Truth My Kids Will Know - Think!

 Lie #11 - "Everyone knows..."

Have you ever heard the term "groupthink" before? This word was coined in the mid-1960's to describe "the practice of thinking or making decisions as a group in a way that discourages individual responsibility."

Groupthink occurs when people let the culture around them decide what they believe is true. Usually this is an unconscious attempt to fit in with "everyone else." Unique opinions and beliefs stand out - and are usually open targets for attacks and ridicule. In the face of that, it's just easier to go along with what "everyone knows is true."

The fact that groupthink exists is undeniable. Over time, it has been described in a variety of ways:

"Peer pressure."

"Mob mentality."

"Consensus."

"Common knowledge."

"Conventional wisdom."

Whenever there is a group of people that tend to believe the same way (like a nation, a school, a religious group...or even a group of friends), then individuals inside that group will often take those beliefs for granted. Eventually the individuals in that group lose their individuality, and will hold the group's ideas to be true without ever investigating them personally.

This kind of blind faith is NOT a good way to form your opinions. It's always dangerous - even if the groupthink is correct, and especially when it's wrong.

Weak Convictions, Floppy Faith 

Most kids raised in Bible-believing homes grow up with an assumption that the Bible is true. Kids in these homes are constantly being taught biblical ideas and principles at home, at church, in their entertainment, and even through attending Christian schools. What comes out of this environment is a type of Biblical "groupthink" - where the young person doesn't encounter different or opposing points of view.

The ideas in this groupthink may be correct - but that group assumption is still not a good enough reason to believe them!

In a strange paradox, this kind of groupthink can be both an advantage and a disadvantage to these Christian kids.

The advantage for raising kids in a Christian environment is obvious: they become established on a firm foundation of truth, morality, and God's Word. This gives them the potential to rise above any peer in their generation and stand up for what's right.

The disadvantage is the same among believers as it is in any other group: If that young person doesn't learn how to form their own opinions and investigate (and support) these Christian beliefs for themselves, they will collapse as soon as they encounter opposition.

There are always two possibilities when someone with group-based ideas encounters an opposing argument:

1 - They cling to simple arguments based on their groupthink, such as "That's not true!" or "Everyone knows this!"

2 - They are caught off guard by the opposing argument and immediately reject the beliefs they had before.

That second possibility is why having a correct belief is dangerous if you only base it on what "everyone knows".

If you only hold onto the Bible because it's what you grew up with - and NOT because you looked into it yourself - then you'll have no answer for arguments against it. This is why so many young people turn away from Christ after being raised in church. Sadly they've never looked into God's Word for themselves and learned how to defend their faith!

As Christians, we need to be like the Berean church in Acts 17:11 - "These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so."

God's Word always holds up to scrutiny - so don't be afraid to ask why you believe what you believe.

A History of Bad Ideas

There are a lot of mainstream ideas in our culture right now that have not been thought through very well. Because they're held by a majority of people, popular beliefs are typically assumed to be right. It's always surprising to me how many things are assumed with little-to-no evidence at all. I've often said that you could get the majority of the country believing any idiotic idea, as long as you get enough re-posts on social media.

Here are just a few examples of groupthink ideas that have been simply accepted by 2020's culture without any investigation into it:

 - Rich people are greedy.

 - Life on Earth evolved by random chance.

 - Your gender is whatever you think it is.

 - The United States has always been a racist country.

 - Christians are both ignorant and intolerant.

 - Civilization is destroying the environment.

 - Socialism has virtue.

The list goes on and on.

Honestly, it's gotten so bad that I have a new personal practice: I no longer accept any popularly-held belief unless I look into it myself first!

(The reality is, that's the best way to form your opinions anyway...deciding for yourself after your own investigation.)

Some of the worst things you can imagine have been done because of what "everyone believed."

The majority of German citizens in the 1930s and 40s believed that Germany's problems were the fault of the Jews. This made it easier for Hitler to convince his people to exterminate them.

The majority of scientists in the 18th and 19th centuries believed that dark-skinned Africans and Australian Aborigines were more closely-related to apes than they were to white people. This led to a barbaric treatment of them as animals, rather than people.

During the communist revolutions of Russia and China, owning private property was considered evil. The result was the large-scale confiscation of family homes and farms, and the mass-imprisonment and murder of thousands of landowners who didn't want to give up their homes.

Even now, many people hold to the immoral and unscientific idea that babies are not really people as long as they are in the womb. (For some reason, people stupidly think that the birth canal magically grants a baby "personhood" as they go through it.) The result of this belief has been over 60 million murdered babies since 1973.

Thankfully, a lot of people may finally be waking up to this, and the abortion rate has been rapidly decreasing over the last few years.

...Doesn't Make The Idea Right

Remember this....just because the majority of people believe something, doesn't make what they believe right!

 - the majority of people used to believe that dolphins were fish

 - the majority of people used to believe that the sun revolved around the earth

 - the majority of people were once unaware that the Americas even existed

 - the majority of people used to believe that rotting meat would turn into maggots

None of these things were true...even though they were believed by the smartest people of the day.

And this brings us to one last point:

Just because someone "smart" says something is true, doesn't make it true.

"Smart people" can be (and often are) just as wrong as anyone else.

Educated people in Jesus' time were sure that He was not the Messiah. Why? Read it for yourself in John 7:47-52 - "Then the Pharisees answered them, 'Are you [who believe] also deceived? Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? But this crowd that does not know...is accursed....Search and look, for no prophet has come from Galilee.'"

The groupthink in Jesus' day was using all the same arguments that are still used today:

1 - First it's, "The experts all agree."

2 - Next it's, "People who disagree with this are ignorant."

3 - Then a misinformed idea is passed along as truth, without any investigation.
(Jesus didn't come from Galilee like they said. Although He lived in Galilee, He was actually born in Bethlehem.)

But even with all the same popular arguments...the majority of "experts" were completely wrong.

Here's the bottom line: Even if everyone believes something...

...even if all the experts believe it...

...even if there's a "scientific consensus" about a common belief...

NONE OF THAT is proof of truth.

When the world tries to tell my kids what to think....they will not just fall in line with everyone else. Unlike the masses, my kids will challenge "conventional wisdom" because they'll know how to think for themselves!