{"id":748,"date":"2013-09-05T18:03:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-05T18:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.dminlgp.com\/?p=748"},"modified":"2014-10-28T17:44:53","modified_gmt":"2014-10-28T17:44:53","slug":"what-do-you-think","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/what-do-you-think\/","title":{"rendered":"What Do You Think?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

As I read \u201cThe Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools,\u201d <\/em>I was reminded of a statement made by a young woman in my faith community, \u201cPastor, I never knew there were other versions.\u201d\u00a0 She was talking about other versions of the Bible.\u00a0 How could this young woman, who has been in the church for most of her life, not know that there were other versions of the Bible besides the King James Version (Versi\u00f3n Reina Valera \u2013Spanish)? \u00a0\u00a0Please, don\u2019t misunderstand me.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have anything against the King James Version, but I do have a concern when people are not given the opportunity to explore other resources and other perspectives.\u00a0 \u00a0It is this same young woman that when asked \u201cwhat do you think?\u201d has a blank or confused look on her face\u2014not because she is not capable of expressing what she thinks, but because she has not been invited to think.\u00a0 Her thinking skills have not been cultivated.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we want critical societies we must create them.\u201d (p. 23) \u00a0\u00a0Yet I wonder, do we really want critical thinkers in our faith communities?\u00a0 Do we care about what others think?\u00a0 Are we interested in listening to the varying voices and perspectives that make up our societies?\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Elder and Paul state that \u201ccritical societies will develop only to the extent that people are encouraged to think for themselves and discouraged from uncritically accepting the thinking or behavior of others.\u201d (p. 23)\u00a0 As a leader I have a responsibility to teach people the importance of critical thinking and the value and richness it can bring to their spiritual, professional and personal lives.\u00a0 Instead of telling people what to believe or think, we can empower them by fostering a community that can question, challenge and wrestle with other cultural, theological and economical perspectives.<\/p>\n

Critical thinking leaders are able to apply the universal intellectual standards stated by Elder and Paul.\u00a0 Asking clarifying and specific questions and seeking an accurate response can help bring relevance, depth and breadth to a community.\u00a0 \u00a0When Jesus asked Peter, \u201cWho do you say that I am?\u201d he wanted to hear what Peter thought, not what others were saying, believing or thinking.\u00a0 The disciples first answered Jesus\u2019 question, \u201cwho do people say that I am?\u201d with the common view response.<\/p>\n

I must confess that there have been times when I don\u2019t want to ask, \u201cWhat do you think?\u201d for fear of having to see that my \u201cgreat\u201d idea is not so great after all.\u00a0\u00a0 Then I would have to struggle with letting go or not letting go of my \u201cgreat\u201d idea.\u00a0\u00a0 Do I hang on to it and take care of my own feelings and interests?\u00a0 Or do I listen and consider the feelings of the community\u2014what is best for the whole?\u00a0 Yet as Elder and Paul state, \u201cthe quality of our life and that of what we produce, make or build depends precisely on the quality of our thought.\u201d (p.2)\u00a0 \u00a0Critical thinking leaders keep an open mind, are resourceful and competent in communicating with others in order to figure things out together.\u00a0 As a leader, I can still be true to my own thinking, values and beliefs, yet, \u00a0I have no doubt that the opportunity to ask, \u201cwhat do you think?\u201d is one that can help create critical societies.<\/p>\n

What do you think?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As I read \u201cThe Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools,\u201d I was reminded of a statement made by a young woman in my faith community, \u201cPastor, I never knew there were other versions.\u201d\u00a0 She was talking about other versions of the Bible.\u00a0 How could this young woman, who has been in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"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-748","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\/748","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\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=748"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2938,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748\/revisions\/2938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}