Yesterday, the Barna Group, a Christian research

4 min readNov 22, 2020

McKnight concludes, “The test results suggest that, even though we like to think we becoming like Jesus, the reverse is probably more the case: We try to make Jesus like ourselves.”

Why? Because humans are wired to look at themselves in comparison to others. It looks like the sky is falling because you don’t have as much as other people have. Not only that, but you’re not confident in your ability to go get it.

How? I gradually re-defined my sense of self and grew my confidence by developing competence at a skill I enjoyed. This is the process. One day, you look up and the old you doesn’t even feel real anymore.

If you’re not one of those people, be thankful, focus on yourself, and avoid the need for a savior. The destitute have a harder road, but, still, they won’t be magically saved. No one will.

Usually, you’ll change your beliefs when you’re still at least somewhat on the fence about them. Much of society is fully indoctrinated, thus can’t be saved. But some people, maybe you, smell BS in some of the narratives you hold dear. You want out, but it’s hard to let go of those beliefs because your beliefs make you who you are.

I used to have it in my mind that I was the type of person who started projects but never finished them. Five years have passed since I decided to reinvent myself. I’ve published three books, gave speeches in front of 1,000+ people, created products, successfully completed hundreds of blog posts.

Most of us have smartphones, flatscreen TVs, a two-ton piece of metal that moves, endless entertainment, an abundance of food — even living paycheck to paycheck is amazing compared to being a sharecropper. But still, we’re unhappy.

Halfway through the semester, McKnight has his students fill out the second questionnaire. Using slightly different language, the second survey asks the students to describe themselves, their personalities, and the values and issues they think are important.

You don’t want to lose your sense of self on the path to living a better life, but you kind of have to. It won’t be easy. It might even feel like death and cause grief, but it’s necessary.

The first questionnaire — given at the beginning of the semester — asks the students to describe what they think Jesus is like — his passions, concerns, pet peeves, etc. Mcknight records their answers but doesn’t share the results with the class.
I could talk about what beliefs to adopt, but getting rid of negative and limiting beliefs is much more powerful than adopting positive ones. As soon as you get that little societal parasite out of your mind, you’ll develop a new belief system that’ll help you get what you want and it won’t be all that hard.
At the end of the semester, McKnight compiles the results of both surveys and shares them with the class. Without fail, there is little to no deviation between how the students perceive Jesus and how they perceive themselves.

Self-confident people don’t get outraged at the news and believe the sky is falling narrative. If you were confident, you’d just assume you could be a part of the one percent. You’d assume you could lift yourself up by the bootstraps. You wouldn’t care about the disadvantages you have because you’d be confident in your ability to overcome them.

You know why people keep bucking even though life is, without question, much better than it was in past generations? They bathe in outrage because their living standards are, in absolute terms, good, but they’re still unhappy.

This has nothing to do with being ashamed of Jesus or the Gospel. On the contrary, it’s the growing exasperation with a virulent strain of Americanized Christianity that uses its influence to justify thinly-veiled nationalism, spread baseless conspiracy theories, tolerate white supremacy, and sacrifice conviction in exchange for political power.

You have to remove this idea that you’re “just the way you are.” Says who? What proof do you have of this other than your own negative feedback loops and psychological reinforcement?

There is nothing more powerful than a belief. Why? Because once you hold a belief, it becomes the operating system for your reality. And once you already believe something to be true, it’s hard to change your mind. But you can still do it.
“Outrage is like a lot of other things that feel good but over time devour us from the inside out. And it’s even more insidious than most vices because we don’t even consciously acknowledge that it’s a pleasure.” — Tim Kreider
I talk about this constantly — life is a game of upward and downward spirals. When you’re losing in life, you become blind to opportunity and subconsciously look for more opportunities to lose so you can justify your current identity. This, of course, causes you to lose more, creating a spiral.

Yesterday, the Barna Group, a Christian research

Written by ufclive249