For myself I think that objectivity and subjectivity are not hindrances to the spirit. He is able to speak both languages well. So, if I was in a conversation with a very subjective person, the spirit has to carry the burden of communication – I’m not that gifted.Stahura wrote:Doesn't an objective mind accept anything true or logical, even if it doesn't support their belief?
Although You are very reasonable, I haven't seen you do that. You very reasonably present your own beliefs with many quotes and scriptures, but that's all i've seen.
You seem very biased in your responses, yet a synonym of objective is unbiased!
Perhaps you can show me what you believe objective means, or show me situations where you have accepted something that doesn't necessarily support your beliefs, or anything you are biased towards
I believe for the most part, I am unbiased. I accept inconvient truths, and inconvenient history.
There are certain things I do not want to believe, but cannot deny the truth of it and so I do not attempt to justify it.
I agree that an humble objective person is easily entreated with truth whether it fits his current paradigm or not. However, what I think you might be observing is not so much my objectivity but what most would call a state of closemindedness.
About 12 years ago I was taking some college classes and they were rehashing the logical fallacies, and ethical thinking and critical thinking and such. These were classes of much different material than was taught years ago, much more refined. Now I don’t think you want to hear the remarkable things I learned there as I heard some of the most profound philosophies of men that sounded so reasonable and knew of an instant they were wonderful indoctrinations of Satan to convince people to think a certain way.
In the ethical thinking class, one indoctrination was concerning being open-minded. Long story short, I realized then that once the spirit has taught me something that I am perfectly justified in being closeminded to anything that opposes that truth. I practice that without apology. I can try to reason, I can listen, I can share but I do not move from certain positions which have been made clear to me. As well, I am very cautious to very seldom take a position that is not informed by much study and research. Too many get in the habit of their uninformed or inadequately informed opinions becoming their doctrine.
As an example a subject that has come up here on LDSFF was two years ago a point of open mindedness for me. It was concerning energy healing. I engaged some of the pro folks on this forum, I shared ideas and thoughts, I researched the principles of healing, I read some Doug Mendenhall material and by the time I was done I felt very clearly that energy healing is not of God. So where a couple of years ago I was willing to entertain thoughts on the subject and consider them and pray and ponder over them as an open minded endeavor of seeking the truth, I am now unabashedly completely closeminded on the subject. It is false and an inappropriate activity for faithful LDS to engage in. In the process of my research I collected a lot of material, not sure where it is at the moment, but as in most things I can speak intelligently as to why I ultimately become closeminded.
For me this comes down to a very simple principle. If I have studied it out, if I have prayed about it and sought God’s wisdom on a subject and he provides insight and confirmation then where I am going to go to find better information? Or is my faith lacking so much that I have to question him over and over about things that have been addressed every single time it comes up? I can’t do that. I am very confident in my talents as a student of the scriptures. That may come off to some as a bit off – putting but when I study and seek the Lord has promised I’ll get answers, I study very hard and I count on the Lord fulfilling his end of the bargain. He does and I accept his answers and I confidently reference them when called upon to do so.
Another example was Amonhi’s tithing post. I really was impacted by that as he managed to reach a level of presentation that matches my own efforts and it was on a subject that I was not adequately prepared to evaluate. I have to be honest - it catches me off guard when someone is able to get beyond my spiritual knowledge base as it doesn't happen very often except with the brethren. However, the nature of Amonhi's post was superbly crafted and it appealed to a certain weakness that I was not as aware of as I should have been. It took me a few days to respond because I was searching and seeking and reading and studying and seeking the Lord’s insight. When it came and I realized the depth of the deception involved in Amonhi’s efforts I felt an imperative to respond. Before I was open minded, but when the answers came and it was in a twinkling of an eye, if you will, I became closeminded – and extremely grateful to the Lord for comforting my misunderstandings and illustrating my own weaknesses.
So I think that explains my perspective on such things. If not let me know.