John V Wrote:This sets up cognitive dissonance - if you continue to believe you end up in hell and don't want to consider that. So, you found reasons to discontinue belief.
Fail.
Not wanting to think about hell and therefore disbelieving in it isn't an adequate solution nor is it the stuff of cognitive dissonance. That would be like being called to the military but you don't want that, so you disbelieve in war.
Just for the sake of clarification, I'll give you an anecdote that highlights what cognitive dissonance is: as a former Christian, I used to believe that the verses found in Matthew about saintly zombies walking into Jerusalem after Jesus died were literally true. After being faced with the highly implausible scenario of such a thing happening but only ONE person ever writing about it, I had a case of cognitive dissonance: I held a belief but at the same time also held a belief that counters it. If you know your basic logic 101 stuff, you would know that at this stage, you *must* negate at least one assumption so that a contradiction can be avoided (i.e. the state of cognitive dissonance). Thus, my options were: (1) believe that the Bible contains an outright falsehood or (2) believe that the verses are metaphorical, thus meaning that the Bible is still true. Now here's the crucial bit: someone suffering cognitive dissonance will almost be guaranteed to try and salvage their belief as opposed to opt for the option that requires them to trash it. Thus, for me at the time, it was a no brainer - I was compelled to accept (2).
Taking the above and applying it to Jesus' resurrection, we can see that the theory would be that his close followers had a very strong belief in what Jesus promised. In the event that Jesus didn't return, they would be in a state of cognitive dissonance: they believe Jesus will be back, but he's nowhere to be found. Thus, belief-related-instincts kick in and they *must* find a way to solve their state of cognitive dissonance, thus how stories/rumours spread that he was back. I mean... think about it. Doesn't Mary confuse Jesus for the bloody gardener initially?? Really?? Sounds *exactly* like what one would expect of an individual suffering from cognitive dissonance.
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it" ~ Aristotle
