Tim Busch, Ph.D.
Preparing for Battle
 Spiritual Warfare and Critical Thinking
 Conflict in the world and within professing
Christendom
 Denying the truth and looking for alternative realities
 Words/expressions have meaning
 Blind leading the blind
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (KJV)
3 For
though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the
flesh:
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty
through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that
exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing
into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
The Game
Classic Workplace Issues Study
Initial Thoughts…?
The owner of an estate went out early one morning to hire workers for his harvest
field. He agreed to pay them each $100 a day, the payment for a day’s labor, and sent
them out to work.
A couple of hours later he was passing a hiring hall and saw some men standing
around waiting for jobs, so he sent them also into his fields, telling them he would pay
them whatever was right at the end of the day. At noon and again around three o’clock
in the afternoon he did the same thing.
At five o’clock that evening he was in town again and saw some more men standing
around and asked them, ‘Why haven’t you been working today?’
‘Because no one hired us,’ they replied.
‘Then go on out and join the others in my fields,’ he told them.
Courtesy of Dr. Michael Medley
Classic Workplace Issues Study
What about now…?
That evening he told the paymaster to call the men in and pay them, beginning
with the last men first. When the men hired at five o’clock were paid, each received
$100. So when the men hired earlier came to get theirs, they assumed they would
receive much more. But they, too, were paid $100.
Courtesy of Dr. Michael Medley
Classic Workplace Issues Study
Fairness Doctrine…?
They protested, ‘Those fellows worked only one hour, and yet you’ve paid them just
as much as those of us who worked all day in the scorching heat.’
Courtesy of Dr. Michael Medley
Classic Workplace Issues Study
Explain: Perspective or Principle…?
‘Friend,’ he answered one of them, ‘I did you no wrong! Didn’t you agree to work all
day for $100? Take it and go. It is my desire to pay all the same;
is it against the law to give away my money if I want to? Should you be angry
because I am generous?’
•
•
•
Do you perceive any injustice in this story?
•
Would it make a difference if the landowner were…
If so, what is the nature of that injustice?
Do you have any proposal for remediation?
–
–
–
Richer/Poorer?
Wicked?
Generous?
Courtesy of Dr. Michael Medley
Do we know God’s perspective on Fairness?
Do we care…?
• Everyone has some sense of “fair”ness…
• What does the word “fair” even mean?
– What words would you use to convey the idea?
• Here on earth, who defines what is fair?
– For Christians it’s clearly God… and we’re fine with that 
– What about for others? Quis custodiet ipsos custodes…
Courtesy of Dr. Michael Medley
Fairness
 Free from bias, dishonesty, or injustice
 Fair implies the treating of all sides alike, justly
and equitably:
 responders who reject low offers incur a cost to avoid
getting a smaller payoff than the proposer
(disadvantageous inequity),
 proposers who offer more than needed to avoid
rejection incur a cost to avoid receiving a larger payoff
than the responder (advantageous inequity).
D.G. Rand, C.E.Tarnita, H.Ohtsuki, &M.Nowak; Evolution of fairness in the one shot anonymous Ultimatum Game, Proceedings
Of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), 12 Feb 2013, vol.110 no.7 http://www.pnas.org/content/110/7/2581.full
Is God fair?
Does perspective matter…?
•
•
Do you want to challenge Him?
From our perspective we are inclined to doubt his fairness
–
–
•
•
How do our wants and needs affect our perspective?
How do you suppose that God perceives the notion of fairness?
By definition, He is fair… meaning He IS fair!
–
–
•
Why? Has He been unfaithful?
He is its author!
That which is fair can not be defined apart from God
What or who is not fair?
–
–
Us… what happens when we choose for ourselves? Examples?
Recurring theme throughout Scripture (Genesis → Revelation)
Courtesy of Dr. Michael Medley
Is the exclusivity of Christ fair?
Does it really matter…?
•
•
John 14:6… or else what?
•
Is that fair?
Only one way?!? Are we really sure about that?
–
Of course it is! And wonderfully so…
the more you know, the more you’ll understand…
and give thanks.
•
But… If it is “truly” fair, then any challenge to it is not fair…
–
–
–
Is this a “true” statement?
Perhaps we can find an alternative that is also fair…
What do you think, can we? Better yet, should we?
Courtesy of Dr. Michael Medley
Whether you believe in meaning or not is irrelevant…
God does. … and so does your adversary…
• God’s purpose – clarity, understanding and cosmos (order)
• Our clear understanding of God’s order is a work in progress…
•
based on incomplete knowledge/understanding – we are finite!
The chief end of man: glorify (trust) God and enjoy Him forever
• Satan’s adversary is too strong, so he goes after His family…
• Satan’s goal is to engender distrust in God’s children through
– compromise (defiling that which should be pure),
– confusion (clouding that which should be understood), and
– chaos (destroying that which can be expected)
• Satan helps us find what we seek…
an alternative to God!
Courtesy of Dr. Michael Medley
Spiritual Warfare Starts with a Word…
His Word!
• Satan is the great deceiver (also, the grand accuser)
– Satan’s chief tool with us is equivocation
– Chief targets of equivocation:
• God, His existence and His attributes
• His Word – translation and interpretation (hermeneutics)
• What is holy? …love? …good? …fair? …true?
• According to Exodus 3:14 (I AM) – God is the final arbiter, period.
Courtesy of Dr. Michael Medley
Genesis 3:1-5 (KJV)
1 Now
the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD
God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not
eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of
the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath
said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be
opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Spiritual Warfare – In the beginning…
Satan is Real and Eager to Assist
• The war began long before us… (even before Adam and Eve…)
– Was Eve aware of the “if → then” logic ordained by God?
– Eve’s desire overrode her reason/understanding → sin
– She chose an alternative to God, despite her knowledge
• The Devil didn’t make her/him/me do it, he just “helped”…
– Keep in mind: Satan only tempts us with things we want…
– If all we wanted was God, we wouldn’t have this problem…
– The flesh, by its very nature desires an alternative to God…
–
….even if it leads to death
Once desires get started, we’re not really known as thinkers…
Courtesy of Dr. Michael Medley
Spiritual Warfare – Present Day…
We All Overestimate Our Integrity
• Students are famous for believing themselves to be honest…
– Unless they want something…
– They always want something!
• It’s easy to be honest and generous when it doesn’t cost us anything
• Dishonesty is dissatisfaction with and distrust in God.
• Throughout Scripture, God commands us to trust Him completely
– Where we might know/understand, He explains
– Where we might not know/understand, He instructs
– In all cases, whether we comprehend or not, we are to be faithful
to Him…
not necessarily to reason!
Courtesy of Dr. Michael Medley
Why?
Critical Thinking
 "the process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing,




applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating
information to reach an answer or conclusion"[5]
"disciplined thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded,
and informed by evidence"[5]
"reasonable, reflective thinking focused on deciding what
to believe or do"[6]
"purposeful, self-regulatory judgment which results in
interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well
as explanation of the evidential, conceptual,
methodological, criteriological, or contextual
considerations upon which that judgment is based"[7]
"includes a commitment to using reason in the formulation
of our beliefs"[8]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_thinking
But we’re biased…
 Bandwagon effect
 Confirmation Bias
 Fundamental Attribution Error
 Gamblers Fallacy
 Observational Selection Bias
 Hindsight Bias
 Negativity effect
 Normalcy bias
 Recency Bias
Spiritual Warfare and Critical Thinking…
Do you trust your life to reason? Should you?
• Why trust Him and not reason?
• Reason can take us only so far… it’s limited and it’s peccable
– “Where reason cannot wade, there faith may swim”
– Thomas Watson, Puritan
– In all decisions between God and men, who would you trust?
• Knowing that God alone is (exclusively) worthy of our trust…
– Does not mean that we believe/trust (fiducia) Him
– We are naturally gifted at turning virtue into vice
– We are always seeking an alternative to God
– Our flesh, this world, and Satan are not on our side…
Courtesy of Dr. Michael Medley
Jeremiah 9:23-24 (KJV)
23 Thus
saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his
wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not
the rich man glory in his riches:
24 But
let him that glorieth glory in this, that he
understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which
exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the
earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.