There are certain sayings or beliefs in the education field that it benefits job applicants to know. One is, “everyone can learn.” That’s a provable fact since we can all speak. However, not everyone can be taught to change their point of view, even with provable facts that contradict their beliefs. Most people can’t be taught to change a strongly held view. That’s a point that I believe about half of you will accept by the conclusion of this article. If people ever do change, what we call their point of view, they must decide to change that on their own. Why? Because propaganda is rampant. And part of most people’s beliefs is shaped by it, something no one will admit to; because practically everyone denies that about themselves. But it’s true.
Let’s leave religion out of this article while demonstrating this point. Instead I’ll prove my assertion using today’s political environment. Today we have the perfect opportunity to demonstrate this because of the constant hype regurgitated in media about President Trump. To restate my assertion: People will not change their point of view because of you. And you nor I can get them to change it by sharing facts, because their point of view has been so thoroughly shaped by accepting propaganda, even before you or I will speak to them. And I also asserted I can prove that to about half the readers reading this article.
Do I now refer to those who base a viewpoint on false information, that I claim I can prove this to? Of course not. I suspect most in that group will reject the assertion I made about them. While still holding to an erroneous view they will either reject the facts presented here, or convince themselves their view was not formed because of these facts but some other facts. And so I submit this group as proof of my assertions. And I invite any in this group to state what facts formed their view. If not the facts presented here, what facts? Because I also assert there are no true facts that logically lead to your opinion. And really facts are either true or what is said is not factual. They would instead be lies or at best only believed opinions.
Factoring all this in I believe the 50% of readers accepting my assertions as true will primarily come from people who did not accept the lies to be presented in this article. Now to prove my assertion I’m assuming about half the readers here are Democrats and about half Republicans. And possibly a small fraction of readers are outside the country who follow American news through organizations like CNN.
Propaganda is effective when it’s constantly reinforced. And today we have that constant reinforcement coming out of news sources like CNN. To the best of my memory, before the last four years, I’ve never heard any so-called televised news station spend almost every minute, day and night, distributing derogatory stories about the president of the United States. CNN and other televised news sources are not alone. These stories are also spread by politicians and American citizens who are against Trump. And most of the stories are lies or opinions rather than factual news.
Now that I’ve got your attention let me repeat my assertion a second or third time. I asserted that I would prove to about half the readers that another person could not change your point of view by presenting factual information. Why? Because your opinion has been shaped by propaganda. So here’s that proof:
One of the big stories bantered in the news and by Democrat politicians about Donald Trump is that he is divisive, and a racist. That idea is spread so thoroughly that in Trump’s debate with Joe Biden the host asked Trump if he would denounce white racists like the KKK. Also in the vice presidential debate Kamala Harris claimed Donald Trump called white racists “good people.”
But what are the facts? And will the facts change your point of view, if you believed CNN and Kamala Harris? I’ve asserted the facts will not. Factually president Trump has denounced white racism for years, and he is on record doing so. He’s been filmed doing so for years. And he’s been filmed doing so since he’s been president, way before these presidential debates. Factually in that Trump interview that Kamala Harris referred to, then right after president Trump said, “there were good people on both sides,” (speaking about the protesters who attempted to tear down a statue and the ones that opposed them tearing it down), then Trump said, I’m not talking about the white racists, they are not good.
So, like I said, your view is shaped by what you’ve been told to believe. Do you believe CNN, the other news sources that repeated that lie, and Kamala Harris that lied didn’t know what Trump actually said? Of course they knew what he actually said. They would be totally incompetent not to know that while making such a statement about a sitting US president, and therefore they would be unfit to be a legitimate news source or a vice president. To be informed all they had to do was view the recording of Trump’s statement like I did. However, what Trump said was not shown to you. Instead the recording of his statement was edited, and the part where he denounced the white racists wasn’t shown you.
So who factually acted as the divisive entities? Factually CNN, other news sources, Kamala Harris, and every other person who knew they were spreading that lie to the ignorant viewers acted as divisive entities. And here’s another shocker, you acted as a divisive entity if you spread that lie, even if you didn’t know it was a lie. But those others lied to you. The lie was constantly reinforced. And the lie was divisive, even while they (and possibly you) claimed the president used divisive statements in the interview Kamala Harris referenced.
So those other parties I mention above contributed to shaping your belief, which still has not changed has it? And again, you contributed to shaping that divisive thought in other people if you spread that lie. And that’s whether you knew it was a lie or not. That’s the effect of reinforced propaganda. Why is your belief still not changed if you believed that lie? Because your view was already thoroughly shaped by propaganda before you read these facts I presented. Erroneous religious views are shaped in the same way. “A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest,” (from Paul Simon’s song titled The Boxer).
So How Can We Know Truth About God?
Some people will hear the truth about God from someone speaking it, but deny its power to draw them to God, and deny the authenticity of the one who shared those truths. Perhaps they will believe those speaking the truth about God speak only their own opinions. So many churches claim they only teach the Bible. But no Christian teacher does that. Still the most important ideas about God that are spoken from Christ’s actual church members do not originate with themselves. And the Bible does not claim they learned those ideas from other men, and the opinions other men have about what the Bible says. The Bible claims Christ’s real church members learn the truths about God from Christ sending his Holy Spirit to them, and in doing so disclosing those truths through his Holy Spirit. I’m talking about the most important truths, not everything about God. None of us know that. See 1Corinthians chapter 13:12.
So how can we know God? Christ said of his followers who receive Holy Spirit and stay in his word, “you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” Christ has a church, a congregation of people. And he lets them know God’s truth by sending them his Holy Spirit (Revelation 5:6). Only if he and his father accept a human as a member of that church will they understand the truths God wants them to (Luke 8:10). If they are not accepted into that church they will believe religious propaganda, because what they know will only come from men, those men who wrote scripture and those men who explain it to them. And we see the result of that. So many churches claiming they only teach scripture, but they have different opinions about scripture among themselves. And many people belong to a totally different religion, a non-Christian one. So what is taught often is similar to religious propaganda in and outside of churches claiming Christianity. It causes some of their members who are not part of Christ’s real church to turn away from the religion they once had, leave God, and become atheists.
John chapter 16:
12 I still have much to tell you, but you cannot yet bear to hear it. 13However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. 14He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you. 15Everything that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said that the Spirit will take from what is Mine and disclose it to you.
John 5:6 Then I saw a Lamb who appeared to have been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
Luke 8:10 He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of God. But I use parables to teach the others so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled: ‘When they look, they won’t really see. When they hear, they won’t understand.’
“But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ.” 1John 2:27