Why do you believe that 'your' God is the correct one?

[Justanaverageguy]

1 hour ago, Ellener said:

I think you know I believe in a freedom so everyone can live with the same freedoms ( and obligations ) I have. But I don't think most of these denominations would accept the way you and your family and community life as what 'they believe' in. People sometimes have to stretch their minds beyond what they think they believe, or their own experience. All of us. To know 'it must be true else I wouldn't believe it' does not make complete sense.  To listen to someone else's experiences and beliefs as equally valid to their own.

I 100% agree with this. I believe each person should spend time studying the other religions - and even different factions within their own religion - and not just blindly believe. I also believe they should respect another individuals entitlement to "choose" which ever religion or faith - or absence of faith - they decide on. It is their free will choice - and we can discsuss and offer our viewpoints like we are now - but at the end of the day if they decide differently to us then we should accept this and once the discussion and debate is over then live in harmony with those people as best we can. This is freedom of religion

Its good and right to have open and honest discussions where we comparatively evaluate why people chose their faith - and also the end results of that faith/or lack of - like we are having now. And if we are convinced this is benefical for others - we should be trying to share that with them. I think its good for us to share what we think is right - and why we think its right - and offer our different views and reason for this and also as best we can try to tailor the reason to the audience we are speaking with. The ulitmate aim being ..... I want what is best for you and your family long term. 

Its why on this thread my approach has been to take a comparative end results view. Take a bit of a step back. Basically we know humans have done some horrible evil things in the past and are flawed. My basic premise is to look at humanity as having an "illness". And many different "doctors" have come and given a prescription on how to cure it. Now none of the cures can claim to have worked perfectly - but which prescription objectively speaking appears to have worked best when comparing societies that followed different prescriptions ?

The thing about faith has always been - when times are good and people feel healthy - they think they don't need to take the medicine anymore. Thats the repetitive theme. People don't walk away from faith in difficult times - thats when they run back to God and cling to him and start reading the prescrition and trying to do everything it says. But when everything seems to be going well - people become complacent. They don't see a need for God/Medicine/prescription in their lives. 

Edited December 13, 2020 by Justanaverageguy

[Ellener]

23 minutes ago, Justanaverageguy said:

Thats the repetitive theme. People don't walk away from faith in difficult times - thats when they run back to God and cling to him and start reading the prescrition and trying to do everything it says. But when everything seems to be going well - people become complacent.

Faith becomes superstition. Or smug.

 

[Justanaverageguy]

1 hour ago, Ellener said:

Faith becomes superstition. Or smug.

I think it's just more human nature and experience. 

When you have a full stomach and more then you need why would you pray or seek outside assistance from a higher power ? If you never do this, attend prayer services - seek God's presence then how would you expect to then see any evidence of the higher power working in your life ?

"Storms" are often the avenue through which God reveals himself. As Rumi put it: Cracks are how the light gets in. Or the wound is where the light enters. You often find people who experience great trauma .... Loss of a child. Loss of a loved one. Marriage break down are the ones who actually experience god in a real and powerful way.

Edited December 13, 2020 by Justanaverageguy

[Wiseman2]

1 hour ago, Justanaverageguy said:

. You often find people who experience great trauma .... Loss of a child. Loss of a loved one. Marriage break down are the ones who actually experience god in a real and powerful way.

Sorry, I disagree that God inflicts this type of pain to enlighten.

Not everyone agrees with this type of televangelist philosophy.

[major_merrick]

5 hours ago, Ellener said:

I think you know I believe in a freedom so everyone can live with the same freedoms ( and obligations ) I have. But I don't think most of these denominations would accept the way you and your family and community life as what 'they believe' in.

People sometimes have to stretch their minds beyond what they think they believe, or their own experience. All of us.

To know 'it must be true else I wouldn't believe it' does not make complete sense. 

To listen to someone else's experiences and beliefs as equally valid to their own.

That might work for a society as a whole (in order to prevent conflict) but when heaven/hell are at stake it doesn't work for an individual.

While my community's practices on a couple of issues might differ from mainstream denominations, God's identity and how we are reached by Him are not different at all.

When you come to faith, you end up comparing what others believe with Scripture.  You compare your personal experiences with Scripture.  That is a far different way than what you describe.  It isn't true just because I believe it, I believe it because I've found it to be true personally and it matches Scripture which is a source outside myself.

Edited December 13, 2020 by major_merrick

[Justanaverageguy]

2 hours ago, Wiseman2 said:

Sorry, I disagree that God inflicts this type of pain to enlighten.

Not everyone agrees with this type of televangelist philosophy.

Sorry that wasn't the meaning I intended (though yes can understand why you took it this way). I didn't necessarily mean it as God deliberately inflicts immense pain one someone with the intention to enlighten them. Rather I meant it as the reverse of this - I meant people who go through extreme pain and trauma are often offered and receive spiritual grace as they pass through it. Its not that God sent them pain so they will be enlightened. Rather he enlightens them to relieve the pain of the traumatic experience. The wound is how the light gets in. God responds to the extreme trauma and pain with loving spiritual grace to heal them - and that person having had this profound spiritual experience of healing then feels called to devote themselves more to God. 

Thus many times when you meet someone who's very spiritual and religious and has a real deep connection with God. Say for example when you meet someone who gives up everything and devotes themself to God and goes out and starts a church or a charity organization which has a big impact in the community. If you go and and talk to the pastor/priest or person who did this or look at their back story - and ask them ? Why did you do that ? What made you so strongly devoted to God to cause you to like invest all your time and money and life into starting a church or a charitable organization (or whatever it is )? There is very often something like this in their history. And often you find in their earlier life the person isn't even on a religious track at all. Then they are hit by this event - and they have this experience of grace and everything changes and their entire life focus changes towards God. 

I can think of literally like half a dozen really well known christian pastors who became very effective and gained large followings and built large Churches in the US for example that almost all match this backstory. A good example from the top of my head would be Francis Chan - who's one of the most well known Christian pastors created Cornerstone Community Church which grew from like a tiny little Church plant into one of the first really big mega churches in the USA and he then moved on from this and started a whole bunch of smaller local community churches. His mother died while giving birth to him. His father remarried a couple of years later. Then at 8 years old his step mother who had been raising him died in an automobile accident. Then 4 years later at 12 his father died of Cancer. He lost all 3 of his parental figures in tragic circumstances by the time he was 12. His early life is like a horror story but he talks about the experiences of divine grace he had in his childhood and how he felt called through this to God. If you look into a lot of pastors/churches and Charity organizations that make huge impacts in communities - you frequently find these really common threads. 

Edited December 13, 2020 by Justanaverageguy

[Wiseman2]

Some of the most philanthropic and altruistic people in the world have never needed hardships to be that way and may or may not be faith based.

Opening  megachurches is fine if they do good works, are transparent about thier charities and holdings and attendees get something out of it.

[Justanaverageguy]

1 hour ago, Wiseman2 said:

Some of the most philanthropic and altruistic people in the world have never needed hardships to be that way and may or may not be faith based.

Opening  megachurches is fine if they do good works, are transparent about thier charities and holdings and attendees get something out of it.

Sure I agree - never said its the only way. Just that its a very common thread. There are plenty of people that feel called this naturally as well.  

Also on the one pastor I mentioned Francis Chan - he would agree with you too. He never intended to open a "mega church" and he didn't open a mega church. He simply wanted to start a church dedicated to leading people to real experience of God. He was a gifted preacher, with passion for God and the church thrived. He started with 30 people attending the church within 10 years he had nearly 10,000 attending. The "mega" came as a result of the fact his drive propelled the church and attracted people.  But as it grew massively he didn't think this was actually beneficial. At the peak of the churches popularity and attendance while he was still continuing to rapidly grow ..... he decided to step down from being the lead pastor for the church and handed stewardship of the church over to the elder group he had established who still were committed to the church and those who wished to keep attending it.

He said he decided to step down because he felt as the church had grown so large so quickly it became less and less effective at achieving the mission he had originally set out when he established it. To lead people to authentic experience and relationship with God and creating true Christian disciples who had relationship with God that manifested as action in the world/community. That the increase in size had lead to people just "attending" without active involvement or participation and it became more about seeing - Francis Chan - the speaker then actually following the teaching and experiencing the holy spirit. There is a well known speech he gave around this time period where he expresses the frustration with the "mega church" by drinking from a baby bottle as he preaches .and saying he felt this is what the church had become. This is despite the fact from a pure statistical point of view the church was at an all time high and "booming". Its quite a funny speach where you can really see his frustration at what the "Booming maga church" had become. Worth a watch in the link below. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvBtxvmIvt0&ab_channel=BRMinistries 

He then moved out and did missionary work overseas and then started a new initiative doing a network of a large number of smaller church plants and "home churches". Connecting many small groups of people together who lived in close proximity who would work together as a small church and prayer units and empowering them to run the churches directly themeselves and getting them to teach and preach and run the services and run local community initiatives in their neighborhoods themselves.

You can see the drive and also authenticity in his devotion. Its very different to many others.  

To quote from an article where he talked about this decision: "I found myself suddenly leading a typical Western, evangelical church", and that, according to Chan, was exactly the problem. Everything centred around “a speaking gift and a sermon”, he says. In other words, people were flocking to preacher-man Chan, rather than seeking an encounter with God. “The problems at our church became I heard the words ‘Francis Chan’ more than I hear the words ‘Holy Spirit’.”  Chan’s first book Crazy Love was published a decade ago and sold thousands of copies on both sides of the Atlantic. He quickly developed a reputation for passionate preaching that raged against lukewarm Christianity, and became a much in-demand speaker at Christian conferences. Uncomfortable with his increasing level of fame, and unsettled by a shifting church culture at Cornerstone that he was struggling to change, Chan stepped down and moved his family to the other side of the world. His prediction that Cornerstone could and would survive without him was proven true. he spent time in Asia, among persecuted Christians, the leader caught a fresh vision of what church should be like. Now the 51-yearold is back in California, but he’s not involved with the megachurch he founded. Instead, he’s started a new church-planting network called We Are Church (wearechurch.com). Each church in the network is made up of ten to 20 people. Chan says the smaller size means Christians are able to “truly know each other and carry each other’s burdens”. Each church meets in a person’s home, so there’s no need to fundraise in order to purchase large buildings, and the church leaders are all volunteers, so they don’t need to take a salary. All the money that is given to each church is spent on the poor and on mission and the wider church family is “constantly evaluating” whether it’s time to “multiply” (ie start another congregation), so every pastor is charged with training another leader to follow in their footsteps.

Edited December 13, 2020 by Justanaverageguy

[Wiseman2]

Not sure if you are selling or evangelizing?

[Ellener]

10 hours ago, Justanaverageguy said:

Or the wound is where the light enters.

or the infection!

[Ellener]

7 hours ago, major_merrick said:

when heaven/hell are at stake it doesn't work for an individual.

I'm not so sure I believe in heaven and hell as in uranus or Gehenna...they are metaphors.

People carry the means within them to create heaven or hell for themselves and others, and I become increasingly convinced it's all about a life well lived and 'well done, thou good and faithful servant'.

My favourite prayer is the evening prayer from Book of Common Prayer:

O Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then in thy mercy, grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last.

Amen.

 

[Allupinnit]

@Justanaverageguy - my church meets (or did, before COVID) at a middle school on Sundays, precisely because we want to put our money into the community and not spend millions on a campus.  My small women's group has been a life saver.  One of the women who leads it has an atheist boyfriend.

One megachurch close to me actually has ATMs in the lobby, and a Starbucks, and that rubs me completely the wrong way.  

@Trail Blazer - God tells us over and over to seek and we shall find Him.  As a former agnostic this was the case for me, I didn't have one big life event that pulled me to Him; rather just 35 years of a selfish life lived littered with bad choices, heartbreak, and chaos.  Have you tried just, praying about it?  It might feel silly, but it is powerful.  A lot of people think of it as meditation.  The best part of my faith journey is that I've been able to ask a lot of those "big" questions and I wasn't laughed at or told to accept it by faith; I started listening to two Oxford doctors who host a podcast (Ask Away) and talk about these issues, and it's been faith-affirming for me.  So much of the nature of God I have found to be true because He made me and knows how I am wired.  

[major_merrick]

2 hours ago, Ellener said:

I'm not so sure I believe in heaven and hell as in uranus or Gehenna...they are metaphors.

People carry the means within them to create heaven or hell for themselves and others, and I become increasingly convinced it's all about a life well lived and 'well done, thou good and faithful servant'.

I believe in a very literal heaven and a literal hell, but I agree that the worst part of hell will be what people make for themselves there.  Which is the whole point of hell...people who don't want God's way get to have it their way, and they'll spend eternity making each other miserable.  God doesn't have to do a thing but make a separate space for those who want nothing to do with Him.  The devil and the people there create the rest of it, fire and all. 

I agree that living life well is a big part of it...as long as we don't become deceived that our good works are what "earn" our way into heaven.  Which is one way in which I believe the Christian faith is different from others.  Most faiths have some kind of plan.  Something you "do."  Christianity is about what God does for us.....and good works then are done naturally in response, as a part of thankfulness and relationship, rather than trying to "be good."  

Again, for me it goes back to "one of these things is not like the others."

[Trail Blazer]

23 hours ago, basil67 said:

Given that Judaism, Christianity and Islam all share the same roots, wouldn't that mean that God and Allah are the same person by different names?  

I don't believe that Christians feel that Allah is the same god as theirs.  Muslims do believe that Allah is the god that Christians pray to, they just believe that Christians are misguided.

[Trail Blazer]

4 hours ago, major_merrick said:

I believe in a very literal heaven and a literal hell, but I agree that the worst part of hell will be what people make for themselves there.  Which is the whole point of hell...people who don't want God's way get to have it their way, and they'll spend eternity making each other miserable.  God doesn't have to do a thing but make a separate space for those who want nothing to do with Him.  The devil and the people there create the rest of it, fire and all. 

I agree that living life well is a big part of it...as long as we don't become deceived that our good works are what "earn" our way into heaven.  Which is one way in which I believe the Christian faith is different from others.  Most faiths have some kind of plan.  Something you "do."  Christianity is about what God does for us.....and good works then are done naturally in response, as a part of thankfulness and relationship, rather than trying to "be good."  

Again, for me it goes back to "one of these things is not like the others."

That's the problem, though.  Which God?  Christian God?  Allah?  Muslims spend their whole life devoted to God's way.  Will they be punished for being misguided, according to your specific beliefs?

[Trail Blazer]

6 hours ago, Allupinnit said:

 

@Trail Blazer - God tells us over and over to seek and we shall find Him.  As a former agnostic this was the case for me, I didn't have one big life event that pulled me to Him; rather just 35 years of a selfish life lived littered with bad choices, heartbreak, and chaos.  Have you tried just, praying about it?  It might feel silly, but it is powerful.  A lot of people think of it as meditation.  The best part of my faith journey is that I've been able to ask a lot of those "big" questions and I wasn't laughed at or told to accept it by faith; I started listening to two Oxford doctors who host a podcast (Ask Away) and talk about these issues, and it's been faith-affirming for me.  So much of the nature of God I have found to be true because He made me and knows how I am wired.  

I've prayed to both the Christian and Muslim God when I was young.  I grew up being immersed in both religions.  So tell me, which one should I be praying to?  How will I know which one will answer my prayers?

[major_merrick]

58 minutes ago, Trail Blazer said:

That's the problem, though.  Which God?  Christian God?  Allah?  Muslims spend their whole life devoted to God's way.  Will they be punished for being misguided, according to your specific beliefs?

According to my specific beliefs, Muslims do not follow the right path.  They specifically deny that Jesus died and rose again in substitutionary atonement for our sins.  No other belief will do.

From what I understand (and correct me if I am wrong) the path to heaven in Islam is through right action, and that your good deeds need to outweigh your bad deeds.

For the Christian, heaven is guaranteed by belief in Jesus' death and resurrection.  No counting or uncertainty.  Good works and a decent life are the response to that salvation, rather than a means to obtain it.

We pray to Jesus.  We ask everything in Jesus' name.  Specific.

 

Edited December 14, 2020 by major_merrick

[central]

The more I seek, the less I see god as being real.  The longer I live well without god, the less need I see for a superstitious belief.

[Angelle]

8 hours ago, Allupinnit said:

@Justanaverageguy - my church meets (or did, before COVID) at a middle school on Sundays, precisely because we want to put our money into the community and not spend millions on a campus.  My small women's group has been a life saver.  One of the women who leads it has an atheist boyfriend.

One megachurch close to me actually has ATMs in the lobby, and a Starbucks, and that rubs me completely the wrong way.  

@Trail Blazer - God tells us over and over to seek and we shall find Him.  As a former agnostic this was the case for me, I didn't have one big life event that pulled me to Him; rather just 35 years of a selfish life lived littered with bad choices, heartbreak, and chaos.  Have you tried just, praying about it?  It might feel silly, but it is powerful.  A lot of people think of it as meditation.  The best part of my faith journey is that I've been able to ask a lot of those "big" questions and I wasn't laughed at or told to accept it by faith; I started listening to two Oxford doctors who host a podcast (Ask Away) and talk about these issues, and it's been faith-affirming for me.  So much of the nature of God I have found to be true because He made me and knows how I am wired.  

This reminds me that I was going to read a book called "On Religion." I have this guy who came back into my life, and we've kind of danced around getting involved, but there's always something in the way. This time it was covid, but I think he's also still heavily religious, he just doesn't go into it much with me anymore, because it freaked me out. He went from being an atheist, to a real believer. I'm open to to being wrong, which I guess makes me agnostic. I think he's been waiting for me to become a believer, and I've been waiting for him to ease up on it. I don't think that either one is going to happen. 

[Watercolors]

22 minutes ago, Angelle said:

This reminds me that I was going to read a book called "On Religion." I have this guy who came back into my life, and we've kind of danced around getting involved, but there's always something in the way. This time it was covid, but I think he's also still heavily religious, he just doesn't go into it much with me anymore, because it freaked me out. He went from being an atheist, to a real believer. I'm open to to being wrong, which I guess makes me agnostic. I think he's been waiting for me to become a believer, and I've been waiting for him to ease up on it. I don't think that either one is going to happen. 

I’ve been in your situation when I was dating men. I can’t date men who believe in any religion. I’m an Atheist who believes that you don’t need “religion” to be a morally good person. You just choose to be a morally good person, or you don’t. How many religious figures have committed crimes in the name of their religion? 

Now, I will tolerate being friends with people who practice religion, as long as they don’t preach to me, try to convert me, or berate me for my Atheist belief. I’m talking about people who are willing to listen to my point of view and hear me out, despite it conflicting with everything they believe. Finding those people are difficult, b/c religious people are very intolerant of Atheists. 

I think our society does not respect Atheists. The U.S. is 99% religious (and that’s over 1,000 practicing religions in the U.S.). Atheists are viewed as militant, people who lack morals, people who are close minded, because we choose not to believe in a deity. 

As an agnostic, would you ever date an Atheist? And why do you consider yourself agnostic? 

Edited December 14, 2020 by Watercolors

[BC1980]

On 12/5/2020 at 2:51 PM, Trail Blazer said:

With respect, Catholics and protestants are under the same umbrella of Christianity.  I'm going to guess that you're Catholic, given the specific citation of someone "converting" to Catholicism you've provided.

What I'm keen to know is why you believe that the God you believe in is the correct and only one that individuals should believe in. 

Do you believe because it's a passed-down tradition, or have you examined many religions and arrived at your religious conclusion of your own volition?

Catholicism and Protestantism are different branches under the umbrella of Christianity.  There are some significant differences in the two. 

[Justanaverageguy]

13 hours ago, Wiseman2 said:

Not sure if you are selling or evangelizing?

I have nothing for you to buy.

I just wanted to show an example of a person who had spoken about going through an extreme amount of trauma in childhood - and when going through thay experienced what they called divine spiritual grace which healed and helped them through it. How this then transformed the focus of their life to try and lead others to the same experience.  Why his mission looked different to most churches or religious teachers. He started with a church that was 30 people in his living room - it exploded into a mega church. When he reached the height of what most spiritual leaders would think was success - a huge mega church with thousands of people attending and book deals based around his teaching after only a few short years - he felt he was failing and furthest from his mission and walked away from it. Why ? Because less people were being lead into this connective real experience of God which he was trying to lead them. There is an authenticity to his teaching which can be seen in his behaviour. The difference between a religious teacher who is talking about something "in theory"  and a guy who's teaching and trying to lead people  based on personal experience and what he knows they need to do to get the same 

Edited December 14, 2020 by Justanaverageguy

[Justanaverageguy]

4 hours ago, Trail Blazer said:

I don't believe that Christians feel that Allah is the same god as theirs.  Muslims do believe that Allah is the god that Christians pray to, they just believe that Christians are misguided.

I agree with you here - and based on your story and upbringing I can totally and completely understand the frustration you have and why you feel confused or negative about religion. Your view and feelings seem completely valid to me - it's a difficult situation you were put in. I can empathize and understand why you feel the way you do about religion now. I get it - it makes sense to me based on the situation you were raised in. Seems normal and rational that you would feel the way you do now.

Because yes like you said Christianity and Muslim religion both have the same patriach - Abraham - and effectively say they follow the same God. Christians wouldn't deny this - we agree that Muslims claim to follow the same God. Like I said above the name "Allah" is believed to be an Arrabized version of the Hebrew semetic statement El'Jah/Elijah meaning - "God is Jahweh". ElJah (Hebrew) = Allah (Arrabic)

But their teachings don't align. They sometimes tell stories about the same people - but tell them differently. But the main thing is really the ethic in Christianity and how it teaches God wants people to behave is different to that of Muslim religion. So yes you are right. One must be wrong. (Or maybe both)  How do you choose which ? This is completely valid question. They literally can't both be right because they often contradict each other.

There is also not just possibility but probability that the way the institutions - churches - "present" the teaching and outwardly practice it isn't exactly as God wanted. So you also need to take this into account. So at the end of day yeah it's super hard situation which requires work on your part to sift through it all.

At the end of the day it comes down to you reading and evaluating and considering. And in addition to what I already spoke about - judging the fruit - I would encourage comparing the actual teaching. Like the words of Jesus in the Gospel vs the word of Mohammed. 

On one hand I agree you were put at a disadvantage - because you were introduced at a young age to two competing sometimes contradictory religions which is confusing.

But in saying that I could also say you were given an advantage in that you were exposed to two different religions deeply and able to look at the teachings of both in a deeper way they most get the opportunity to. You have the chance to listen to two different "gardeners" / "doctors" around which societies were built.

I don't think spending time as an atheist is a bad thing. It's generally a period where we are seeking and exploring truth to find out what is   valid and real. I spent time in that place at times in my life - but eventually was lead back to faith through that process. Can't say that how it will necessarily work out for you but I wish you the best on the journey 😊

I.say keep digging - keep exploring keep questioning .... And be a scientist.  Take steps of faith and try the things in the books and see what happens. You have a lot of energy in this topic and from my experience god responds to that earnest seeking.

Edited December 14, 2020 by Justanaverageguy

[Justanaverageguy]

3 hours ago, Watercolors said:

 I can’t date men who believe in any religion. I’m an Atheist who believes that you don’t need “religion” to be a morally good person. 

Now, I will tolerate being friends with people who practice religion, as long as they don’t preach to me, try to convert me. I’m talking about people who are willing to listen to my point of view and hear me out, despite it conflicting with everything they believe. Finding those people are difficult, b/c religious people are very intolerant of Atheists. 

So I'm not sure if you really meant it this.way so I'll give you the benefit of th doubt here as I think you mean you just don't want to be around people who are continuously trying to "convert" you.

But the way the post is written comes across as kind of ironic. You say religious people are intollerant of atheists - while at the same time saying you are intollerant of religious people 😂😂

I will be friends with them - only if they never talk.about their spiritual beliefs and if they are willing to listen to my beliefs without sharing their own, disagreeing or criticising them. That's kind of one sided no ?

I just mean it cuts both ways.After Dawkins famous encouragement of "Militant atheism" most religious people I think would tell you today they feel more attacked, belittled and force fed ideology by atheists then the other way around.

Atheists as a general group - not necessarily individuals -have in large part become exactly what they criticised and said they disliked about religious people. The word used to describe this is an "Ideologue"

an adherent of a specific ideology, especially one who is uncompromising and dogmatic.

Edited December 14, 2020 by Justanaverageguy

[Wiseman2]

8 hours ago, Watercolors said:

I wholeheartedly disagree with your preaching that God is responsible for what goes wrong in people’s lives, that despite our free will, God creates bad events in our lives to bring us closer to Him. That’s hogwash. That is simple brainwashing. 

Agree. This sounds more like the teachings in destructive cults.

There's a lot of fascinating research on the difference between religions and cults and how they operate differently.

Read "Combatting Cult Mind Control" by Steven Hassan 

The author discusses theories of mind control and cults based on the research of Margaret Singer and Robert Lifton as well as the cognitive dissonance theory of Leon Festinger.

 In the updated edition, Combating Cult Mind Control, features Hassan's new analysis of how coercive groups use social media to gain undue influence and updates on organizations that he alleges practice mind control.

Edited December 14, 2020 by Wiseman2