From: sdoe@nmsu.edu (Stephen Doe)
Subject: Re: THE MIND OF THE BIBLE BELIEVER
Keywords: Bible--psychlogy--fundamentalism
Organization: New Mexico State University
Distribution: world,public
Date: Sat, 26 Dec 1992 21:16:14 GMT

In article <1992Dec26.032102.6648@en.ecn.purdue.edu> muehlhau@en.ecn.purdue.edu (John Muehlhausen) writes:
>
>What strikes me more than anything is that you have not presented any
>problems associated with Biblical faith.  Rather, the ones you have
>presented are a result of faith which is lacking, and the problems
>would not go away were this faith to be dropped (if it could be).
>
>For example, hatred of homosexuals is not a Biblical theme.
>Hatred of homosex certainly is, which is not the same thing.  Don't
>go off on some psychological tangent on me here-- THEY ARE NOT THE
>SAME THING, IMPLIED OR OTHERWISE.  How do I know?  Because I love
>homosexuals and hate what some of them do.  If I can do it, it can be 
>done.  Jesus certainly had this attitude.

"Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."  I believe that quote is from
Romans, though I don't have my Bible handy at the moment.  Seems to
imply God can hate the sinner as well as the sin. . . 

I do not see much in the way towards hatred of homosexuals in liberal
or mainline denominations.  It seems to be a conservative phenomenon,
part of those churches that most stress the primacy of the Bible.

I'm not going to accuse every Christian of hating certain groups of
people--it just seems to be something that the Bible promotes.

>Exactly what does the Bible tell us that is harmful to society if
>integrated and accepted?  If there is any harm to be had, it is in
>the clash between acceptance and non-acceptance.  From everything I
>have seen, the Bible believer is generally a happier, more joyful,
>more hopeful, and more successful individual in life than the person
>who rejects Biblical advice and command.  Where is the depression?
>I do not see it in my life or the lives of my fellow BB's.  If our
>"fake" joy is as much, it is more real than any offered by any other
>source, which makes me seriously question the motivation behind these
>postings.  If the whole world had Bible Believing minds, what would
>things be like?  If their are Christians out there who live in fear
>and depression, then maybe you had better try the Bible Brand of
>Christianity! :-)

My own phase of Bible-belief featured just the sort of fear and
depression Dr. Cohen spoke of, which is why I was receptive to what he
had to say.  The motivation behind these postings was to present Dr.
Cohen's views, partly to help those others such as myself, who might
be suffering from that fear and depression, and partly to see what
others had to say about the views of Dr. Cohen.

Obviously there will be a lot of difference in how people react to
Bible-belief--I think his analysis is much more a matter of the
"inner-directed" believer's reaction, than of the "other-directed,"
for whom the church atmospherics is what mainly counts.

But God can take on a terrifying face for those who know the Bible too
well.  I think it's up to you guys to show how God's love still shines
through, given many incidents in the Bible that certainly cause me to
question how "loving" he really is. . .

I think that if the whole world had Bible-believing minds, we'd see
some schisms so that they could have somebody to be against. . .
One result of Dr. Cohen's analysis is the expectation that the
biblically authentic believer will need some outgroup to project his
shadow upon.

>_Is_ having the Mind of the Bible Believer damaging to the individual
>or society?  I have yet to see it.

>I am not qualified to comment on the psychological analysis
>presented, but even if it were right on, it is meaningless
>unless it can be shown that there is some other attainable state of
>mind that is superior from an end product view.

If the Bible really does promote inner divideness, as Dr. Cohen
maintains, then the reconciliation of psychological opposites, which
biblically-authentic belief obstructs, would be the healthier state of
mind.  

But I'm not qualified to comment on his psychology either, which is
another reason why I posted this series, to see what someone qualified
in this area might have to say.

SD