When people stay tightly within a closed set of ideas that require the blockade of competing ideas, they are in a type of cult.

This cluster of ideas only makes sense to the person who willingly surrenders to them. Here’s the difficult part for cult members to hear: if they refuse to do the hard work necessary to test their ideas, they are to blame for their membership in the cult. Yes, cult leaders are terrible. Yes, they shouldn’t do what they’re doing. But they probably won’t stop their devious behavior, and even if they do stop, another cult leader will soon take their place.

You are responsible for your own beliefs and resulting actions.

Thought-stopping devices are assumptions and generalizations that shut down critical thinking and reinforce the cult’s dogmas.

To get started, let’s look at some “Black Lives Matter” memes/quotes that use thought-stopping devices:

In this quote, the underlying assumption is that facts, statistics, and well reasoned arguments that differ with the beliefs of BLM are intrinsically wrong. Those facts, statistics, and well reasoned arguments can (and must) be ignored because of the persons holding them, not because they’ve been proven inaccurate.

Normally, we reach sound and dependable conclusions through rigorous argumentation. And by the way, this doesn’t include yelling, fighting, name-calling, and using ALL CAPS.

Here’s a good, simple outline to follow in considering a viewpoint:

Start with an initial premise or idea.
Test that idea by looking at all the evidence and counter arguments.
Reach a conclusion based on all of the evidence. At this point your premise/idea will be proven to be true or not.

Here’s another meme/quote:

This thought-stopping device invalidates anyone’s ideas that attempt to find middle ground on a difficult/controversial topic, like “systemic racism.” Plenty of people have said something like this: “Well, I know that there are lots of good police officers out there-not all of them are racists.” Instead of dealing with the many police officers who are not racists, the above thought-stopping device assumes that such a condition does not exist, and to even think that many police officers aren’t racists proves that you must be a racist.

Thought-stoppers cut off the process of argumentation and force a particular viewpoint to dominate all other competing viewpoints. These bad ideas cover themselves in circular reasoning, anecdotal evidence, storytelling, and emotional outbursts.

Here’s another example:

This meme (which is based on a book from the University of Minnesota) actually teaches how to respond to commonly held ideas with thought-stopping devices. No matter what a white person says, they are guilty of “microaggressions” and racism. White people are guilty. Period.

Do you see how this thinking has to be taught and continually reinforced? It takes simple, commonly agreed-upon ideas such as “not all police officers are bad,” or “not all white people are racists,” and simply invalidates them without any argumentation or critical thinking taking place.

Here’s one more:

This quote ignores all of the existing laws that make racial prejudice illegal and then makes gigantic assumptions about all white people. This promotes bigotry against white people by redefining bigotry. This is a thought-stopping device.

These types of thought-stopping devices are dangerous to any culture, but it’s even worse when they are being perpetuated by huge institutions like universities and multimedia conglomerates. These ideas must be forced on the public by those in places of power, because most people can see that these are bad ideas.

*Irony alert:*

Those who make broad, sweeping (and unfair) generalizations about entire groups of people are engaged in a grasp for power. They believe they must acquire power in order to stop those whom they believe have made broad, sweeping (and unfair) generalizations about entire groups of people.

Now let’s think about how thought-stopping devices are being used in the Church. Christians have a Holy Book that should make this whole thing a lot easier.

It's called The Bible.

When anyone teaches anything in the church it must be rigorously tested against God’s Word. While this sounds pretty straightforward, it gets smothered over by thought-stopping devices that obscure the truth of God’s Word.

It seems like there are two categories of thought-stopping devices, those that are primarily emotional (feelings) and those that are primarily cognitive (thinking), and these are often overlapping each other. In either case, an idea about God or Christianity is being taught and promoted against other competing ideas.

The trick is to pretend you’re not teaching theology when you’re clearly teaching theology. Theology is a word that simply means “teachings about God.”

The church service or public event that makes use of emotionally manipulative music, videos, or “preaching” has become the norm. These are examples of emotional thought-stopping devices that shut down critical thinking:

“I just really love Jesus!” (A person’s affection towards God validates their theology.)

“I’ve spent hours on my knees in the secret place…” (A person’s claims of having a super-spiritual lifestyle validates their theology.)
“God told me this, and I really feel it in my heart...” (A person’s claimed direct messages from God validates their theology.)
“Wow, that worship time was just awesome! You could feel that the Holy Spirit was here, couldn’t you?” (The feeling in the room, which can be manufactured by good music production, validates the accompanying theology being taught.)
Crying (A person’s crying validates… well, just about anything)

Anti-intellectual thought-stoppers that keep us from thinking about what’s being taught:

When you’ve been taught that “theology/doctrine divides.” This is a BIG thought-stopping device. This permits and promotes the unhindered teaching of bad theology/doctrine.
When you’ve been taught that the Holy Spirit gives leaders new revelations to lead everyone else.
When you’ve been taught that you shouldn’t “touch God’s anointed!”
When you’ve been taught to accept any theological idea from a leader because: “judge not lest you be judged!”
When you’ve been taught to ignore the sense that something in your church is very wrong and you start questioning the teachings and you are told to “stop speaking negative things into existence!” “You don’t see the big picture,” or “You need to be a team player!”
When you’ve been taught to tolerate juvenile stunts and entertainment in a worship service because “people won’t want to come to church if they see us arguing about doctrine!” or “sure, this show we put on might be kind of dumb but it sure brings in the crowds!”
When you are taught that any new theological idea is okay because you shouldn’t “put God in a box,” or because “God is bigger than your theological box.”

When you are taught that “it’s all about a relationship-not a religion” or “when you know God’s heart you will move beyond religion” or any such idea that religion is intrinsically wrong. “Religion” is just a word that means “a belief system about God,” so it isn’t always a bad thing.

When you are taught that Christianity is a postive-thinking, motivational, leadership, success-building entity and you see the Bible as a book of life-lessons and Jesus as a life-coach.

When you’ve been taught to accept any new teaching in your church because “God is doing a new thing,” or “those are the old wineskins and these are the new wineskins!”

When you’ve been repeatedly taught that “your breakthrough is right around the corner!” and so you continue believing in things that never happen (and things actually get worse).

This “breakthrough” thought-stopping device is a self-perpetuating thing that tells you to expect something from God that He never actually promised to give you. In this vicious cycle you must continually return to false teachers that promise to teach you the secret to (finally) getting your breakthrough. In many cases, people abandon their faith in God because they feel let down by their lack of breakthrough, or because they aren’t having “their dreams come true.”

If this describes your experience, please know that the true God of the Bible is not to blame for the wild goose chase you’ve been on!

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

— Matthew 11:28-30

Here’s a related article: Defusing Demonic Dirty Bombs