Posted on 10/15/2021 7:07:12 AM PDT by Jan_Sobieski
Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool
WWII U.S. Army Officer and California Berkeley professor emeritus Irving Janis spent 50 years studying why groups of intelligent, knowledgeable people sometimes make very poor decisions. He coined the term, Groupthink: a detrimental psychological condition and practice of reasoning / decision-making that afflicts groups. It is characterized by uncritical acceptance or conformity to prevailing points of view where members of the group suspend reasoning faculties in order to conform.
Historical Examples of Groupthink
Before the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in April 1961, newly elected President Kennedy allowed opinionated “experts” to dominate all discussions losing independent questioning, objective assessments, and proper evaluation of unintended outcomes. The resulting debacle caused President Kennedy to wisely seek advice from former President Eisenhower to avoiding future disasters. Eisenhower’s advice would help President Kennedy successfully navigate the Cuban Missile crisis a year and a half later.
In 850BCE, Israel’s King Ahab initiated a disastrous campaign against Syria that resulted in his death and the destruction of both the Armies of Israel and Judah. King Ahab was advised by his own corrupt religious and political establishment to go to battle while censoring all debate, even censoring the council of the God of Israel!?
Today’s Groupthink
The current Coronavirus pandemic in America is emerging as a classic example of Groupthink. How? Knowing the dangers of introducing experimental vaccines, our leadership has continued full speed ahead despite the dangers. They even ignore historical studies showing Coronavirus vaccines are dangerous to everyone who receives them (2012 Coronavirus Vaccine Study). This current crisis has all the hallmark symptoms of Groupthink including…
1. Illusions of invulnerability: Fauci, Gates, Vaccine company “experts”, and government “experts” are developing it, so the experimental vaccines must be failproof!
2. Illusions of morality: There’s an unquestioned belief that vaccinations are have inherently superior morality because they save lives, regardless of unconscionable methods of using aborted fetal cells in their development.
3. Collective rationalization: People are discounting warnings about experimental vaccines that, if heeded, would cause them to reconsider their assumptions.
4. Stereotyping of the adversary: all vaccine hesitant are stereotyped and viewed as enemies of science; too stupid to warrant genuine attempts to negotiate, or just evil.
5. Censorship of contrary views: Anyone who questions the vaccine orthodoxy is censored, marginalized, and punished by the apparent group consensus
6. Pressure on dissenters: The vaccine majority is now exerting direct pressure in the form of vaccine passports on unvaccinated Americans to restrict travel.
7. Mindguarding: There is almost a complete blackout of dissenting views on the major social media platforms of anyone questioning the vaccine orthodoxy. Self-appointed “mind guards” —who protect against information that might shatter the complacency about the effectiveness and morality of the group’s decisions.
Why are we vulnerable to Groupthink?
All of us are vulnerable to Groupthink because we are fallen beings, jaded by sin (violations of the Law of God). Our fallen nature trusts things we should not trust (our heart, others, celebrity, etc.) and disregards wisdom and truth as though it were irrelevant. As a result, even from our youth, we relate more to evil than we do to right thinking (Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God).
This explains how the most advanced nation on Earth in the 1930s, that gave us the Reformation the industrial revolution, acquiesced to the pure evil of National Socialism! Backslidden and fallen men are vulnerable to the lies and stratagems of the God of this World (Satan)…
2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world [Satan] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Isaac Newton’s Biblical Worldview helped him critically reason and test the physical laws of God. Albert Einstein’s Biblical Worldview guided his theories and calculations. As Isaiah 1:18 shows, the rational God of the Universe, who made us in His own image, gives the gift of reason to those who want it. He challenges men to reason with him and to seek him and draw from his spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge (Isaiah 11:2). As Isaiah shows, spiritual laws are just as verifiable as physical laws.
What if Groupthink is a Judgment from God?
A frightening consideration about Groupthink is that it can often be a judgment from God Himself. 1 Kings 22:22–28 reveals that God sent a lying spirit in the mouths of the religious and political leadership of Israel to draw the entire nation into calamitous judgment. Perhaps most frightening of all is Paul’s revelation in 2 Thessalonians 2:11 showing that God Himself is going to send an Antichrist “delusion” to the earth just before Jesus Christ returns. It will be so strong that it will irresistibly draw all who do not believe truth and have pleasure in unrighteousness. Could it be that the experimental vaccines for this questionable pandemic under dubious circumstances will drive people to Antichrist?
What if the experimental vaccines render people vulnerable? What if vaccine recipients now need yearly boosters to survive? What if the government forces us, on threat of not buying or selling, to get a chip implanted in our right hand or forehead to “detect” Coronaviruses and “Contact Tracing?”
This could be the great last days delusion that Paul warned about. This could be the “snare” that Jesus said was coming on the earth…?
Luke 21:35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
Cure for Groupthink
The cure for Groupthink is faith in the God of critical reasoning and rational thought. Jesus Christ questioned everything by God’s Word. He never deferred to the “experts” and leaders. He tested everything and commands that we test everything (1 John 4:1). Take nothing at face value from the “experts” who we know are vulnerable to Groupthink themselves. God knows more than all the experts in the world combined…
1 Corinthians 1:19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent”
We are to be like the Bereans in Acts 17 who were commended by God for not believing Paul unless everything he said could be found in the Bible. God has endowed each of us with a mind to process information, to evaluate evidence, and to critically analyze things. Biblical history tears the veneer off the so-called government experts, scientific leaders, and religious authorities. It shows that all men outside the persuasion of His Holy Spirit are incurably vulnerable to political pressures, detrimental biases, and even evil spirits.
Jesus Christ Himself in Luke 21: 36 says we can escape the snare coming on the earth. How? Love the truth! Love reasoning, testing, and rational thought. Love God’s Word. Be full of Faith and constantly Pray, looking for His soon return and don’t let daily cares of life distract you from these things!
Very good insights into how groupthink is related to what is happening culturally in the CV-19 zeitgeist of America.
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