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I listen & watch various talks on TED Talk. (ted.com) The current talk is one about a teacher from South Korea who taught in North Korea for a period of
time. It is very interesting.
http://www.ted.com/talks/suki_kim_this_is_what_it_s_like_to_teach_in_north_korea Her point in this talk deals with the importance of critical thinking.
I am not in any way making a comparison between the government or society in North Korea & the
church. Please do not make that connection. I am only saying that the process about critically thinking
& coming up with our own conclusions about any topic is very important.
A discussion about critical thinking is destined to fall flat in our church, among the average people. Critical thinking can be defined as “a process for deciding what to believe or do”. And the process in the church involves primarily basing belief on feelings of the Spirit. Although we are counseled to “study it out in our mind” I think any conclusions that lead to non-standard positions on time-honored issues are largely rejected, and the person labelled apostate. Critical thinking may often lead to negative evaluations of church doctrine and positions, and even the statements of its leaders. And we know that church is not the place for expressing such doubts.
My own critical thinking, based on the evidence before me, has led me to believe that the church is full of good people, has a unique theology, but has hardened into a very rule-based organization that doesn’t always match the truthfulness of its message or its divine commission on certain points, and with respect to certain processes. It takes its members for granted, in many ways.
If I was to say that, I’d be ostracized by many. So, my critical thinking must remain anonymous here (I hope) and unexpressed at church.
Excellent presentation. As with most things, discussions of this concept, which I agree is necessary and important, will succeed or fail largely based on how they are framed and presented.
I have had some wonderful experiences talking about it in church – and I have been part of some terrible discussions about it.
I believe most people there (North Korea) buy into the nationalism and the hero worship of their leader. They have nothing else to compare it to. For those who are different it would be terrifying.
Sheldon wrote:You mean “So Called” Critical Thinking.
You mean so called thinking, even critical thinking.
I think this is really interesting. I’m studying education, and one of the important ideas in education right now is teaching critical thinking. We want our students to ask the hard questions and really dig deep for the answers. I think that’s a huge difference from the one-right-answer approach of industrial-era education. I love TED talks, too!
nibbler wrote:Sheldon wrote:You mean “So Called” Critical Thinking.
You mean so called thinking, even critical thinking.
Got to agree with Sheldon here. So called CT often is selective. By going from North Korea to South Korea that teacher merely entered a bigger paddock. She’s still fenced in just with more illusion of freedom.
I frequently find so called CTers criticize religion but accept many things in the current Zeitgeist – the Liberal-Conservative dichotomy/lie for one.
Ann wrote:I don’t know how people stay sane in that awful place. I really hope I live to see it open up.
By doing a lot of the same things people do/put up with in the west. Like I say above the west is just a bigger paddock so to speak – the fences are still there but people think because they have more room to run around in that they are free. The west is full of conformists, and people on medication/narcotics so much for our supposed sanity. Many westerners would bow to a dictatorship tomorrow if it would save their families, careers or reputations.
We all believe we think more critically (or deeply or inclusively) than we probably do. The extremes are obvious, but it’s really good to examine ourselves occasionally to make sure we aren’t remaining oblivious to and perpetuating our own current blind spots.
Old-Timer wrote:We all believe we think more critically (or deeply or inclusively) than we probably do.
This is definitely true. We are all hypocrites – it is just a matter of degree.
In a lot of cases, we make up our minds, and then retrofit our views to some kind of quasi-logical explanation. (Rationalization) We don’t even realize that we do it some of the time, because it is an unconscious process.
A lot of us are so trapped in our boxes we can’t see out of them. Part of the problem with an increasingly uniform global culture/world view is that it will mean that people won’t be able to refer to radically differing points of view to criticize it.
Old-Timer wrote:The extremes are obvious, but it’s really good to examine ourselves occasionally to make sure we aren’t remaining oblivious to and perpetuating our own current blind spots.
I’d agree with that too.
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