There are four positions that people take in regards to their mind and their position on various positions. I will address the first three right away and introduce the fourth later. The first three are the Closed-Mind, the Narrow-Mind, and the Open-Mind. Each one has issues.
The Close-minded person is defined as:
" close-mind·ed (kl s m n d d, kl z -) or closed-mind·ed (kl zd -). adj. Intolerant of the beliefs and opinions of others; stubbornly unreceptive to new ideas."
There are many people who are closed minded. They do not consider any belief or opinion of others as viable. They refuse to consider a new idea. And they also refuse to allow other people to have other opinions if they go against their position. It is very unpopular to be close-minded today and there are many people who are VERY vocal against anyone who would dare speak against their position. If a Christian, speaking the truth of Scripture, says "X is a sin", there is an immediate response that calls said Christian "closed-minded", "bigoted", "hateful", etc. However, it is important to notice that by definition, "tolerance" requires being peaceful with those you disagree with. To be tolerant, you MUST be in disagreement. Are these people who scream at the Christian for speaking the truth being tolerant? No they are not. They themselves are being close-minded. They themselves are intolerant of the beliefs and opinions of those who do not agree with their position.
The Narrow-minded person is defined as:
"having a biased or illiberal viewpoint; bigoted, intolerant, or prejudiced"
There is not much more of a difference between a Close-Minded person and a Narrow-minded person. A Close-minded person refused to consider any opposing viewpoint, while a Narrow-minded person's worldview cannot see any other option. A close minded person has blinders on and a narrow-minded person has tunnel vision. Both are heavily unpopular today.
The Open-minded person is defined as:
"o·pen-mind·ed ( p n-m n d d). adj. Receptive to new and different ideas or the opinions of others. See Synonyms at broad-minded."
The Open-minded person is very popular today. Many people want us to be open-minded. And there is a lot of good in being open minded. When we are open-minded, we can consider what other people think, we are receptive of others, and we are deemed as tolerant. It is good to be open-minded....at first glance. But is the Open-mind the ideal picture it is described to be? In a word....NO. While the open-mind is receptive to many ideas, it is unable to actually settle on any one. And it cannot be tolerant because it does not agree on any position to disagree with another. And what is worse is that the open-mind cannot perform the ideals of the open-mind. Here is why with an example (and thanks to Eric Ludy's The BraveHearted Gospel for this specific example).
It was debated for some time if the earth was flat or round. And many people were close-minded or narrow-minded about the issue of whether the earth was flat or round. The flat-earthers were absolutely certain that if you sailed into the unknown, you would reach the edge of the seas and fall off the edge into oblivion. The round-earthers knew that no matter how far your sailed, you eventually would reach the other side of land. There were many open-minded people in this debate as well. The open-minded person was receptive to both sides of the issue. They saw validity in both sides. This sounds like a great place to be. They understood that both sides could be equally valid, they never warred with either side, and they could understand what the other side was thinking. But that was only when talking theory. When it came to practicality, the open-minded person would ALWAYS side with the flat-earther. Why? The round-earthers acted on faith. They knew their position was right and they would build ships intend to go sailing to demonstrate it. The flat-earther would never build a ship or go sailing into the unknown for fear of falling over the edge, even though they never could demonstrate it would happen. And the open-minded person, because of their consideration of the flat-earth position, would never go build a ship with a round-earther let alone go sailing with them. And it is found that these same types of open-minded people become the biggest challengers to the 'round-earthers' because said round-earthers were being "close-minded" and taking action based on their stance.
We see this all-around today. Where Christians are being told to be open-minded, but what they are being told to be open-minded to is all the evil and sin that the Bible says is SIN. All three positions are looking pretty bad. If we are close-minded, we cannot consider the opinions or the positions of the spiritual greats who are wiser and closer to God than we are. If we are narrow-minded, we cannot take the ideas of another Godly man and add them to our own. But if we are open-minded, we end up allowing ANYTHING to come in and be considered a viable option, even something that is inherently evil. Most people think there is no other option than these three, but there is one more out there: the Canon-Mind.
The Canon is not talking about a massive civil-war gun on wheels that was used to blast enemy soldiers and forts. It is talking about absolute truth found in God's word. The Canon-minded person is both close-minded and open-minded. It is close-minded to anything that would make a stand against God and his word or that would remotely contradict it. It refuses to consider a sinful lifestyle to be a valid and "okay" lifestyle. It refuses to consider a false teaching that does not line up with Scripture. It constantly compares what is being taught and said against Scripture and removes anything that would war against it. It gives no quarter to any idea, thought, action, or belief that would even cast a shadow on what God says in his word. But it is also open-minded...to anything that is in agreement to his word. It is open to consider the teachings of other preachers as long as it checks out with the word of God. It is open to looking at things from a different angle, as long as it comes from a Canon-based mind. It allow any TRUTH in and keep any LIE, even a partial or white lie, out. The Canon-mind is like a security guard standing at the door of the most important object you can conceive of: your soul. It allow anything that passes the test of the Canon that is Scripture, but it prevents the entry of anything that could possibly corrupt the soul. It stands firm, welcoming anything that points to God, and rejecting anything that might take any attention away from him. The Christian needs to be Canon-minded. Open to the truth, Closed to anything else. The Canon-Minded Christian will go out an build the ship to sail around the round earth. He will not sit there and debate about theories and possibilities. He will speak the truth and speak it with the power and authority in the name of Jesus Christ. He will not be swayed by the times or the cultures that tell him what he should or should not believe or act. He will stand on the rock and not be moved. And when the storms of life and the storms of the culture that does not want to hear or tolerate the words of TRUTH, the Canon-Minded Christian will always prevail, even if at the cost of his life.
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