Forsake the Gospel and Lose Your Job

[Anonymous]

I often think about the psychological ramifications of our beliefs. If we feel secure in our worldview, we have more confidence which leads to success. If we have doubts, we may question our place in the world, our ability to discern truth, our perceptions in general. So in a way, over-confidence and misplaced confidence can lead to more success. Also, thanks to confirmation bias we filter out evidence that contradicts our viewpoint, so if we believe that the church brings temporal blessings and makes us happier, we don’t pay attention to counter evidence, just to what confirms our belief.

[Anonymous]

Quote:

But everyone makes stories to put meaning to their lives, and often the positive faithful people like to connect paying tithing and being obedient to the good things in their life, like jobs, promotions, finding car keys, etc, and their testimony is expressed as if those things wouldn’t happen without God guiding their life. That can sound like they are saying “with God came the job”,and therefore the logic would seem to suggest without God would be no job or it would be taken away. But I never hear them say that. Many live their life fearing that, and that motivates them to obedience…which can be effective for some families.

I would agree with this.

[Anonymous]

hawkgrrrl wrote:

I often think about the psychological ramifications of our beliefs. If we feel secure in our worldview, we have more confidence which leads to success. If we have doubts, we may question our place in the world, our ability to discern truth, our perceptions in general. So in a way, over-confidence and misplaced confidence can lead to more success. Also, thanks to confirmation bias we filter out evidence that contradicts our viewpoint, so if we believe that the church brings temporal blessings and makes us happier, we don’t pay attention to counter evidence, just to what confirms our belief.

Yes, I think this is a big part of our belief system, and is why going to church each weak to “recharge batteries” is often because it is reaffirming our confidence, and helping us to ignore the counter evidence. So that works for many. So much of church is affirmation to the members.

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