Cognitive Dissonance-an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously.
Lately I've been having a frightening realization: What I believe dictates what I feel and how I act.
Here's a basic illustration: I hold to a firm belief in the force of gravity. As a result, I'm not a fan of high places. To be honest, they scare the crap out of me. Why? Because I believe that if I lose my balance and fall from one of these high place, I will eventually meet the ground at a rate of 32.2 feet per second of free falling. My belief in gravity, causes an actual emotional reaction...Fear. And this emotion affects my behavior. I.e. When standing on the roof of a tall building, I stay the hell away from the edge.
Here's a basic illustration: I hold to a firm belief in the force of gravity. As a result, I'm not a fan of high places. To be honest, they scare the crap out of me. Why? Because I believe that if I lose my balance and fall from one of these high place, I will eventually meet the ground at a rate of 32.2 feet per second of free falling. My belief in gravity, causes an actual emotional reaction...Fear. And this emotion affects my behavior. I.e. When standing on the roof of a tall building, I stay the hell away from the edge.
If you and I were standing on the roof of Carew Tower (574 ft. tall!) and I climbed onto the concrete ledge and began performing cartwheels, you would think I’d lost my mind. Why? because my actions would no longer be in sync with what we know about how gravity works. Get my drift?
When our actions are out of sync with our beliefs or worldview, we experience Cognitive Dissonance.
I see dissonance in people everywhere I go. I see it in politicians, I see it in the church, I even see it within myself.
Here are some examples:
-I profess to believe in a God who has both the ability and willingness to provide for my family's needs, yet I still worry about money...a lot.
-I was talking to a high school student two weeks ago who says that because of Jesus’ sacrifice, he believes he's forgiven for every screw-up he's ever made? But he's experiencing crippling feelings of guilt and shame for looking at a shady website the weekend before.
-I profess to believe in a God who has both the ability and willingness to provide for my family's needs, yet I still worry about money...a lot.
-I was talking to a high school student two weeks ago who says that because of Jesus’ sacrifice, he believes he's forgiven for every screw-up he's ever made? But he's experiencing crippling feelings of guilt and shame for looking at a shady website the weekend before.
-My friend says he trusts God with his family, but often tries to control and manipulate his wife.
-Another friend who believes that he is created in the image of a warrior God shrinks back from conflict at work.
Like the examples above, we've all claimed to believe in an idea, but failed to live it out in everyday life. Often Cognitive Dissonance is the cause. We find ourselves believing in two conflicting ideas, and one always wins out.
To believe something, to truly believe it means more than simply agreeing with an idea on an intellectual level. To truly believe something means to be so certain of the truth, that the belief actually changes how we think, feel, how we interact with people, and how we make decisions. Any "belief" that does not result in this is actually an act of self deception. We tell ourselves that we believe something, but we really don't.
When dissonance happens, I’ve found I can respond in one of three ways:
1. Abandon one of the conflicting beliefs in order to do away with the conflict. E.g. If God is good and all-powerful, He wouldn't allow innocent people to suffer. Solution: Abandon the belief that God is all-powerful.
2. Ignore the conflict.
3. Wrestle. By wrestling, I essentially mean a prolonged period of questioning. This means opening up your mind trusting that God is good and wants to show you what’s true.
Throughout history the church has chosen option #2, usually clinging to cheap answers in order to avoid dealing with the tension. These sorts of answers have compromised the church’s credibility. When Christians give short, scripted answers to life's most complex and challenging questions, we deny the magnitude of the issue. The person listening says, "If you really think that answer resolves this question, you obviously don't understand the issue."
If we want to be people with intellectual integrity, the only choice is to consistently choose option #3.
If something doesn't fit with Who you think God is, wrestle with it. Start by admitting that you’re experiencing tension. Then start examining where that belief came from. Did your parents teach you that idea? Did you read it somewhere? Maybe the person who taught you that particular idea was just wrong. Is the idea explicitly taught in the Bible? Maybe you need to reread pertinent parts of scripture.
Often, dissonance is God's way of telling us that our theology is a little off.
So often we ignore the tension because we’re afraid of what we’ll find if really look for the truth. “What if there is no answer?” “What if the answer I find disrupts my entire world view?” When I respond this way it is usually because I am more committed to a particular viewpoint than I am to the truth.
Here's the thing, if we believe that God is the author of all that is true, no question should scare us.
When we truly believe that He is better than anything we have ever believed or desired, wrestling becomes an opportunity to abandon the lies we’ve been fed and discover a truth that is more beautiful and freeing than anything we have ever known.
