{"id":39495,"date":"2024-11-14T16:39:38","date_gmt":"2024-11-15T00:39:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=39495"},"modified":"2024-11-14T16:47:24","modified_gmt":"2024-11-15T00:47:24","slug":"doubt-a-virtue-or-vice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/doubt-a-virtue-or-vice\/","title":{"rendered":"Doubt – A Virtue or Vice?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Peter Boghossian and James Lindsay\u2019s book \u201cHow to Have Impossible Conversations: A Very Practical Guide ” should<\/em> be required reading for high schools, colleges, non-profit organizations, and churches. I appreciate the difficult conversations these two have intentionally engaged in and the insights they have accumulated over the years about difficult conversations, changing others\u2019 minds, and having their own minds change. Although they share some very practical and savvy approaches to engaging hard topics and changing minds, their strength is the ethical and relational nature of their process. I know Marcus Warner and Jim Wilder from Rare Leadership would appreciate this type of emotionally intelligent tactic when emotions usually escalate.[i]<\/a>Much of this is about self-awareness and modeling the type of behavior we want to see in others.<\/p>\n

Although I could spend the rest of this post just examining the relational and EQ portion of the book, I want to unpack doubt’s <\/em>role in growth. Boghossian and Lindsay say, \u201cIf you think you have caused your partner to doubt one of her beliefs, that is a good time to stop the conversation.\u201d[ii]<\/a>. This is a large part of changing people’s minds. Introducing doubt. This is the chink in the armor.<\/p>\n

Doubt<\/strong><\/p>\n

WAIT! Doubt is terrible, though, right?! Doubt is the opposite of faith.<\/p>\n

James 1:6-8 says, “But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.”<\/p>\n

This could not be truer in the proper context, situation, and circumstance. Doubt can cause us to be wishy-washy and unstable. Doubt can also lead to indecisiveness, depression, crisis, and cynicism. Doubt, applied in other situations, is the very thing that helps people find transformation and inch closer to spiritual, historical, and intellectual realities.<\/p>\n

Steve Hassan joined a cult (the Moonies), dropped out of college, lived in a compound, eventually left the cult, and now helps others deprogram from cults. He is one of the world\u2019s leading experts on cults.[iii]<\/a> These range from high-control cults to low-control cults. How and why did he leave this cult?<\/p>\n

\u00a0Doubt.<\/p>\n

His moment of clarity was all because of a moment of genuine doubt. For a long while, he was convinced that his leader was a Messiah figure, that this movement was from God, and that the end was near. No amount of evidence and facts swayed him since he was indoctrinated to believe anything other than what he was told was deception and persecution. Boghossian and Lindsey also emphasize that presenting facts and evidence alone does not usually change minds. \u00a0When he was away from the cult for two weeks due to an accident and spoke with his Dad, he had a moment of genuine doubt that maybe he was wrong about this group and its leader.<\/p>\n

\u00a0This moment of doubt allowed him to be open to hearing something new, which set him free from the deception of the fear of being deceived<\/em>. Statistically, we are all holding on to half-truths, twisted realities, incomplete stories, faulty perceptions, and utter fallacies, which means doubt becomes the catalyst for truth, humility, and transformation. Doubt in this capacity begins looking more like a virtue than a vice.<\/p>\n

Maybe those types of people are not so bad\u2026<\/p>\n

Maybe it didn\u2019t happen exactly like the news said it did\u2026<\/p>\n

Maybe our denominations are missing something here\u2026<\/p>\n

Maybe God works through that as well\u2026<\/p>\n

Maybe historians are not as unbiased as I thought\u2026<\/p>\n

Maybe I\u2019m not seeing everything as it is\u2026<\/p>\n

Maybe those people are telling the truth…<\/p>\n

Maybe God does exist and cares how I live\u2026<\/p>\n

Maybe that’s not the most essential thing in life…<\/p>\n

Most of us avoid doubting for fear of believing a lie and traveling down a road leading to delusion or destruction. \u00a0I know I think about this. As Lindsey and Boghossian claim, \u201cPeople do not knowingly desire bad things\u2026Individuals act, believe, and desire based upon the information they have.\u201d[iv]<\/a> This reminds me that most folks are likely in this category. He also claims that when we drill down, we hold beliefs because we feel they are morally right based on what we know at the time, which leads to another critical question. What do we actually<\/em> know?<\/p>\n

Epistemology<\/strong><\/p>\n

Matthew Petrusek, a Catholic ethicist, and Peter Boghossian, an outspoken atheist, both emphasize the role and value of epistemology in changing minds. Finding better ways to uncover our and others\u2019 epistemology was one of my favorite aspects of this book, which gave me some practical ideas for building golden bridges and understanding others more. However, digging down and uncovering the epistemological layers of ourselves and others and using the Socratic method does not always mean we will all arrive at universal conclusions since both of these authors stand in very different places but have similar philosophies on leading others to \u201ctruth\u201d. Peter even has a book called A Manual For Creating Atheists<\/em>.<\/p>\n

It is noteworthy that they both<\/em> agree on having charitable conversations. Petrusek argues that whatever is said \u201cshould be done in the spirit and tone of charity,\u201d which parallels Peter and James\u2019 consistent emphasis on humility, empathy, compassion, and, yes, he even encourages charity <\/em>when speaking with others who disagree with you. [v]<\/a> Beliefs may not always be universal, but a particular type of Spirit and approach is proving to be.<\/p>\n

If doubt produces a spirit of humility and charity in us rather than arrogance, close-mindedness, and hostility, then bring it on.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[i]<\/a> Warner, Marcus, and E. James Wilder. Rare Leadership: 4 Uncommon Habits for Increasing Trust, Joy, and Engagement in the People You Lead<\/em>. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2016.<\/p>\n

[ii]<\/a> Boghossian, Peter G., and James Lindsay. How to Have Impossible Conversations: A Very Practical Guide<\/em>. New York, NY: Lifelong, 2019, 31.<\/p>\n

[iii]<\/a> Hassan, Steven. Combating Cult Mind Control: The #1 Best-Selling Guide to Protection, Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults<\/em>. 25. anniversary ed., rev.Updated for today\u2019s new realities. 3. ed., Newly rev. and Updated. Newton, MA: Freedom of Mind Press, 2015.<\/p>\n

[iv]<\/a> Boghossian, How to Have Impossible Conversations, 26.<\/p>\n

[v]<\/a> Petrusek, Matthew R. Evangelization and Ideology: How to Understand and Respond to the Political Culture<\/em>. Park Ridge, IL: published by the Word on Fire Institute, an imprint of Word on Fire, 2023, 452.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Peter Boghossian and James Lindsay\u2019s book \u201cHow to Have Impossible Conversations: A Very Practical Guide ” should be required reading for high schools, colleges, non-profit organizations, and churches. I appreciate the difficult conversations these two have intentionally engaged in and the insights they have accumulated over the years about difficult conversations, changing others\u2019 minds, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":171,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2310],"tags":[2489,3366,3368,3367],"class_list":["post-39495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-dlgp02","tag-howtohaveimpossibleconversations","tag-jameslindsay","tag-peterboghossian","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/171"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39495"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39498,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39495\/revisions\/39498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}