Navigating the perils of polarization by Torben Bergland
Torben Bergland, M.D., is a psychiatrist and an associate director of the General Conference Health Ministries Department.
“I just want to be an ordinary person!” Those were the emphatic words of my four-year-old niece. We, her uncles, a theologian and a medical doctor, were asking about her aspirations. We were stunned. Don’t you want to be something special, exceptional, best at something? Shouldn’t you at least try to be better than your peers? Just ordinary—that’s so devoid of narcissism!
Extremism becoming mainstream
Dear niece, our world seems to be moving away from the ordinary fast. Polarization is everywhere, especially in politics and religion, at a baffling speed and intensity. Moderates who used to contribute stability through willingness to dialog, negotiate, and compromise responsibly and respectfully, are becoming rare. What used to be fringe and extreme is becoming mainstream with strong opposing currents to be swept up by carrying us away from one another. So far that though we occupy the same space, we are not living in the same reality.
Becoming an extremist may sound like something that requires intentionality and hard work, but it comes rather naturally. Many effortlessly drift into extremism, and when caught up in a current, it may take them very far. As they drift away and any opposing current weakens, they typically become more dedicated and zealous. The purer and more undiluted your current is, the faster and deeper you’ll be carried into extremism. Staying out of extremism is what requires intentionality and effort!
What extremists are
There are many kinds of extremists, but they are surprisingly similar. They may differ wildly in their beliefs and practices, but how they feel, think, operate, and relate to others and their needs and motivations, are much the same. Beneath the surface, you’ll often find a desire to affirm a sense of superiority or escape from a sense of inferiority. These are typical manifestations of narcissism.
Extremists do not recognize how ordinary we all are and that we can have community despite our differences. They typically see others as inferior to themselves and diversity as a threat to their existence.
Life as an extremist
Becoming an extremist is easy, but living as one is hard. They so narrowly define how everybody should think and act that nobody is capable of complying perfectly. In the discrepancy between what they proclaim, pretend to be, and what they indeed are, there is worry and stress about being found out and lying to themselves and others to cover up the gap. They partially deny any guilt and shame they feel for being “fake.” The rest they project on others. They may consistently, without evidence, accuse others especially the ones they define as enemies, of the “sins” they themselves are guilty of. When encountering an extremist obsessed about some sin or fault in others, I wonder what they themselves are fighting or covering up. Though they are typically critical and harsh toward anyone, they are sometimes incredibly tolerant of evils committed by their allies.
Dear niece, as you probably have realized by now, psychologically, morally, and relationally, the lives of extremists are quite messy. Being “ordinary” is the best way to go if you want peace, happiness, and genuine love.
Becoming an extremist is easy, but living as one is hard.
Torben Bergland
Extremism Self-Test
If you want to see how you “extreme” you are, try the extremism self-test.
Use it to see how you measure up. These are the attitudes, convictions, and behaviors you need to cultivate if you are going to become a genuine extremist. Remember, supremacy is what you’re really after. The ideology is secondary, a means to gain and portray supremacy. With extremists, sometimes the only visible ideology is “Self.” But, of course, you should make it appear as if ideology is what it’s all about. That was Lucifer’s strategy in heaven, and it still works surprisingly well.
You should start with the characteristics listed first and then build step by step. Unless you have laid a firm foundation by taking the initial steps toward extremism, you probably won’t master the advanced ones. But, as I’ve said already, many of these traits come quite naturally to us as human beings. The more you have of them, the easier it will be to develop the others.
Extremism Self-Test*
Yes
No
Us-versus-Them Mentality: Do you often think in terms of “us” (people who are like you and share your beliefs) versus “them” (people who are unlike you and do not share your beliefs)?
Recruitment: Are you actively seeking to spread your views, beliefs, and practices with the intent of making others adopt them?
Certainty: Do you prefer clarity over nuance, quickly form firm opinions and beliefs about most things in life, and feel confident about categorizing them as either good or bad, right or wrong?
Confirmation bias: Do you primarily get information from sources that support and reinforce your beliefs, or those of your group?
Dogmatism: Do you believe your views and beliefs, or those of your group, are absolutely and unquestionably true?
Isolationism: Do you avoid and dissuade interacting with or listening to people or sources who have different beliefs and practices than you or your group?
Supremacy Thinking: Do you believe you or your group are better than others because of what you are, do, or believe?
Enemy Identification: Do you have a clear understanding of who inside or outside your group you can trust, and who is a threat against your interests, beliefs, and existence?
Conspiracy Mindset: Do you believe certain people, groups, or institutions are secretly and maliciously plotting against you, your group, or others?
Propaganda: Do you strategically disseminate information about you and your group with the intent of promoting your interests rather than accurately and truthfully representing a nuanced reality?
Obscurantism: Do you ignore, dismiss, hide, or attack information that refutes your beliefs or critiques your actions?
Dehumanization: Do you consider those who differ significantly from you or your group to be of inferior ability and worth, or inherently evil?
Gaslighting: Do you strategically seek to make people distrust their senses, reason, and memories if these contradict the version of reality you prefer them to have and believe in?
Authoritarianism: If you have the power, are you willing to impose your will against the interests and freedoms of those who differ significantly from you in traits, beliefs, or practices?
Scoring (total)
Interpretation 2 or less “Yes”: Low risk; likely to tolerate diverse viewpoints and perspectives. 3-4 “Yes”: Moderate risk; consider reflecting on the balance and openness in your beliefs and interactions. 5-7 “Yes”: High risk; significant potential for extremist tendencies. Reflect deeply and consider seeking diverse perspectives or professional guidance. 8 or more “Yes”: Very high risk; strong indications of extremist thinking. It is crucial to seek professional help and engage with a broader range of viewpoints.
What extremism leads to
History teaches us of the outcomes of extremism. Extremists, political or religious, grow fruits on the same old tree. Ultimately, they rot as they ripen. What Paul called “works of the flesh” (Gal 5:19 ESV) are commonly seen in extremists: “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” (Gal 5:19-21 ESV). Since there are many kinds of extremists, you’re unlikely to find every sin represented in every extremist, but as it ripens, extremism seldom fails to reveal its sins. Jesus said that “a bad tree bears bad fruit … nor can a bad tree bear good fruit” (Matt 7:17-18 NKJV). If the fruits are bad, we know that the tree is bad.
What being ordinary leads to
Dear niece, if you stick to being ordinary and stay humble and honest, the Spirit may be with and in you. Then, your fruits will grow on a different tree. In Galatians, Paul listed the fruits from the Spirit’s tree: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal 5:22-23 ESV). I’m joyful as I see these good fruits growing in your life more than a decade after that “I just want to be an ordinary person”-conversation.
Prevention of extremism
And, dear reader, if you have lost your appetite for extremism and want to prevent it in yourself and your group, then listen to the counsel of the Spirit: “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself” (Phil 2:3 NKJV). What Paul urges here opposes any extremist’s supremacy mindset. There is no supremacy of gender, race, nation, religion, or anything. One human being is never entitled to assert supremacy over another.
Christ came as the servant of all, not the ruler. When the disciples argued about who was the greatest, He rebuked them, saying: “Yet I am among you as the One who serves” (Luke 22:27 NKJV). He who was above us took a position below us so He could be with us as one of us. That was the incarnation. “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being” (Phil 2:5-7 NLT).
How different from Lucifer, who said, “I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High” (Isa 14:13 NLT). But the fate of the devil will be the fate of every supremacist: “Instead, you will be brought down to the place of the dead, down to its lowest depths” (Isa 14:14 NLT).
If you want to be an extremist, be like the devil. If you want to be like Christ, let extremism be far from you. Before God, we are all the same. There is no one or nothing supreme except God; therefore, there’s no justification for extremism.
*This self-test has been peer-reviewed but has not been scientifically validated.
The secular community, as well as Christians, pretentiously poked fun at Harold Camping’s prediction of the “Rapture.” He said it would occur on May 21, 2011. The day came and went as usual.
Now, flashback to 23 years earlier. Charles Hays (a Christian Friend) and I had a daily 15-minute radio program on a small Christian channel in Nashville. We were invited to come on the big secular radio station in Nashville, WLAC, to discuss the prediction of Edgar C. Whisenant, who had sold millions of books about the prediction of the Rapture on September 11 or 13th, 1988. The book was called 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Occur in 1988. We predicted it would not occur on that day. That day also came and went. It was just another day.
Every Christian worldwide knew from the words of Jesus Himself that Mr. Camping’s and Mr. Whisenat’s predictions were in error.
History reveals that second-coming predictions are not a recent phenomenon. According to one source, over 300 dates have been set since the first century, all proving false.
These false claims underscore the need to trust in Jesus’ words, a source of unwavering truth and guidance. Just one sentence from Jesus sets at least one boundary for prognosticators. Most Christians can quote Jesus’ words by heart, a testament to the enduring truth of His teachings!
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only..” Matthew 24:36 (NKJV)
Each false prediction has a detrimental effect on Christians and non-Christians alike. It leads to more people distrusting Christ and the Word of God. A spiritual “crying wolf” kills the idea of preparation for the day when it does come. By then, it will be too late. The wolf will have devoured its prey. The same exclamation of doubting people…the people we are trying to reach…was heard in the first century as well as the 21st Century:
What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.” 2 Peter 3:4 (NLT)
Nothing has changed. Sunrise, sunset…life continues as it always has. The waiting and false predictions lull people to sleep. Paul said it this way,
For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 1 Thess. 5:3 (NKJV)
The enemy of souls works through man-inspired false predictions to discourage and procrastinate and make people unprepared. But there is a new deception regarding the second coming and the end of time as we know it. It is having the same adverse effects on both Christians and non-Christians.
Setting Event Scenarios-A Growing Deception for 21st Century Christians:
It is not about setting dates but setting events.
Creating man-made scenarios leading up to the Second Coming is equally dangerous as time setting. It is actually the same wolf in different clothing. If the events don’t come true, they produce the same doubt, discouragement, and procrastination regarding preparing for the end of time.
The proof is in the popular Biblical fiction novels written in the last several decades and turned into movies. These have made their authors wealthy, yet none of the predictions have come true. Nor are they likely to come true because mainly because that is not the way God works. I go back to the opening statement to keep the point:
“Trying to navigate end-time events without a fundamental understanding of the Gospel will leave you confused about both.”
I heard of a young man who said, “I will get right with God when I see them building the temple in Jerusalem. If not, I have a second chance during the seven years of tribulation.” Is this safe? Is this right? What if He dies before then? Just as we know no man knows the day or the hour of His coming, there is another equally powerful statement from Jesus:
You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.
Matthew 24:24 (NLT)
God’s Prerogative to Bypass
Jesus’ teachings (particularly in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21) remind us that we can know His coming is near and inevitable in specific scenes. Nevertheless, we must remain ever-vigilant, as it is within God’s prerogative to bypass the scenarios we might have in our minds.
“…when you see all these things, you can know his return is very near, right at the door.”
Matthew 24:33 (NLT)
Sometimes, we don’t listen to everything Jesus tells us. Look closely at these two verses from Matthew 24
And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately. Matthew 24: 6 (NLT)
How Many Wars are going on now? 32! Since 1300 BC, thousands upon thousands of wars have been fought. This will continue even up to the time Jesus will return. Wars and rumors of wars are nothing new. It will part of the landscape before the Lord comes. We will never reach Utopia.
Will God Shorten the Final Events?
And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake, those days will be shortened. Matthew 24: 22
From the words of Jesus, the answer to this question is “Yes!”
What does this mean? God, in His mercy, may shorten or even change the events of the end times. We have precedence of this in the story of Jonah when God said He was going to destroy Ninevah in forty days:
The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai:“Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.” Jonah 1:1,2 (NLT)
We know the story of how Jonah ran away from God. He may have been thinking, why preach a prophecy of destruction for the people of Nineveh when God had said He was going to destroy it? But Johnah missed the underlying nature of God to save the lost (the gospel!). Eventually, Jonah preaches a message of destruction, but underneath it is the good news of a merciful God.
Then the Lord spoke to Jonah a second time: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message I have given you.”
This time, Jonah obeyed the Lord’s command and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to see it all. On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow. Jonah 3: 1-5 (NLT)
The Forty Days came and went because they were convicted and repented of their sins. Was it a false prophecy? No. It is God’s prerogative to change end-time events, particularly if the people repent, as did the city of Nineveh.
When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mindand did not carry out the destruction he had threatened. Johah 3:10
Why did God change His mind? It is because He is in the business of saving people! This is the gospel! Salvation! Destruction is not the gospel!
“Trying to navigate end-time events without a fundamental understanding of the Gospel will leave you confused about both.”
This leads us to consider the following question:
What Prompts the Father to Send Jesus Back?
What will push God the Father to send Jesus back to our sinful dying planet and rescue His people? As one reads the Bible, the answer is dynamic but understandable. However, those who don’t understand the gospel often provide multiple one-liners. Here are a few:
The temple in Jerusalem has to be rebuilt. I have looked at this closely and feel confident it is false. It is based on a severe misunderstanding of the 70-week prophecy of Daniel 9 and the role of literal Israel. This error helped create scenarios in the minds of second-coming fictional novels written in Lindsay and LaHay’s Left Behind novels.
Christ’s character must be completely restored in His people. Christ’s character is a powerful witness when fully reproduced in His people. This underscores the importance of personal ongoing transformation as a result rather than the idea of salvation by reaching perfection. But I still don’t see from Scripture this as what God the Father is waiting on. Has anyone ever reached this point? We are perfect before God when we ask Jesus to come into our lives, and we believe him.
His righteousness is imputed to us “And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. James 2:23
3. Sin will get so bad that God’s wrath will send Jesus to destroy the earth. No doubt, sinful man will grow more and more wicked with each generation. The world is headed to the same point as the antediluvians. “Their thoughts were only evil continuously.” Probably, the most hideous sin of all is the sex trafficking of children. I don’t think Sodom and Gomorrah went this far. It makes most people want to eradicate those who do such things. Immoral sex is like a virus that infects a majority of the world. It is listed as one of the identifying marks of those who perish forever:
4. “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”” Revelation 21:8
The gospel has to be preached to the entire world. This is a solid reason and is true because Jesus said,
“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”
Matthew 24:14
Everyone has to have a chance to hear the gospel!
This worldwide gospel preaching event demonstrates God’s power and desire that no one perishes, but all come to repentance. This is why He waits. It is His mercy for us and those we have been praying for!
The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. 2 Peter 3: 9
Jesus did not provide details between the preaching of the gospel to the entire world and His coming. The apostles and disciples, including John, would later provide much more detail in the book of Revelation, which describes the seven last plagues, the time of trouble, the beast and his mark, etc.
All the scenarios above can make us comfortable because none have occurred and are unlikely to happen next week (except for the moral condition of the world)!
The Last Day on This Earth
So, what will the last day be like before the Lord returns? If we are to believe Jesus, It will be a day just like every other one:
“But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man. Matthew 24: 37-39
This sure sounds like Jesus comes and takes away the saved (Rapture.). But look closely at the same passage in Luke.
And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Luke 17: 26-27
Matthew and Luke are saying the same thing. Those who are not prepared in Christ are taken away in destruction. They are drowned (destroyed) in Noah’s day and destroyed by fire in Lot’s day.
Likewise, as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built, but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.
Luke 27 28-29
I hope you don’t want to be taken in destruction but left from the destruction.
But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment. Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives should you live?
2 Peter 3: 10-11
Now is the Time to Be Prepared
The point of this writing is this. Being prepared for Jesus’s return, which includes preparing for your death when there are no more changes, is today….
So the question today is: “Are you waiting for certain events to happen before you get serious with God? Will we be found like the person whose home is broken into? Will it surprise us? Are you ready? What will be your response when Jesus comes?
Will it be…
“Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. 17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to survive?” Revelation 6: 16-17
or will it be…
“Behold, this is our God; We have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord; We have waited for Him; We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” Isaiah 25:9
Will you be going about your regular routine unprepared or will you be going about your routine and prepared?
Jesus tells us we can be prepared now…at this very moment. The gospel and salvation are not complicated if you put your complete trust in Him!
How is your faith in Him? Is your anchor in the solid Rock of Jesus? Be sure your anchor holds the solid rock. In times like this we need a Savior!
Please take a moment to hear George Beverly Shea sing this song (Click Here). Here are a few of the words
In times like these, you need a Savior. In times like these, you need an anchor. Be very sure, be very sure. Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock!
This Rock is Jesus. Yes, He’s the One This Rock is Jesus, the only One. Be very sure, be very sure. Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock!
In times like these, you need the Bible. In times like these, O be not idle
Be very sure, be very sure Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock!
This Rock is Jesus. Yes, He’s the One This Rock is Jesus, the only One. Be very sure, be very sure. Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock!
