IMMATURITY AND THE SNARE OF BLACK-AND-WHITE THINKING- BY GREG ELKAN

_“By now you should have been teachers...”_ – Heb 5:12 (CEV). 

There are many Christians today who think that reading the Bible in itself is what makes them grow spiritually. Nevertheless, just as the number of years a person has been a Believer cannot be used as a mark of their level of spirituality, the number of times a person has read through the Bible cannot be used to gauge the level of their understanding of Scripture.

I know of a man who has read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation several dozen times, yet, quite sadly, he is still shallow in terms of his knowledge of the Bible’s doctrine and the nature of God.

One way this phenomenon can happen to a Believer is if they exhibit an aggregation of three of the previously mentioned indicators of mental immaturity: “black-and-white thinking,” “rigid thinking,” and “overly simplistic views.”

Black-and-white thinking, also known as dichotomous thinking, is a cognitive bias where an individual sees things in absolute, extreme terms, with no middle ground or shades of gray.

Black-and-white thinking is problematic because it leads to:

Oversimplification of complex issues.

Lack of empathy or understanding for others’ perspectives.

A rigid, inflexible mindset that is unable to see multiple perspectives or consider alternative viewpoints.

The use of extreme and absolute words like “always,” “never,” “everyone,” or “no one” to describe situations.

Failing to recognize that real life contains nuances, complexities, uncertainties, and grey areas.

Emotional reasoning or basing judgments primarily on feelings rather than on objective facts.

It is black-and-white thinking that will make someone either read the Mosaic Law literally (resulting in weird, restrictive, and legalistic beliefs) or say that because Jesus has fulfilled it, the Law has no guidance whatsoever to give to the Believer.

It is black-and-white thinking that says if Jesus is God, He would have stated it in, well, _black and white_ in the Gospel.

It is black-and-white thinking that claims Christians who do not listen to your pastor or who do not belong to your denomination can never understand the Bible or are never going to Heaven.

As you may guess, black-and-white thinking is the cause of much of the extremism that we see in the Body of Christ today. Nevertheless, on a personal level, take a moment to reflect on yourself and identify areas where you have allowed black-and-white thinking to limit your spiritual growth and hamper your understanding of God’s Word.

AMEN

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

+234 813 664 2912

- Nigeria