Our family book club just finished reading Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. One of its themes centers around the idea of “thin-slicing”—the ability of those with experience and expertise to be able to make rapid and accurate assessments and judgments on extremely limited information. The antithesis of this is thin-slicing by those who are not experienced or experts in the area that they are judging and who may also be hindered by unconscious biases.
That is a mouthful to try and describe a 250+ page book, but the truth of the concept became clear rather quickly.
There has been a lot of buzz about a recent political press conference, or I should say, the last five minutes of this press conference, and many have had an opinion and wanted to share it. That was their mistake. Mine was even greater. I hadn’t even seen it, but when told what happened, I tried to comment.
When I realized my mistake, I decided to go back and watch it — not the five-minute engagement, but the entire 50 minute press conference.
Doing so didn’t change the words spoken in those final five minutes or the emotions behind them, but it did put it into context.
After I had watched the entire press conference, I went back to some of these same individuals and asked if they had watched the entire thing. To a person they said no, and their reasons were that they either didn’t need to or didn’t have time to.
Which is exactly what the media is counting on—regardless of which side it aligns with.
But this took me to an even greater truth. Satan loves thin-slicing. Not only does he use it for division in domestic and world affairs, but it is one of his primary weapons in his spiritual warfare.
Non-Christians and Christians alike will take verses out of context to prove their particular point. Also, when asked, we as Christians will often feel obligated to comment on a verse that we might not be familiar with or know the context of because we feel we must defend the Bible immediately, which can often lead to more harm than good.
I am currently reading Barry Mequiar’s book Ignite Your Life and in one part he says, “No one expects you to be a Bible scholar, and knowing every answer can actually be annoying. I know it’s counterintuitive, but you actually build credibility by not being a know-it-all” (p 73). Then he encourages us to pray and search the Scriptures for God has promised to provide us with the answer (Matthew 7:7-8).
Let’s not let the Father of Lies lure us into thin-slicing where we shouldn’t. While the concept might have a place in some areas and for some people, for most of us, we need to listen to something or someone in its entirety, then pray for discernment and understanding before ever offering a comment.
That is a mouthful to try and describe a 250+ page book, but the truth of the concept became clear rather quickly.
There has been a lot of buzz about a recent political press conference, or I should say, the last five minutes of this press conference, and many have had an opinion and wanted to share it. That was their mistake. Mine was even greater. I hadn’t even seen it, but when told what happened, I tried to comment.
When I realized my mistake, I decided to go back and watch it — not the five-minute engagement, but the entire 50 minute press conference.
Doing so didn’t change the words spoken in those final five minutes or the emotions behind them, but it did put it into context.
After I had watched the entire press conference, I went back to some of these same individuals and asked if they had watched the entire thing. To a person they said no, and their reasons were that they either didn’t need to or didn’t have time to.
Which is exactly what the media is counting on—regardless of which side it aligns with.
But this took me to an even greater truth. Satan loves thin-slicing. Not only does he use it for division in domestic and world affairs, but it is one of his primary weapons in his spiritual warfare.
Non-Christians and Christians alike will take verses out of context to prove their particular point. Also, when asked, we as Christians will often feel obligated to comment on a verse that we might not be familiar with or know the context of because we feel we must defend the Bible immediately, which can often lead to more harm than good.
I am currently reading Barry Mequiar’s book Ignite Your Life and in one part he says, “No one expects you to be a Bible scholar, and knowing every answer can actually be annoying. I know it’s counterintuitive, but you actually build credibility by not being a know-it-all” (p 73). Then he encourages us to pray and search the Scriptures for God has promised to provide us with the answer (Matthew 7:7-8).
Let’s not let the Father of Lies lure us into thin-slicing where we shouldn’t. While the concept might have a place in some areas and for some people, for most of us, we need to listen to something or someone in its entirety, then pray for discernment and understanding before ever offering a comment.
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