Renewing of the Mind

Romans 12:2
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

I've been trying to be more aware of my unconscious assumptions that form my worldview. It's a long haul to confront everything you believe, because sometimes you're just not aware of underlying beliefs that impact your subjective experience.

I ran into something quite unexpectedly recently, which was a criticism of Michel Foucault by Roger Scruton: "Foucault’s approach reduces culture to a power-game, and scholarship to a kind of refereeing in the endless “struggle” between oppressed and oppressing groups. The shift of emphasis from the content of an utterance to the power that speaks through it leads to a new kind of scholarship, which bypasses entirely questions of truth and rationality, and can even reject those questions as themselves ideological."

What Scruton is talking about is the Neo-Marxist tendency to insist on grouping individuals into broad categories (i.e., based on skin colour, gender, religion, wealth, etc) and assuming all members of those groups share experiences and interests because of the correlation that sets them into that particular group. What he is pointing out is that this kind of thinking doesn't account for all the nuances of human experience, it just assumes that every group is trying to gain leverage over every other group to advance their own interests, and also assumes the correlation they've observed is a meaningful and accurate way of cataloguing society.

When I was in university, I first ran into Foucault as a tool for literary analysis, and at the time I wasn't aware of his influence on societal discourse. Nevertheless, his writings influenced me in ways I hadn't realised. Considering Scruton's objection to Foucault, though, I understood that my worldview does largely depend on similar assumptions. Over the last week or so, it's been surprising to me how deeply these underlying, unconscious beliefs have influenced my behaviour and discourse -- even the way I interpreted scripture, to some degree.

Has anyone else had a similar "moment of realisation," where something made you realise you had to confront and rethink your worldview?

I suppose a follow up question might be... how do you "renew your mind," first of all, to confront and test your thinking in the first place (i.e., the ways you have unconsciously "conformed to the world") , but secondly, how do you know you're "renewing your mind" to the way God wants you to be thinking about things? Perhaps the obvious answer is, read the Bible. And certainly, that's advisable. But I also think this is one of those moments where it's clear that God intends for us to live as church -- none of us is gifted with everything we need to live a rich and complete life. We all have different gifts in order to support one another. For me, it's a little disturbing, though, how many people from the church have challenged me in this mindset over the years, and it just never occurred to me to consider that they might have been right.
 
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Yes,

When first becoming a Christian -> being a babe in Christ - immature in the faith -> would judge and condemn other people around me looking and saying things to myself such as, look at all these sinners, they do not pray like me, they do not read the bible like I do.

Found out later how wrong those ways were as continued to grow in the knowledge of God, His will, His Son, spiritual understanding and wisdom.

Thank God for getting me out that place because it was just not any good what so ever.
 
Yes,

When first becoming a Christian -> being a babe in Christ - immature in the faith -> would judge and condemn other people around me looking and saying things to myself such as, look at all these sinners, they do not pray like me, they do not read the bible like I do.

Found out later how wrong those ways were as continued to grow in the knowledge of God, His will, His Son, spiritual understanding and wisdom.

Thank God for getting me out that place because it was just not any good what so ever.
Yeah there is this danger of effectively creating our own denomination of one. I was pretty wary of that from the start of this whole business, but alas, never immune to it. Thanks for sharing dude.
 
My spiritual birth was in a cult like church. I grew up with these believes and later in life had to challenge many of these underlying beliefs. There is good in this though because I'm in regular habit now of going to God's word to deeply study a matter.

God tells us 1 Thess 5:21 to prove all things.

Many of my beliefs now are firmly established from God's word though I strive to always have a teachable attitude or spirit. Building on the rock of Christ is a sure foundation. There are still areas that I would neither agree nor disagree because they are not full settled in my mind. I trust though that God leads each of us to the truth of his way as we follow his Spirit.
 
Hello CaffeinatedKoala;

Thank you for posting Renewing of the Mind. I find it healthy to read other author's books and their world viewpoints, especially textbooks from Christian leaders.

God speaks to those who pray (speak) to Him and I feel He gives a Word to His writers, leading them to share the world community and how it ties into Scripture.

Aside from the critique, disagreements and knowledgeable information from the authors, it gives me a learning perspective, however, my greatest author is the Bible.

I don't usually get into subcontext thoughts or discussions regarding the world conditions, though I do keep abreast of whats going on so I know how to pray.

I have enough challenge keeping it simple in my marriage, family life, church ministry and soccer!

My "moment of realization," is something that makes me reflect and ponder my worldview. It does remain constant. What is happening across the nations is important in these times and it matters to me.

When it's time to relax my mind I enjoy watching FIFA men and women's soccer. Both Australia's men (Socceroos) and women's teams are very competitive.

God bless you, CaffeinatedKoala, and thank you for allowing me to share in this topic.











 
I grew up believing the world was a safe place for me because it was.
( I had a liberal/ hippyish upbringing) and never had a bible reading family.

Going out at night, was just as safe as going out during the day. Back alleys were thought of as a place to chill out with friends, and strangers houses where like a pitstop to get high in our own made up heaven.
But that all changed when I left home and met the real world in which people didn't share my values.
Some of these people were just plain mean. I thought perhaps, it was me, maybe I was out of touch with the real world, having a sheltered upbringing, in which violence wasn't the norm, I just though, maybe I had a strange upbringing.... ( and even developed a half baked agreement for wrong views/violence that never fully became me) Critical thinking and Truth hadn't quite entered my life at this point.

Then, after some distasteful episodes with others, I began to walk away from them, especially when more influential people came into my life. Seeing them ooze confidence and integrity, and being genuinely good ethical and moral people, who were also just as powerful (like George Carlin, Ghandi amongst others), instead of feeling at odds with who I really was, I started feeling more accepting of myself, and comfortable... knowing I wasn't alone anymore. So yes, other people do influence us, for better or for worse to a certain extent..

So then, after getting more in touch with who I was, and after some fluff and woo attraction, I settled on Gods Word, which I use as a guide.

So yes, In the past, experience seemed to have shaped mind. My values helped create it.Other people influenced me.
And I value truth, and so critical thinking, which has found its way into my life lately, also help. Plus, a major factor in my past on how I viewed the world, , was other people who was either close to me or started a fire in me, like those who I admire. But I am wary of even the people I admire these days, as no one is a perfect model of goodness except God. Other minor sources, include news sources, which has helped me see the latter.

Thank you for your question CK.... it took me a few hours to produce this essay.
I really don't think in the whole entirety of my life have I even produced such a coherent draft hahahaha
 
My spiritual birth was in a cult like church. I grew up with these believes and later in life had to challenge many of these underlying beliefs. There is good in this though because I'm in regular habit now of going to God's word to deeply study a matter.

God tells us 1 Thess 5:21 to prove all things.

Many of my beliefs now are firmly established from God's word though I strive to always have a teachable attitude or spirit. Building on the rock of Christ is a sure foundation. There are still areas that I would neither agree nor disagree because they are not full settled in my mind. I trust though that God leads each of us to the truth of his way as we follow his Spirit.
Sometimes in life I have thought my beliefs were firmly established from God's word... now I'm much less sure. I've had more than one realisation that my understanding of God's word was influenced by underlying beliefs I wasn't even aware of.

I used to be really frustrated about the things I haven't settled in my mind, but now I kind of like them... like old friends. It helps me appreciate other Christian's approaches to life and where God has led them. So hopefully now, I'm more likely to appreciate the work the Spirit is doing in someone, more than judge a brother who's not doing anything wrong... hopefully. "Press on toward the goal," right?
 
Hello CaffeinatedKoala;

Thank you for posting Renewing of the Mind. I find it healthy to read other author's books and their world viewpoints, especially textbooks from Christian leaders.

God speaks to those who pray (speak) to Him and I feel He gives a Word to His writers, leading them to share the world community and how it ties into Scripture.

Aside from the critique, disagreements and knowledgeable information from the authors, it gives me a learning perspective, however, my greatest author is the Bible.

I don't usually get into subcontext thoughts or discussions regarding the world conditions, though I do keep abreast of whats going on so I know how to pray.

I have enough challenge keeping it simple in my marriage, family life, church ministry and soccer!

My "moment of realization," is something that makes me reflect and ponder my worldview. It does remain constant. What is happening across the nations is important in these times and it matters to me.

When it's time to relax my mind I enjoy watching FIFA men and women's soccer. Both Australia's men (Socceroos) and women's teams are very competitive.

God bless you, CaffeinatedKoala, and thank you for allowing me to share in this topic.

I don't really have any responsibilities to distract me from the echo chamber of my own confusion, so I probably have a tendency to become obsessed with things that don't really matter. Lately I've been considering Jordan Peterson's observation that a sense of meaning comes from embracing responsibility, not avoiding it. While I have spent the last year or so feeling frustrated about not having a family and my career becoming untenable, perhaps this is God's way of pointing me toward prioritising His kingdom as the responsibility that will provide that sense of meaning for me.

I did try to make sports work as well at one point in my life... but it turns out I'm just not that kind of guy.
 
I grew up believing the world was a safe place for me because it was.
( I had a liberal/ hippyish upbringing) and never had a bible reading family.

Going out at night, was just as safe as going out during the day. Back alleys were thought of as a place to chill out with friends, and strangers houses where like a pitstop to get high in our own made up heaven.
But that all changed when I left home and met the real world in which people didn't share my values.
Some of these people were just plain mean. I thought perhaps, it was me, maybe I was out of touch with the real world, having a sheltered upbringing, in which violence wasn't the norm, I just though, maybe I had a strange upbringing.... ( and even developed a half baked agreement for wrong views/violence that never fully became me) Critical thinking and Truth hadn't quite entered my life at this point.

Then, after some distasteful episodes with others, I began to walk away from them, especially when more influential people came into my life. Seeing them ooze confidence and integrity, and being genuinely good ethical and moral people, who were also just as powerful (like George Carlin, Ghandi amongst others), instead of feeling at odds with who I really was, I started feeling more accepting of myself, and comfortable... knowing I wasn't alone anymore. So yes, other people do influence us, for better or for worse to a certain extent..

So then, after getting more in touch with who I was, and after some fluff and woo attraction, I settled on Gods Word, which I use as a guide.

So yes, In the past, experience seemed to have shaped mind. My values helped create it.Other people influenced me.
And I value truth, and so critical thinking, which has found its way into my life lately, also help. Plus, a major factor in my past on how I viewed the world, , was other people who was either close to me or started a fire in me, like those who I admire. But I am wary of even the people I admire these days, as no one is a perfect model of goodness except God. Other minor sources, include news sources, which has helped me see the latter.

Thank you for your question CK.... it took me a few hours to produce this essay.
I really don't think in the whole entirety of my life have I even produced such a coherent draft hahahaha
Wow, thanks for taking the time to consider a meaningful response.

Most of the influences in my life have been negative, but I was not always especially discerning about who I was allowing to influence me: Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.

When you say critical thinking is lately becoming significant for you, are generally practicing analytical judgement, or are you using a formal thinking process? I've been looking into formal logic a bit more than I have in the past to make dispassionate choices about some things, or at least understand my options more clearly.

I've arrived at a similar way of thinking about others in my life, and I find it to be quite liberating. If I don't have expectations for people, it's easier to be the church to them, and not get upset when they're not my impression of what the church should be to me.
 
Wow, thanks for taking the time to consider a meaningful response.

Most of the influences in my life have been negative, but I was not always especially discerning about who I was allowing to influence me: Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.

When you say critical thinking is lately becoming significant for you, are generally practicing analytical judgement, or are you using a formal thinking process? I've been looking into formal logic a bit more than I have in the past to make dispassionate choices about some things, or at least understand my options more clearly.

I've arrived at a similar way of thinking about others in my life, and I find it to be quite liberating. If I don't have expectations for people, it's easier to be the church to them, and not get upset when they're not my impression of what the church should be to me.
I don't use any method, really, except the pros and cons method. I just normally try to figure out what's important, what's godly, and then go from there. Foresight, knowing myself, considering all factors, other people, and the reasons for my needs/desires play a key role in my decisions.
 
Romans 12:2
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

I've been trying to be more aware of my unconscious assumptions that form my worldview. It's a long haul to confront everything you believe, because sometimes you're just not aware of underlying beliefs that impact your subjective experience.

I ran into something quite unexpectedly recently, which was a criticism of Michel Foucault by Roger Scruton: "Foucault’s approach reduces culture to a power-game, and scholarship to a kind of refereeing in the endless “struggle” between oppressed and oppressing groups. The shift of emphasis from the content of an utterance to the power that speaks through it leads to a new kind of scholarship, which bypasses entirely questions of truth and rationality, and can even reject those questions as themselves ideological."

What Scruton is talking about is the Neo-Marxist tendency to insist on grouping individuals into broad categories (i.e., based on skin colour, gender, religion, wealth, etc) and assuming all members of those groups share experiences and interests because of the correlation that sets them into that particular group. What he is pointing out is that this kind of thinking doesn't account for all the nuances of human experience, it just assumes that every group is trying to gain leverage over every other group to advance their own interests, and also assumes the correlation they've observed is a meaningful and accurate way of cataloguing society.

When I was in university, I first ran into Foucault as a tool for literary analysis, and at the time I wasn't aware of his influence on societal discourse. Nevertheless, his writings influenced me in ways I hadn't realised. Considering Scruton's objection to Foucault, though, I understood that my worldview does largely depend on similar assumptions. Over the last week or so, it's been surprising to me how deeply these underlying, unconscious beliefs have influenced my behaviour and discourse -- even the way I interpreted scripture, to some degree.

Has anyone else had a similar "moment of realisation," where something made you realise you had to confront and rethink your worldview?

I suppose a follow up question might be... how do you "renew your mind," first of all, to confront and test your thinking in the first place (i.e., the ways you have unconsciously "conformed to the world") , but secondly, how do you know you're "renewing your mind" to the way God wants you to be thinking about things? Perhaps the obvious answer is, read the Bible. And certainly, that's advisable. But I also think this is one of those moments where it's clear that God intends for us to live as church -- none of us is gifted with everything we need to live a rich and complete life. We all have different gifts in order to support one another. For me, it's a little disturbing, though, how many people from the church have challenged me in this mindset over the years, and it just never occurred to me to consider that they might have been right.

Good stuff!!!!

Simply put, renewing your mind is the process of exchanging the lies for the truth. It’s the exchange of your natural way of thinking for God’s way of thinking. This means that renewing your mind is much more than knowing additional information or the power of positive thinking.

Your particular mindset about God, other people, yourself, situations, things, the future, etc. has a direct influence on how you will feel, speak and act. For example, the reason you may live for money or human approval is because of a lie that you believe about what money or the praise of people will bring you. The reason you may live in despair is because of a lie that you believe about your past or future.

The Bible compares renewing your mind with the process of changing your clothes. You first need to take off your old clothes (the lies) and change into your new clothes (the truth). This means through daily confession and repentance putting off the lies you are tempted to believe like,
 
hmm well, being University educated can mean you learn a lot of rubbish lol. (along with some gold)

I think the main thing being that ever since Darwin, many scientific textbooks always spout the things about millions of years, which they assume based on some geological formula of time. So every book on facts has regurgitated this teaching even though it has a shaky premise. And they don't really know it's just an estimate.

The other thing is, because I learned in English, a lot of historical accounts will only have the English persons worldview since many can't even speak any other language or care to learn, and so they totally ignore viewpoints from anyone that isn't English. Or rich. Since rich people were more likely educated and literate and able to write things down.

If you only ever learn things by watching tv, that too is a very skewed worldview, as its only looking at things through a camera lens, and of course things are edited out, or fixed so that you are only seeing snippets of what people want you to see - and can fit in 2 hours of programming time.
 
Romans 12:2
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

I've been trying to be more aware of my unconscious assumptions that form my worldview. It's a long haul to confront everything you believe, because sometimes you're just not aware of underlying beliefs that impact your subjective experience.

I ran into something quite unexpectedly recently, which was a criticism of Michel Foucault by Roger Scruton: "Foucault’s approach reduces culture to a power-game, and scholarship to a kind of refereeing in the endless “struggle” between oppressed and oppressing groups. The shift of emphasis from the content of an utterance to the power that speaks through it leads to a new kind of scholarship, which bypasses entirely questions of truth and rationality, and can even reject those questions as themselves ideological."

What Scruton is talking about is the Neo-Marxist tendency to insist on grouping individuals into broad categories (i.e., based on skin colour, gender, religion, wealth, etc) and assuming all members of those groups share experiences and interests because of the correlation that sets them into that particular group. What he is pointing out is that this kind of thinking doesn't account for all the nuances of human experience, it just assumes that every group is trying to gain leverage over every other group to advance their own interests, and also assumes the correlation they've observed is a meaningful and accurate way of cataloguing society.

When I was in university, I first ran into Foucault as a tool for literary analysis, and at the time I wasn't aware of his influence on societal discourse. Nevertheless, his writings influenced me in ways I hadn't realised. Considering Scruton's objection to Foucault, though, I understood that my worldview does largely depend on similar assumptions. Over the last week or so, it's been surprising to me how deeply these underlying, unconscious beliefs have influenced my behaviour and discourse -- even the way I interpreted scripture, to some degree.

Has anyone else had a similar "moment of realisation," where something made you realise you had to confront and rethink your worldview?

I suppose a follow up question might be... how do you "renew your mind," first of all, to confront and test your thinking in the first place (i.e., the ways you have unconsciously "conformed to the world") , but secondly, how do you know you're "renewing your mind" to the way God wants you to be thinking about things? Perhaps the obvious answer is, read the Bible. And certainly, that's advisable. But I also think this is one of those moments where it's clear that God intends for us to live as church -- none of us is gifted with everything we need to live a rich and complete life. We all have different gifts in order to support one another. For me, it's a little disturbing, though, how many people from the church have challenged me in this mindset over the years, and it just never occurred to me to consider that they might have been right.
Please note the passive voice constructions of the exhortations in verse 2; they represent passive imperatives. Thus, you are not the action agent, God is (Phil 2:13), so relax and enjoy God.
 
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