking even if we get a correction that we know is true, a phenomenon known as the \u201ccontinued influence effect.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure it also won\u2019t surprise you to learn that the experts say we are more susceptible to swallowing lies when they fit into our worldviews or social identities. Favoring information that fits into what we want to be true is a mind practice, if you weren\u2019t aware, called confirmation bias.<\/p>\n

And nowhere is this more prevalent than in the area of faith and spirituality.<\/p>\n

The perfect storm<\/strong><\/p>\n

What do you think happens when you take human beings that the Bible says are born at odds with God, then you hit them with a message about themselves that\u2019s off-putting, telling them they\u2019re \u201csinners\u201d and need to shed beliefs and lifestyle choices to which they\u2019re wedded?<\/p>\n

What happens is what G. K. Chesterton said: the danger of not believing in God is not believing in nothing, but instead believing in anything.<\/p>\n

Scripture says our natural mind is \u201chostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so\u201d (Rom. 8:7) with a moral inability that\u2019s powerless towards righteousness, and bristles at the offensive message of the Gospel that calls for repentance. The result for the natural person is the creation of mental false gods and a state where Isaiah says they \u201ccannot deliver himself, nor say, \u201cIs there not a lie [an idol] in my right hand?\u201d (Is. 44:20).<\/p>\n

Where God is concerned, the Bible says we instinctively have \u201cforgotten [Him] and trusted in falsehood\u201d (Jer. 13:25) and exchange \u201cthe truth of God for a lie, and worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever\u201d (Rom. 1:25).<\/p>\n

The practice of confirmation bias that\u2019s so widespread today is not a modern thing but has been around forever and is splashed throughout the Gospels with Jesus. Christ\u2019s biographies highlight the fact that the Jewish leadership didn\u2019t\u00a0want<\/em>\u00a0Jesus to be the Messiah so therefore He\u00a0couldn\u2019t<\/em>\u00a0be the Messiah in their minds, and thus they looked for any excuse to take him down. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Early on, they \u201calready agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue\u201d (John 9:22). Jesus acknowledged their closed-mindedness during His trial when they asked if He was the Christ and He responded: \u201cIf I tell you, you will not believe; and if I ask a question, you will not answer\u201d (Luke 22:67-68).<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I tell you, you will not believe.\u201d Say hello to the familiar\u00a0post-truth<\/a>\u00a0philosophy we see everywhere today in the first century!\u00a0As someone once said, Christianity\u2019s answers aren’t hard to find; instead, they are hard to accept.<\/p>\n

The only antidote to this spiritual illness is the one Person who is the truth: \u201cI am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me\u201d (John 14:6). Only Christ can transform and renew our minds and hearts so that we can hear, understand, and accept God\u2019s truth about ourselves and our moral bankruptcy. \u00a0<\/p>\n

In an episode of\u00a0Seinfeld<\/a>, Jerry has lied to one of his girlfriends who is about to put him through a lie detector test. As he apprehensively leaves to take the test, George offers the following\u00a0advice<\/a>: \u201cJerry, just remember: it\u2019s not a lie if you believe it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Actually, the inescapable facts are that truth is truth, lies are not, and consequences exist for being mistaken even if you\u2019re sincere. Sometimes the negative outcomes are serious, long-lasting, and even eternal, such as when you diss God and His plan of salvation. \u00a0<\/p>\n

No matter how hard you try, there\u2019s no getting around it. George was wrong. If what you believe isn\u2019t the truth, it really is a lie, even if you believe it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Robin Schumacher is an accomplished software executive and Christian apologist who has written many articles, authored and contributed to several Christian books, appeared on nationally syndicated radio programs, and presented at apologetic events. He holds a BS in Business, Master’s in Christian apologetics and a Ph.D. in New Testament. His latest book is, A Confident Faith: Winning people to Christ with the apologetics of the Apostle Paul<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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By Robin Schumacher, Exclusive Columnist Monday, January 22, 2024 Pixabay\/Gerd Altmann Lamenting the resignation of Claudine Gay from Harvard, an Associated Press\u00a0article\u00a0read: \u201cHarvard president’s resignation highlights new conservative weapon against colleges: plagiarism\u201d. I see. So, it\u2019s those darn conservatives who scowl on plagiarism (are the article\u2019s authors suggesting the left esteems plagiarism?) that brought Gay […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[]},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6449"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}