\n
Everyone\u2019s thoughts can be biased based on their experiences, cultural exposure, and education. Because of this, our world outlook can be skewed unless we train and exercise ourselves to think in a critical manner.\u00a0\u00a0 I always thought that critical thinking was a natural, ingrained trait, as it seems that some people \u201cjust get it\u201d.\u00a0 They naturally grasp new ideas and concepts, and always seem to jump to the right conclusion or to come up with the best solutions.\u00a0 Success appears to come easily.\u00a0 Elder and Paul\u2019s Guide to<\/em> Critical Thinking Concepts & Tools <\/em>provides steps and a plan that allow one to develop their critical thinking skills.\u00a0 \u00a0Using the tools provided, I am able to advance and develop my critical thinking skills.<\/p>\n There are three levels of thought.\u00a0 The lowest level of thought is very basic, relying more on feeling than on facts.\u00a0 The highest level uses both intellectual trait and learned skills.\u00a0 Elder and Paul outline standards that one can use to gauge whether we are engaging in the highest quality of thinking: clarity, accuracy, precise, relevant, depth, breadth, logic, and fairness.\u00a0 Using these standards will allow us to be unbiased and to ensure we have fully reviewed and expanded upon a concept.\u00a0 \u00a0Applying the standards of critical thinking to the elements of reasoning, one\u2019s intellectual traits are developed.<\/p>\n Application<\/p>\n Today, too many people today don\u2019t know what they believe or why they believe it.\u00a0 Even within Christian churches, people blindly accept what they are told by teachers and pastors.\u00a0 Some haven\u2019t even read a Bible.\u00a0 This, in turn, has allowed false doctrine and teaching to become pervasive.\u00a0\u00a0 I believe this is exacerbated by the lack of critical thinking.\u00a0 People don\u2019t evaluate information or ask questions.\u00a0 They base their faith on what is many times false assumptions or information.\u00a0\u00a0 I have had long time church members approach me and reveal that they really don\u2019t understand why they believe or how they believe.\u00a0 For some, they were raised in church and have followed the traditions passed down through generations, but they have never analyzed or thought about what they believe and why.\u00a0 They don\u2019t evaluate the truthfulness of biblical concepts or teaching, and they rely on someone else to understand and translate the meaning to them.\u00a0 When people have low levels of thinking, it is generally self-serving and biased.\u00a0 They are easily deceived.\u00a0 I have people at my church to question and think about the concepts they are presented with.\u00a0 God wants us to evaluate the Scripture and to question or ponder the meaning.\u00a0 Asking questions and seeking clarity is important for one to progress in their understanding and relationship with Christ.<\/p>\n As a missionary, one of my jobs is to work with a team who translates materials that are used to train indigenous co-workers to disciple and plant churches.\u00a0 When translating, the meaning of words within a specific language one must understand both the technical meaning and cultural meaning.\u00a0 You must think critically as you work to ensure you are adequately translating in a manner that will be clear, accurate, and relevant and will make sense in both the language and culture where the materials will be used.\u00a0 I intend to use the tools provided in this critical thinking guide to go back and assess some of the processes we utilize when translating materials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Everyone\u2019s thoughts can be biased based on their experiences, cultural exposure, and education. Because of this, our world outlook can be skewed unless we train and exercise ourselves to think in a critical manner.\u00a0\u00a0 I always thought that critical thinking was a natural, ingrained trait, as it seems that some people \u201cjust get it\u201d.\u00a0 They […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","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":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","cohort-lgp4"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737","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\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=737"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2929,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737\/revisions\/2929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}