According to Dictionary.com, to be open-minded is to have have or show a mind receptive to new ideas or arguments. It also means being unprejudiced, unbigoted and impartial.
As I pondered these definitions and looked at the message of the graphic above (posted in an internet atheism community), I realized something: being fully, completely open-minded is absolutely impossible.
First of all, consider the person who created this graphic. The arbitrary words make it clear: he or she is close-minded when it comes to Jesus of Nazareth (who many people believe is the Son of God). It’s easy to make this statement because he or she didn’t write “Most open-minded Christians probably won’t (or might not) be a Christian for long”.
The wording in this graph sounds like a fact — which the author certainly cannot prove. And sadly, from my interactions with online atheists, I can tell you that a majority of them are all about proof. Ironically, most of these people are close-minded to anything else.
Secondly, the thing about Christianity is it can’t be proven. And I don’t regard that as a bad thing. In fact, I think the lack of conclusive, scientific proof about Christianity is no accident. If God is about anything, He is about free will. Make Christianity provable and at that moment, free will is gone.
A lack of free will means atheists, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, agnostics and everyone else who doesn’t follow Jesus can’t be who they are — since they’ve all been proven wrong.
God has shown again and again that He’s not interested in goose-stepping robots. He’s interested in an eternal relationship, through Jesus, with free-thinking, overwhelmingly imperfect people who realize they’ll never really get their lives together without Jesus. In other words, people like YOU and me.
I like how famed British writer and thinker G.K. Chesterton wrote about being open-minded: “Merely having an open mind is nothing. The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.”
That’s what I did when I decided, at age 41, to follow Jesus. He’s as solid as I (and many millions of others around the world) need Him to be.
Making that decision didn’t mean I suddenly lost respect for those who don’t follow Jesus. In fact, I’m called to love them just as God loves them and offers His Son to them as a gift.
What happens when you accept that gift? If you’re serious about it, your life should begin to change almost immediately. In my case, I effortlessly stopped using offensive language. And that was just the start.
With Jesus in my life, I became more generous. I changed jobs to one that is focused on telling people about Jesus. I married a woman who is also committed to Jesus.
More changes are coming. In fact, those changes won’t end until I’m finished with this life and go to Heaven to spend eternity in God’s presence.
The same can happen to you. Interested? Yes or no, post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.
Frank's Cottage 
[…] Source: THE TRUTH OF BEING CLOSE-MINDED […]
Once more you adopt a presuppositional mental framework.: without your god one cannot be fulfilled. This strikes me as an insult to people such as Buddhists for example.
The meme is actually quite accurate, as any religious deconvertee will tell you.
Your worldview ultimately requires you to jettison genuine critical thought and evidence and ( or complete lack thereof) and adopt blind faith. Faith in a doctrine from a book that can be demonstrated to be false on pretty much every level, scientifically, historically, archaeologically.
To be open minded – and thus completely honest – is to admit the complete lack of veracity of the foundational document you set your life compass by.
To suggest otherwise is to be at best less than scrupulously honest and at worst willfully ignorant.
Thanks for your comment. No, it’s the meme that has the “presuppositional mental framework”. I’m simply reacting to it by explaining the truth about Jesus of Nazareth.
By the way, aren’t you an atheist? As the ‘Welcome’ page for Frank’s Cottage indicates, “while everyone is welcome to visit and enjoy Frank’s Cottage, the material here is intended for those who are open to spirituality.” By very definition, atheism is NOT open to spirituality. So why are you bothering with this website? Am I missing something?
You direct a fair proportion of your blog subtly deriding atheism, which does not strike me as something one who is following Jesus would do.
If you have any issues with atheism feel free to ask and maybe I will be able to help you out with some of the more erroneous claims?
However,in my experience the religious, and usually those who consider themselves born again, tend to be the most closed-minded of all religious people.
I am perfectly willing to explore this f you feel I have made an error in judgement?
For what it’s worth, there are numerous forms of spirituality, if you have something worth offering then I am more than willing/open-minded to consider such evidence if you have any?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirituality#Definition
If atheists want to believe I spend a fair proportion of my blog subtly deriding their religion, that’s certainly their right. But of course, most of my blogs originate in graphics that blatantly, sarcastically, condescendingly deride faith (especially Christianity). So I have to confess that I’m not feeling bad about the balance of things.
Shouldn’t you rather be promoting the more positive aspects of your religion, instead of believing you have to defend it all the time?
If it is truth then surely this should be self-evident and not need defending?
Why do always come across as fearful of open discussion?
As far as I’m concerned, I’m NOT defending my faith. I’m explaining it to people who many know little, if anything, about Christianity.
As for being “fearful” of open discussion, my interest in having such discussion is limited to people who are open to spirituality. Atheists, by their very definition, are not open to spirituality. So why are you here? I’m quite puzzled…..
How are you ”explaining” your faith to those open to spirituality when a large ( majority?) portion of your site is devoted exclusively to maligning atheism?
Why are you not actually going out of your way to encourage the non-believer of the benefits of your religion rather than continually trying to make atheism look bad by painting it as the ”enemy”?
As I’ve said before, if some people want to think I’m maligning the atheist faith, that’s certainly their right. Please note that most of the graphics used on this website are created and posted by atheists — and they ridicule and malign Christianity.
What atheist ”faith” Frank?
Thanks for your comment. It takes faith to believe there is nothing behind all we see and experience. It takes faith to believe that you have no soul and when you die, all that you are will become nothing more than rancid worm food. Such faith saddens me deeply. 😦
No. If there is no evidence then there is nothing to base a belief upon.
You worldview is based upon the words written in an ancient text; most of which has been shown to be fallacious.
What is wrong with worm food?
My cells, like yours will nourish the soil and eventually become stardust.
That sounds like a pretty noble outcome to me.
Why does it make you sad?
My worldview is quite different from the atheist perspective. That some people believe it’s wrong is, in the end, not my problem.
I find it unspeakably sad to know there are people out there who believe they have no soul. I’m not going to explain why; it seems self-evident to me. And I think this conversation has exhausted all potential avenues. So, unfortunately, it’s now finished. 😦
If atheists want to believe I spend a fair proportion of my blog subtly deriding their religion,
(found on an atheism Internet community)
I found this phrase ( or similar wording) on the five posts listed on your side bar.
A random perusal of blogs over six months revealed it on the majority of these posts also.
If your god is so self-evident why are you so afraid of atheism that you have to spend your time trying to ridicule it?
Oh, and I presume you were simply having a bit of fun using the term ”religion” when mentioning atheism in the comment yes? 😉 Touche!
I’m very, very grateful for the presuppositions and stereotypes found in atheist graphics. They provide an excellent opportunity to explain the truth of my faith. (indeed, without these atheist graphics, I would have run out of material for this website many months ago.)
Again, if an atheist believes I’m “ridiculing” his or her faith, that’s their right. That’s certainly not my intent.
What truth of your faith are you referring to Frank?
Thanks for your comment. Please read any blogs on this website for the answer to your question.
But it isn’t truth, Frank, as well you should be aware.
It is simply un-evidenced belief.
For example, there is no truth in the strictest sense of the Pentateuch, which is simply historical fiction.
Surely you are aware of this by now?
Surely that’s the opinion of atheists and secular historians. From my hundreds of interactions with atheist people, I’m aware that many deeply dislike faith; so be it. I think we’ve exhausted this topic, sadly, so that’s the end of this discussion.
I call myself a Christian but, at the same time question some of the comments in the Bible like “A time to love and a time to hate”. To me, that doesn’t sound like a loving God. Criticisms of divorce and re-marriage also go against my willingness to respect. There are more. Does that make me an atheist? Hope not.
Thanks for reading and commenting, Jim. There’s a lot of stuff in the Bible that requires not just study, but consulting with Bible historians and books to fully understand the times, circumstances and context.
For example, a time to hate could easily refer to being active hating our moral crimes – the wrong things we do and the right things we fail to do.
Divorce? I can understand the words about it because just a cursory glance at statistics reveals that quite often, we humans give up on our marriages when the going gets tough, rather than doing the often long and difficult work of restoring our relationships.
A key thing to consider, Jim, are these words from writer/speaker/activist Shane Claiborne: “When Scriptures seem to be in conflict with one another, we let Jesus be the referee.”
Jesus loves divorced and remarried people. Jesus loves people who have committed moral crimes. Jesus loves people who are petty (like me), who are unforgiving (like me), who have dropped the ball in a thousand ways (like me). There’s NO ONE He doesn’t love. There’s NO ONE He doesn’t offer His life as a sacrifice for all the wrong things they’ve done and the right things they’ve failed to do.
He’s a gift that’s offered to EVERYONE, even the people you and I might think don’t deserve it. What a humbling fact that is to prayerfully consider. 🙂