24 Sep How Do We End Up Believing Things That Are Not True?
I once read the story of a young boy who, after watching a new Superman movie, thought he could fly too. He tied a sheet around his neck, climbed up into a tree in the front yard, and jumped. He dropped like a rock and ended up with a fat lip.
We sometimes believe things that are not true.
While a fat lip is no fun, it pales in comparison to the trouble we can bring into our own lives when we act on beliefs that are not true.
How we end up believing things that are not true
It can be helpful for us to understand where our false beliefs come from.
1 John 2:15-16 says, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”
Scripture teaches that we are naturally open to:
- desire for physical pleasure (lust of the flesh)
- a desire for things we see (lust of the eyes)
- desire for achievements and possessions (pride of life)
“Desire” is a common liar, tempting us to believe things that are not true.
Beyond those three predispositions, we get bad beliefs from other natural sources.
- We get bad beliefs from our immediate family
Our parents and immediate family have a powerful impact on our beliefs. In some cases that is positive, and in some cases, it may be negative. In many cases, it is a combination of the two.
But often, the negative influence of family can profoundly color our interpretation of life and our assessment of what it will take to make us happy. Francis Schaeffer once said, “we get our values the same we get the measles; by being around others who have them. As a result, we may end up with values which, upon further reflection, we might have chosen to avoid.”
I remember when I read that as a young adult, it hit me like a thunderbolt that I had caught any number of values from my immediate family experience which, upon further reflection, I might have chosen to avoid.
- We get bad beliefs from our early childhood experiences
We also catch values, like the measles, from other kids at school. Early childhood experiences can powerfully impact our beliefs. Positive things, negative things, commonplace things all feed our belief system and begin to shape us from the very early age. Psychologists tell us that by the time we are two years old, our worldview is largely shaped, and by six years old the direction of our life has been largely set. Many of these are values which, upon further reflection, we might have chosen to avoid.
- We get bad beliefs from the culture around us
Television, movies, music, the internet, all have powerful influences on us, along with our friends, who have been influenced by these instruments of culture. Secular culture has three highly valued beliefs that are contrary to Scripture:
- You must be true to yourself
- In the end you have to do what makes you happy
- No one has the right to tell anyone else what is right or wrong for him or her
These values permeate everything from the nightly news to movies on the Hallmark channel to self-help web sites.
False beliefs many Christians have
These values are subtle and, therefore, very hard to resist. We often don’t even realize we are embracing them. As a result, Christians can be powerfully influenced by these values, and end up believing a host of other things that are also not true:
- As much of God as we want + as much good fortune as we can get by self-effort = our happiness
- If God loved us, He would make our lives easier
- If we suffer in life, either there is something wrong with us or something wrong with God
- We ought to be able to understand everything we want to understand about God and life
- Health, wealth, acceptance by our peer group, and pleasure will make us happy
- We can break the laws of God and not pay a price
- A loving God would not punish anyone
- Etc. (Supply your own)
These are all lies. And like the young boy who jumped out of the tree when he thought he could fly, we end up with a fat lip, or something worse, when we believe them.
Conclusion
Unless a Christian’s mind has been renewed by Scripture and truth, he or she typically believes many of the things the world believes, has many of the same values the world has, and suffers many of the same painful consequences that the world suffers.
As we unpack this subject of “belief” next week, we will see how what we believe determines everything about us. And we will explore ways to make this work for us and not against us.
And, if you haven’t already done so, be sure to get your free download of my video, Master the Bible So Well That the Bible Masters You, where you will learn the 4 steps to releasing the transforming power of Scripture in your life for a solid biblical foundation to your beliefs.
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