One of the first chain of thoughts I had when I deconverted was seeing all the doctrine I knew but from a new angle. I could finally see how many things in the Bible cut both ways, and depending on how deep my faith was, I would believe even more the conclusion that conveniently explained God was behind it all. An example of this (although it's not doctrine, but still illustrates my point) is when Justin Martyr explained away the similarities of older religions to Christianity by saying Satan planned those other religions as a form of deception. Can you see that the more faith you have, the more you will make yourself see why that is such a "logical" explanation, as opposed to the simpler explanation that Christianity copied them? Well, I believe there are certain "mechanisms" in place throughout orthodox scripture that will keep the believer firmly grounded and forever seeing everything upside-down through things that seem "logical" when one has faith. Here they are:

Divine Inspiration

All scripture is given by inspiration of God. - 2 Timothy 3:16

The most fundamental thing that needs to be in place is the argument that all scripture is inspired. Obviously if this isn't the case then the topic about religion is rather trivial. This argument also gives scripture all the more authority and therefore control over the person's logical processes. This translates to them most likely overriding any conflicting thought they might have about a given verse with a thought about them lacking faith/trust in God. Clearly, this is one of the driving forces to successfully achieve a brainwashed state.

Faith > Evidence

...as it is written, "the righteous shall live by faith." - Romans 1:16

Faith is essential. With it, the believer is capable of short-circuiting the brain and skipping the step of asking if something is sensible in the face of no evidence being present. Even when the contrary is proposed with evidence behind it (e.g. that sicknesses aren't caused by demons), the believer arguably has the justification as to why they will hold on to their belief (in this case that Jesus really did heal the sick by casting out demons). It is commanded that they live by faith, which in turn removes the need to question anything before it is wired into the believer's brain.

This aspect of faith goes hand in hand with the next mechanism:

Wordly Knowledge Comes Second

The wisdom of the world is foolishness with God. - 1 Corinthians 3:19

This is the easy way out of having to explain (or rationally justify) why scripture is true. The ways of thinking of this world will detract from understanding and believing the knowledge contained in the Bible. So effectively the believer is made to "believe it to see it" instead of "see it to believe it". This is simply another way to override the person's logical processes and allow doctrine to flow in unquestioned. Of course, the believer will get a pat on the back from the man himself for complying; Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed. - John 20:29.

Protecting the Mechanism via Redirecting "Warning Signs"

And you will be hated by all for my name's sake... - Mark 13:12

Essentially this is the collection of mechanisms telling the believer that the mechanism is in no way faulty, but instead reassures the believer that they hold onto the truth. So every time their beliefs are criticized, it will further reassure them they are correct. The multiplier related to how much reassurance is gained depends on the level of faith of course. And for more reassurance, this particular verse finishes with "but the one who endures to the end will be saved" i.e. prepare to reject perfectly good reasoning for why your beliefs are ridiculous until you have won your prize.


P.s. I have thought about this for a while, but I have used a website to aid in me in synthesising the ideas. I've somewhat paraphrased some bits and added my own thoughts as well. If you're interested in reading further, here's the source (which happens to be from a Deist website): http://www.deism.com/christianhype.htm

This is exactly why indocrination is so effective. If someone you trusted told you that someone else was a terrible liar, and that 'liar' tried to convince you of something you were certain was untrue (but actually was true) how could you possibly be convinced?

Christianity is one of the older MLMs still circulating. It would be a miracle worthy of faith if they hadn't refined their pitch to the point of hooks but still managed to trudge along anyway.

(December 6, 2012 at 1:32 pm)Rhythm Wrote: Christianity is one of the older MLMs still circulating. It would be a miracle worthy of faith if they hadn't refined their pitch to the point of hooks but still managed to trudge along anyway.

What's an "MLM"?

(December 6, 2012 at 11:38 pm)FallentoReason Wrote:

(December 6, 2012 at 1:32 pm)Rhythm Wrote: Christianity is one of the older MLMs still circulating. It would be a miracle worthy of faith if they hadn't refined their pitch to the point of hooks but still managed to trudge along anyway.

What's an "MLM"?

Multi-level marketing. c.f. Amway, scam

(December 6, 2012 at 11:41 pm)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote:

(December 6, 2012 at 11:38 pm)FallentoReason Wrote: What's an "MLM"?

Multi-level marketing. c.f. Amway, scam

Holy crap! It's so true the comparison Rhythm makes then! I was just thinking about my friend yesterday who has been in Amway for about two years now. He called me up one day to catch up over coffee and so that I could get his resumee off him (I told him we might have work where I'm at). The next thing you know, he's "preaching" up Amway and telling me how he sees so much potential in me. He told me about a successful engineer who retired at 25 thanks to Amway. This isn't even the first time he's tried this on me! Just like a religious person, there's those mechanisms within MLMs that trigger the person to "preach" about their "cult" ad infinitum even though (and he told me this) he's only breaking even financially. So in the face of crappy results there's something that keeps him wanting more of it...

I can see so many similarities between a believer of religion and believer of MLMs... it's crazy how the brain just gets chucked out the window every time.

(December 6, 2012 at 11:52 pm)FallentoReason Wrote: Holy crap! It's so true the comparison Rhythm makes then! I was just thinking about my friend yesterday who has been in Amway for about two years now. He called me up one day to catch up over coffee and so that I could get his resumee off him (I told him we might have work where I'm at). The next thing you know, he's "preaching" up Amway and telling me how he sees so much potential in me. He told me about a successful engineer who retired at 25 thanks to Amway. This isn't even the first time he's tried this on me! Just like a religious person, there's those mechanisms within MLMs that trigger the person to "preach" about their "cult" ad infinitum even though (and he told me this) he's only breaking even financially. So in the face of crappy results there's something that keeps him wanting more of it...

I can see so many similarities between a believer of religion and believer of MLMs... it's crazy how the brain just gets chucked out the window every time.

Best advice I can give if you run into that situation again.

1. Do not break eye contact.
2. Back up - quickly!
3. Look around for a large, stout, stick.
4. ???
5. Profit!

FallentoReason, have you ever had confidence in something you had no evidence for?
Can you rationalize every action of yours with scientific logic?
Have you once made a decision with your mind without using probability mathematics?
Do you strive to eliminate emotion from each choice you make?
Is everything 'true' in your life backed up by scientific data alone--in other words, does your opinion always adhere to the views of the world's current best and brightest?

(December 7, 2012 at 3:07 am)Undeceived Wrote: ....
Is everything 'true' in your life backed up by scientific data alone--in other words, does your opinion always adhere to the views of the world's current best and brightest?

WTF kind of definition of "scientific data" is that?

An apologists definition. Ever sit back and appreciate how much time they spend creating novel definitions for things so they can argue against something else by the same name? Bait-and-switch, classic.