Facts

If something is important, determine and confirm the genuine facts. Then, apply careful thinking to the facts. Get statistics, court records, the historic record, documentation, eye witnesses: get the real truth behind a matter. Expunge casual, careless, easy thinking. Put forth the effort to discern the reality that is there as you move past the facade. Often the truth rings true. Deceit rarely rings true and has a fuzziness about it.

Remember when Frederick Drummond placed the title to his Rolls Royce in the collection plate? Notice at first, no one questioned the validity of the title and his actions. As you'll note from the article above: it wasn't the title and it wasn't even his car to give away. How many people put a little extra in the collection plate that month due to being emotionally compelled?

Let's alter history a bit. Let's say in the Rolls Royce "trick" above, a skeptic declared the title a fake and held it up for all to see as clear and undeniable evidence. Let's say this person was then expelled as a "rebellious" person, for bringing up the truth. Then, let's say Fred "justified" this "trick through convoluted logic. Would you have stayed at COS? If you answer yes, that's a vulnerability you need to be aware of. You are not relying on facts and good judgement but emotions. Beware of complex or powerfully delivered justifications that something is the case when the facts dictate it is not. We, as Christians, tend to be far too easy and trusting; giving people far too much rope with which to hang us.

Knowing we need facts is just the tip of a very big iceberg. As time goes by, we need to hone our skills:
  * critical thinking skills are essential (really, cannot be over emphasized). Also, formal logic is boring but handy.
  * determine what facts are needed and what facts are missing
  * know where to find the facts and how to assemble them ( the Internet is 2 slices of a very large pie )
  * determine if any facts are pertinent to the matter at hand
  * judge the validity of facts (are any irrelevant, Propaganda, out of date, deceit, misinformation, biased, twisted, etc)
  * be aware of and counteract personal bias, subjective thought, etc
  * make correct decisions based on knowable info ( formal decision making skills, boring but handy )
  * allot of "stuff" I didn't include, I'm still learning myself after many years

Folks, I know this might be allot. This write up hasn't even scratched the surface. But, we have a lifetime to work on these skills. If we do develop them, we will be better off for our efforts. Also, in your leisure, do read the article about propaganda, America has been saturated by it the past 10 years; especially on many cable channels (right & left wingers alike - this is documented and egregious offenses have occurred). You should become very familiar with the techniques section. Why? In it are every day techniques used by manipulators. Once you become good at spotting them, they loose their effectiveness. Awareness is a key.

Trust - Wisdom comes from managing the "risk to trust ratio"
Common Sense - Through common sense, you can be convinced of anything
Imagination - A very powerful process that affects emotion which can cause action