One Hundred and Eighty Degrees

An Experiment

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

— Philippians 4.8, KJV

This article will be nice and short.

I have written several times in various places that I like a couple of analogies about the mind. My use of them is inconsistent, and even overlaps at times. Oh, well. The first one is that the mind is like a computer. It uses the information that you give it, and GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out) is often a very accurate description.

The other analogy is that the mind is like a garden. I find this one to be more consistently accurate than the computer analogy, because thought seeds are planted, fed, watered, encouraged and eventually yield some kind of crop for good or ill. We need to be careful of what we receive into our thought processes because we can dwell on and nurture whatever it is.

Here is an experiment for you.

• Establish a period of time, hopefully for more than just one day (but not too long, because then it may become a burden). I suggest a week, or three days.
• Keep yourself from secular media influences in song lyrics, movies, television, magazines, books and so forth.
• Fill the void with good input. Spend more time with instrumental music such as classical or jazz, listen to Christian music (I've heard some good "sermons" in Petra and other groups' lyrics), read your Bible more, get some good Christian apologetics books and that sort of thing, listen to sermons on audio (you can catch up on the resources that I keep putting on this site).

After the experiment is over, check your attitude. Has your thought life improved? Have you grown spiritually? Are you exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5.22-23)? My guess is that your answer is "yes".

Deception - A Big One

Here is a video that I feel is important to Christians to emphasize the importance of the question of origins. Originally, I was going to put it at Piltdown Superman, but realized that it is better suited for believers. Get comfy, this will take about an hour. Unless you have a downloader and grab it from YouTube, that is.