The Barna Group
The Barna Group studies the interaction of belief and behavior in America, focusing on differences between various Christian populations and the country at large. One of their most consistent findings over the years is disappointing, at least for Christian leaders: Christian beliefs have very little impact on how Americans live their lives. Statistically speaking, people with Christian beliefs tend to (a) attend a Christian church more often, and (b) volunteer at a Christian church more often, than non-Christians (surprise!). Otherwise, as groups our behavior isn't very different.If the renewal of our mind is really going to cause a metamorphosis, a visible change in who we are, then "renewing our mind" must mean something more than simply claiming a different belief. On reflection, that's not too surprising - anyone who has tried to change a habit knows that believing I should change is very different from actually changing. It is as Wesley and many others have said: the faith that saves us is something much more than mere mental assent.
Background: Oog and Neo
Educators, psychologists, and neuroscientists have developed many models of the brain. One of the simplest and most practical views conceives of the brain in two basic parts: the upper brain and the lower brain.
"Neo" is our upper brain. Neo does the reasoning, and its size distinguishes us from most mammals: we are good thinkers. Whenever we're "thinking," whenever we're aware of our thought processes, whenever we're taking time to contemplate, we're using Neo. Neo is relatively good at making decisions. Neo's doing the talking when we say "I believe in God, the Father Almighty, and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord." Neo is also slow, and Neo is much weaker than Oog.
And then there's "Oog." Oog is our lower brain, carrying out both instinctive behavior and trained behavior. Oog is absolutely vital to life: Oog regulates our blood pressure, keeps us breathing, and helps us walk. Oog deals with all of the minute details needed to coordinate the different parts of our body. You can think of Oog as both our defense system ("Something's coming at my eye! Blink") and our autopilot: Neo says "Let's walk across the room," and Oog gets the body walking.In order for our minds to truly be renewed, we need to change both Neo and Oog. Neo has to agree with the new way of thinking, in order for our decisions to be based on it. And Oog needs to be trained to run in agreement with the new world view. Without Neo's change, we'll continue to make big decisions in the old way. If Neo changes and Oog does not, a pattern familiar to most of us will emerge: Neo will decide upon a new course of action ("I'm going to practice healthy eating") but the fast and mighty Oog will have his way when Neo isn't looking ("YUM! A COOKIE!"). Oog is trained by regular reinforcement.
Oog accepts the training given to it by culture. Neo knows that most commercials are full of manipulative lies, but Oog doesn't care. In order to change Oog, we need to "change our culture" locally - build frequent reminders of our new plans, reward ourselves for following those plans, and fight against the influences that drive us on our old course.
If we want our new Michigan area conference to behave differently than West Michigan and Detroit, we'll need to do more than convince each other of the right ways to behave. We'll need to change our culture, perhaps in drastic ways, to reward the behaviors we're looking for. And the rewards may look quite different from what we expect.
What do you think?
What kind of mental renewal do you think is required for outwardly visible change? Is this simple two-level model helpful?
No comments:
Post a Comment