Frank Viola | Beyond Evangelical

Official Blog of Author & Speaker Frank Viola. Digging below the surface and moving beyond the shallows in today's Christianity.

The Problem With Mental Filters

This blog post has been revised and turned into a chapter in The Rethinking Series.

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  1. More and more I wish we could drop the religious language and write very simply, even if we sound secular *shock horror* 😉

    I really feel a kinship to the Quakers thinking about speech

  3. Well, since the study of human behavior and psychology is so inherently evil, I thought I would enter into this discussion. Considering I will soon be a licensed mental health provider and have been educated in the psychology field and yes, I am a Christian (oooo, does that make me a heretic?!) I thought I’d jump in with a few thoughts.

    First of all, psychology is the study of human behavior. Psychology, as a science and as an academic field is no more right or wrong than medicine or biology or chemistry or physics. While sociology studies the way groups of people behave and interact, psychology studies individual human behavior and oftentimes receives the brunt of backlash specifically from the Christian community as some sort of evil or morally wrong field. However, I cannot understand this outpouring of negative reactions. In virtually any and every academic field of study there are conflicting theories and studies. In virtually every and any academic field of study you will find Christian and secular theorists who adamantly stick to their philosophical roots. Why does psychology need to be excluded in the name of evil? The study of human behavior is no less important than finding a cure for the latest medical malady. Is one afraid of what a psychologist might uncover? Does one fear what we might learn about human interaction and behavior through what God might reveal to us through scientific inquiry and psychological research? God is, you know, the Master Scientist, and I can’t wait to enter into His Laboratory.

    So, back to the question that Mr. Viola has posed regarding filters. Frankly (pun intended), humans cannot help but view life through the lens or filter of their own experience. It is through that experience that we understand the world around us. When someone presents something that is new or unknown to us, we fear “appearing” ignorant so we ransack our minds for some semblance of an experience that remotely resembles what is being expressed and we go with it. Our minds are like filing cabinets storing each and every experience in compressed digital files, retrievable on command.

    The problem arises in that sometimes those files become corrupt. When we are not open about learning new things or viewing through a relatively clear lens, we quickly attempt to pull up these files to hide our ineptness or uncomfortableness with the unknown or not understanding. We lie, in a way, and view through this corrupted filter. Sometimes we cover well. But most of the time, we just look like fools.

    Those filters are not always bad things though. Sometimes those filters are like UV filters in sunglasses. Those filters can block out or at least warn us of potentially damaging information if we allow it to penetrate our souls. Those filters can act as warning signs to us as well.

    One other comment about filters: God uses them all the time when He looks at us. He has to. He looks at us through the filter of Jesus Christ. But, that is a perfect filter. One day we will be made new in His sight!

    And, by the way, one day I hope to have a doctorate in clinical psychology. And I do not believe there is anything inherently evil about that. I am a God-fearing and God-serving and God-loving woman.

  4. J- This is a perfect example of what Frank is talking about here. When I said “go to Christ” I am sure your life exp[eriences interpreted it different that what I meant. Thanks for the question to clarify it.

    I am reffering to “going to Christ” as when I read scripture, I read it to find Christ and learn from Him what he would want for me. I do not mean to go to scripture and pull out a verse that works for a certain subject. Christ will reveal himself to people in different ways. The site is just a forum to use as a tool for the community of believers to share their stories.

    In Christ,

    Swanny

  6. Frank,

    I just might write it, because I think it is a communication gap among believers. I will gather info from my website for research.

    Swanny

  7. Neat conversation. I have had this frustration too. I agree with you that humility is part of the answer.

    someone said ” Bruce… if a brother comes to you seeking answers about Christ… your role is to reveal CHRIST to him ”

    I don’t think Bruce is capable of doing that. I’ve read all of his comments and I think he can only reveal his own opinions which I don’t see Jesus in.

  8. Frank – Unfortunately I think our culture has so many sterotypes built that in order to really explain yourself and your position it has to be in a conversation. Definitions and buzz words just don’t cut it these days. For example, I COULD say I “home church” to someone who doesn’t know that, but unless I know I’ll have at least a few minutes to expand upon it and pre-emptively circumvent the listener’s filter I’ll probably avoid it altogether.

    Another example is the fact that I am going to homeschool my kids. (See, here goes me trying to pre-emptively circumvent your filter) – I’m not doing it because I want to shelter them, and anyone that knows me knows that I am not a lawful, in-grown Christian who is afraid of the secular world (I appreciate secular music, secular movies, I enjoy beer and wine…you get the point). With that said, I will not volunteer that information unless I have the time to really give an “apology” for my decision. Otherwise I know that one’s filter will completely peg me and sterotype me in a way that doesn’t capture the essence of me and my decision.

    We had two couples over this past weekend – both who work in the IC. One is a pastor who I went to college with, and another is involved in full-time music ministry at a huge megachurch. I hadn’t seen these guys in a few years and was a little nervous about how the discussions on church would go. I was thankful to God afterwards because we had plenty of time to talk things through, and the conversation combined with a lot of tact and grace from both parties went great. My pastor friend seemed to completely support my decision to meet outside of the system and even shared how he had struggled with being a paid practitioner. We saw eye-to-eye and recognized that God has people in different spots based on maturity levels, etc.

    POINT BEING: I believe the only way to overcome filters is 1) Mutual submission to Christ by both parties and 2) time. Without the mutual submission, someone is going to try to prove the other wrong or get defensive. Time is critical to talk it through and explain the position, and time is needed for God to reveal truths to both parties on HIS schedule, not ours. I think we need to submit to God and realize that some folks may never go onto maturity on a certain topic until they see Him as he is.

  9. “I thank you that you’ve revealed these things unto babes, but hidden them from the wise and prudent.”
    – One of my favorite passages in scripture, and seemingly, one of the most ignored (or misapplied). First of all, this verse is speaking not about maturity, but about how you view yourself in Christ. If you see yourself as wise and learned, mature… then ultimately, Christ’s revelation is of no use to you. But if you view yourself as an infant; fully dependent, needing and trusting in Christ’s life as your sustenance, all of what is Christ’s is yours. When Nicodemus visited Jesus at night, it was his filter that inhibited him from understanding what Christ was talking about when he said “you must be born again.” Christ called him out on this when he said, “But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God. With that said, we may conclude that the antidote to our filters is ‘living by the truth’ and ‘coming into the light’. How do we do that besides first consuming the Truth in the form of the milk of the word. Now let me just say, how people are applying milk in scripture is giving it a bad rap…. milk is awesome… especially when you look at it from the view point of a babe!! Milk in it’s original form is living! Only when we process it or pasteurize, or ‘filter’ it does it lose it’s original qualities. Peter tells us, ‘like newborn babies, crave spiritual milk, so you may grow up in your salvation.” He is beckoning us to consume Christ in his most digestible form.
    The next step is to come into the light. This is where our filters get ‘blasted to bits’ because it is that refining fire burns up the wood, hay and stubble and leaves the gold and silver and all that is precious… that which was there to begin with, that which has been done through God.

    ps. Bruce… if a brother comes to you seeking answers about Christ… your role is to reveal CHRIST to him… not to judge him on his maturity level. “Speak the truth in love” that is the only cure for immaturity… not coddling. Let the life of Christ do it’s work.

    Eph 4: 14-16 :14Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

  10. Filters amd walls are so frustrating.

    Been going to a Wed. night small group even though it’s difficult at times (long story) — the kind where the pastor gives you a list of questions to discuss. Well ,this was on Numbers 1 and 2. (Why did they chose that?–when their other choice was part of Acts that everyone was supposed to be reading– this church is reading thru the Bible in a year together)

    I try to always point to Christ ,and am usually succcessful, even though I am not the ‘leader.’ Due to the profound change in my own perspectives and relationship with the Lord lately, I can actually do this in a natural, unforced way, and folks have been apparently been encouraged and ask me things now. It helps that at least one of the questions usually focuses on something real.

    But this is what I was up against this week. (Think about what kind of ‘filter’ or perspective it took to write these questions! I’d love to know who did, but it’s probably better if I don’t know.!)

    My immediate thoughts in brackets.

    Theme -How does God bring order to this huge community of Israeilites?

    1. Is God a God of order? [Oh no, where is this going?]

    2. Often systems present challenges for us, why? [depends on what kinds]

    3. Systems can bring order or in excess can get mundane but how can systems centered around God be life-giving? [get mundane? destroy life, more like it! How can a system be life giving? God is life-giving.]

    4. Does spending more time in prayer and reading the Word make systems easier to follow? [Why would I pray to fit into a ‘system’? — now I KNOW where they are going!]

    5. How does the world react to authoriy/systems? [I know what answer they want! But I said, “The world loves authority and creating systems and forcing people to follow them. Jesus flatly forbid us to exercise authority over each other!”]

    6. God has created a way for us to become all He has designed us to be within the systems He has laid out for us. How are you using your unique gifts? [ What systems are they meaning are God-ordained?]

    7. Is it destructive, knowing God is a God of order, to rebel against God’s purpose and leadership? [Of course it’s destructive to rebel against God, but I don’t that is the real meaning here.]

    8. What things are easy to submit to ? What things take a change of attitude to submit to? [I submit to God, not ‘things.’ ]

    9. The Tabernacle was the center of their camp. In today’s busyness where do you go to find Christ-centeredness for your life? [Is this a trick question? –Christ]

    I got angry just reading them and seeing them headed towards the whole submission/authority teaching. I was not completely successful in hidiing it. We wrangeld for a while about what ‘systems’ meant. Thankfully we skipped some stuff and ended on number 9 and how the Lord is our center. I tried really hard to measure my words but hope I didn’t burn any bridges! Oh how I wanted to be a thundering prophet, but I know they wouldn’t have understood at all. Their filter is that you must fit into the church’ systems or you are rebelling against God’s purpose and leadesrhip

    Sigh…!

  11. great post Frank. Lots of good insight.

    is this Bruce guy for real? he sounds like a religious nutcase. he’s a fake character right? everyone that disagrees with him is a babe? psychology is bad? if you don’t agree with him you are falling from the gospel? he has all the right answers, 100 of them? LoL.

  13. I will be meeting a brother this weekend who contacted me after reading a blog post. I pray the Lord will break through his filters and reveal himself in all his power and glory.
    I have a copy of The Untold Story to give him. The author is OK. I hear he was once in the Mafia. 🙂

  14. Bruce, it’s actually a common term used in psychology 🙂 I’m using it in that same way.

    Nevertheless, the point of the original post remains, whatever word one wishes to use to describe it. Let’s not lose the original point and get lost in the forest of semantics.

    Let’s hear some others weigh in, eh?

  15. An interesting post, Frank.

    I agree that mental filters of this sort are real and that “only the Holy Spirit can break them down,” as you say. I often see this in practice. I’m an Evangelical and my Christian friends on Facebook are from many church denominations, Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox. Yet in discussions on my Facebook Wall we’re often able to break through our individual mental filters because the Holy Spirit enables us to do so. The prerequisite seems to be that we really consider ourselves as brothers and sisters in Christ, members of the one body of Christ, bound together by the Holy Spirit in our love for each other and our love for Christ.

  16. Hey Frank… good stuff – the Q is – what is ‘your’ filter set on? Is the organic filter one that assumes a position, set of postulations, framework/structure of givens – ? are we not all captive to the horizontal positioning of the human frame? can a tree be ‘organic’ without the specific arrangement of an orderly structure – ? so, to break into/bring liberty to another’s ‘filter’ is to perhaps only bring them into alignment/congruence with your ‘filter’ – ? just thinking…

    be blessed and covered by His shalom. loveya. pc.

  18. Great post. In a way this is what my website is all about. Going to Christ first in all our decisions. If we go the Word first, we reveal Christ, and Christ alone. Using Christ as the basis of our filtering system I believe helps breakdown that mental barrier.

    http://www.philter48.com

    Come and check us out.

    Swanny

  19. Bruce – I think I follow what you’re saying, and I think the only part that sounded a little off to me was the line: “if I were to give them to you, would be out of the will of God.” I don’t know that either of you would have been out of the will of God if you’re simply trying to explain what the Body of Christ is supposed to be all about… But, I think I do really resonate with your overall point, in fact, I’ve been really getting rocked by this realization lately.

    I find myself getting so frustrated by the filters that are deeply imbedded in many of the people I talk to, I just want to smash through them all in one sitting. Sadly, this doesn’t work, and I think there have been several occasions where’ve done harm to the process of helping someone see the things that have been hidden from them…

    There is something to be said about letting the Spirit guide us in which filter to focus on first. I have to be reminded that God spent YEARS slowly removing each of those filters from my own heart and mind, and that I can’t expect someone else to make the leap overnight… The filters have to be removed one by one, and primarily through the work of the Spirit, and we probably will not see it when it’s happening. I’ve still got so much to learn with all of this…..

  20. Interesting point. We do tend to view things first by the culture of our upbringing then by the culture of our chosen affiliations rather than the culture of the Spirit. My own witness to this dance upon the pinheads of angels comes much of the time because the flesh needs action to believe it is assisting spiritual desires.
    I myself see we need to go even more back to fundamentals to regain what is missing from most gatherings of Christians invoking His name. This is the temple as the individual. We tend to overlook when you are abiding in the Spirit there are two gathered in Christ’s name. it’s a startling viewpoint that when we are praying, say the Our Father, in our closet the whole church is already present. Of course Christ says go out and raise the baptize, make disciples, raise the dead and other such mundane task the Spirit is capable but I think few of us take the temple with us. Simply because we really haven’t stepped out of church as social needs and let God do the one on one thing enough to ignite the breath enough for the Holy Spirit to come into us. We splash down in the water and go out hoping our works sustain us and where not the Word will see us through. Forgoing the fact this clean slate is mighty poor in Spirit and does have to suffer the walk up through all the different blessed states of the beatitudes. This is when the enthusiasm of talking Christ transforms the community around you. This is where seekers come tugging at our robe because the Spirit abides within.
    The filter we impose most often is the good old work ethic, believing our nose to the grindstone approach will be reward us. We sacrifice for a better world for our children and are dismayed the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

  21. Bruce, I’m not sure I’m following you to be honest. Filters exist. I wouldn’t turn what I described into a baby vs. adult issue, personally. I don’t think that’s a helpful approach nor am I sure it’s even accurate.

    Perhaps some other people can respond to Bruce’s statement here …. and react to his post. Where’s Julie Rust when you need her? 😉

  22. Great post Frank. We have not experienced organic church life yet but are hopeful and praying about it. We have left the IC and when people ask “where we go to church” we have a difficult time explaining to the them that God is leading us from Egypt/Babylon to Jesus where we will gather with other followers without the burden of religion. I look forward to experiencing Christ through organic life and then telling others about it as they respond with a confused look on their face. 🙂 Can’t wait to get there!

    bswan, I checked out your site. When you say “go to Christ” are you referring literally to go to Christ or to the Bible with things/decisions/questions/etc? There’s a big difference between the two. In some sense they are the same but in a bigger sense they are not. Make sense?

    Peace

  23. You’ve mentioned having meetings where people talk about the glory of Christ for hours several times before. I guess I have a hard time picturing exactly what you mean by that. Praising what He’s doing, His character, who He is, what He’s done? Maybe it’s my own lack of spirituality, but I can’t help picturing people saying lots of cliches and emotional statements without substance. But maybe you could write a post where you’re personally praising Jesus Christ. It could be very encouraging as well as help your readers have a correct “filter” for when you use similar phrases.

    • Josh. Nope. It’s nothing like cliches and emotional statements (perfect example of the fliters I’m speaking about.) It’s something you have to see. There’s no way to explain it otherwise. I took at a shot at it in chapter 2 of Reimagining Church. You might start there.

      When I heard such things in the past before I had seen it (going 20 years ago or more), it made me hungry instead of analyzing. And I am always blessed when I see that hunger for Christ and His house in others.

  24. A good friend and I were having a very similar conversation this past week. Because of certain events we’ve been experiencing lately, our filters are on and everything we hear or see is coming through those filters. Being aware of the filters has helped us to try to step out of our own understanding of things and see them from a different perspective. Its been difficult to do, but worth the efforts and has been a growing experience for us both.

    Thanks for your thoughts on it Frank.

  25. Interesting.
    The ‘filter’ thing has been on my mind quite a bit lately, but I didn’t really have words to explain it.

    I find that often when I am saying one thing, it is heard as something totally different.
    The cool thing though is that I am picking up on the misunderstandings more quickly than I used to.

    Besides, words are only metaphors in the first place.

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