Tools of Integrated Apologetics Course 1.7.2
Analysis of Mind Manipulation
Chapter - 2
Human Mind: A Diagrammatic Approach
Humans act through a process of thoughts, words, and deeds. The possible range of these actions is infinite, ranging from the holy to the unholy, mature to immature, wise to stupid, and from the proper to the improper. From a biblical point of view all these possible actions can be divided into at least four main actions: essential actions, desirable actions, tolerable actions, and forbidden actions. Diagrammatically, these can be represented as shown below:
All Possible Actions
Forbidden Actions
Tolerable Actions
Desirable Actions
Essential Actions
Desirable Actions
Tolerable Actions
Forbidden Actions
Obviously, the range of all possible actions is vast, and includes actions that are both proper as well as improper. When these actions are separated from one another, we have at least four different categories of human actions.
Essential Actions: The smallest group is made up of all the actions essential to a believer. This would include love for God, commitment, honesty, etc. All believers are supposed to fulfill these requirements from their own free will.
Desirable Actions: The next, larger group is made up of desirable actions. These are not compulsory, but it is highly desirable to see these in the lives of believers. This would include all those activities and choices that strengthen a believer’s holy walk and viewpoint.
Tolerable Actions: The next group includes all those thoughts and actions which are not expected in a believer, but which are, at the same time, not sinful. This is similar to the speech and actions of abandoned babies when they grow up. Parents tolerate many things in a growing child and with the right expectations these things will go away with the eventual arrival of maturity. Though not sinful in themselves, these things can lead people to sin if they do not abandon them as they mature.
Forbidden Actions: Finally, there is the collection of all those thoughts and actions that are totally forbidden to a believer. This would include all those activities that are sinful, unethical, and which are even on the periphery of sin. There is no way for a believer to justify getting into this region of thoughts and actions.
These four regions are separated from one another by mental (and some social) barriers that must at all times be respected by the believer. The essence of mind-control is to manipulate these barriers, so that believers are attracted to step out of their boundaries, and therefore it will be helpful to consider the barriers themselves at some length.
The Barriers
Whether persons indulge in a certain thought or action depends very much upon the barriers in their minds. These barriers, separating the possible actions from actions to be avoided are neither physical nor visible. They are formed in the human mind as a result of the repetitive instructions and warnings received (Genesis18:19; Deuteronomy 4:9; Joshua 1:8).
Parents are the first to tell children about these things. The moment parents use the word NO, they are telling their children that there is an invisible barrier that they ought not to cross. Eventually other members of the family, church members, teachers, and even society will reinforce these boundaries. The ultimate source of these barriers is God himself, who asked us to abstain voluntarily from eating the forbidden fruit. There is a vast range of forbidden things, and Scripture throws ample light on these matters. Accepting these Scriptural commands results in groundwork for forming the boundaries.
Repetition is a key word here. God-fearing parents consistently and regularly instruct their children about desirable and undesirable behaviour. They train up their children in the way they should walk, which means that they train them to make the right choices (Proverbs 22:7). This includes rejecting what is evil and sinful. With long-term repetition, the boundaries become clear and strong. This is emphasized in many places in Scripture (Psalms 119:23, 48, 99; 1 Timothy 4:15; Romans 12:3; Philippians 4:8). Certain properties of these barriers make it easy for dishonest people to manipulate them, and right from the beginning it is essential to understand these properties:
INVISIBLE or NON-MATERIAL NATURE: First, these barriers are totally invisible and therefore the work of laying and strengthening them cannot be checked physically or visually. This raises the possibility that damages inflicted to these boundaries, especially in a surreptitious manner, cannot easily be measured. Consequently, one has to follow elaborate (but straightforward) methods to create and sustain them; however it still remains that their invisible nature makes it easy for any determined enemy to attack and damage them, so that it is becomes hard to see that an erosion of these barriers is beginning to take place. This gives great strategic advantage to the enemy.
PERISHABLE NATURE: Second, these barriers can be altered and even destroyed. Such manipulation of the barriers would result in believers indulging in thoughts and actions improper for them. There is no automatic safeguard against all this.
FORMATION NOT AUTOMATIC: Third, these barriers are not formed automatically. Nor are they reinforced unaided. Rather, fallen human nature only resists them and motivates us to violate them at every possible opportunity. Thus all persons have to take the initiative in seeing that such barriers exist in their minds and also that they are constantly reinforced.
VOLITIONAL NATURE: Fourth, all persons have to remain within these boundaries of their own will. There is, normally, no external agency or person that will prevent a person from violating these boundaries. True, the social norms, other believers, and one’s own family might bring some sort of pressure to bear on the individual, but ultimately none of them can continually serve as a watchdog over a free person. Further, none of them can ever exert absolute power of prevention.
Though God is powerful enough to force us to do things, even He does not impose His will upon humans. Instead of making us as machines, that cannot cross their set boundaries, humans have been created as free moral beings who must weigh their actions and make decisions of their own free will. This was made clear in the Garden of Eden, and this is made clear through Scripture even today (Galatians 6:4: Romans 12:2; 1 Corinthians 3:13).
In essence, the invisible and non-material barriers have to be formed by each independent believer with the aid of the family and Scripture. The three enemies of all believers (the world, the flesh, and the devil) will try to either shift or to totally destroy these barriers. Since the boundaries are invisible, they can do their work largely unnoticed and with great efficiency. Since only external factors indicate whether the barrier is being attacked, believers should carefully weigh the ultimate impact of all their choices upon these barriers.
Thought Life And The Barriers
Since the human mind is the ultimate seat of all the boundaries people observe, the thought life has an intimate connection with a person’s commitment and purity. This is one reason why Scripture emphasizes that as a man thinks so he becomes. Holy thoughts lead to sanctity, unholy thoughts lead to degeneracy.
Scripture reminds believers not to desire the company of the evil (Psalm 1:1-2), and not to listen to their suggestions because this deeply influences one’s thought life. Jesus took a very serious view of "mental adultery" and placed it on a level with actual adultery because it gradually attacks the boundaries. A person continually indulging in fantasies will eventually lose the resistance to flee from lustful temptations and commit the sin in the physical realm. The thought life is to be guarded carefully (Joshua 1:8; Psalms 119:23, 99; Philippians 4:8; Romans 12:3).
Since the thought life is both invisible and non-physical, it is difficult to keep it under lock and key. Furthermore, since the sense organs and the organs of perception are all connected directly to the human mind, they are never at rest. Thus, human thoughts can be touched and influenced through the manipulation of human senses. The spirit of the world knows this, and uses many techniques to craftily reach the mind and control it. This is all the more reason for believers to guard their minds against all unwanted and deceptive influences. "Keep your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life" (Proverbs 4:23, Amplified).
Mind Control For Opposing People of The Christian Faith
Satan and his hosts have been attacking humankind for the last six thousand years. They have effectively used humans who are loyal to their purposes for attaining this goal. It is these humans who have developed all kinds of deviant philosophies and tactics to attack the Bible and the Christian faith (Matthew13:25-30; 1 Timothy 6:3-5).
For almost six millennia their attacks were direct, somewhat like the face-to-face wars of history. But just as face-to-face combat has currently been replaced by strategic war (war waged at a distance), the forces combating the Bible have also adopted the same approach. Thus a good proportion of the contemporary attacks targeting the Bible and the Christian faith are indirect and subtle. Mind-control methods play an important role in this war against Christianity (Genesis 3:1).
The rationalists, the atheists, the theological radicals, the humanists, the New-Agers, the cultists, the heretics, and the destroyers of Biblical morality, all use these techniques. This indirect war gives them a great advantage, given the fact that Christians are not able to spot their enemies easily. The present-day tolerance of heretical writers, the tolerance of anti-family movements, the prevalence of abortion, divorces, premarital and post-marital impurity, and the general skepticism about Biblical values can also be attributed to the subtle mind-control methods used by proponents of these movements.
This is the reason why the anti-Christian elements have been able to succeed so well in their mission in the twentieth century. Only good perception of their tactics, coupled with keen observation, will help Christian apologists to fight back. With the above in mind we can now look more specifically into the ways in which the world tries to control human minds. Unless we understand their tactics and unless we fight back, we stand to lose much more than we have already lost.
Analysis of Mind Manipulation
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