What defines someone as having a closed mind?

Question

Hello Everyone..

Please before you answer this question, think, maybe you too might have a closed mind, against those that you say do.. :)

Please also, do not answer, Christians, Muslims, etc..I am not looking for any religious group, that is why I said "Someone"..

Can we keep this nice..we do have young children that do visit this site..Thank-You all in Advance..

Have a Very Nice Thanksgiving Everyone.. :)

With Love..In Christ.. :)

Answer 1

First let me say to you i hope your Thanksgiving is blessed
my idea of a closed mind would be some one who thinks there ways is the only ways and is incapable of learning i would think this would be the result of a cold or harden heart i would hope that my mind would only be open to the truth and closed to lies but sometimes i have been deceived by what i have believed for this reason i ask for wisdom to know the difference between what is true and what is a lie i don't really know for sure if there is such a thing as a closed mind our minds are open to what comes through our radio's our televisions and through the Internet even tho we make think someone has a closed mind there conscience is always open receiving information garbage in garbage out.

Answer 2

Thanks for the nice question!

I guess it is saying that your mind cannot be changed regardless of the facts.

Another example is let's say you have discussed a certain issue over and over, and finally decided what you believe. Then someone "new" starts to challenge you, with remarks that take you back to where you were 10 years ago. You might not want to engage and thus will seem close minded, though you really are not because you are looking for new and better facts, not the same old stuff.

What does it mean to have a strong opinion, and not change your mind easily. I like that sort of person. They may seem close minded, but actually need strong facts.

How about when people call people close-minded inappropriately. For example, having strong family values throughout history has been good. Yet, kids throughtout history have disparagingly called that old-fashioned and close-minded. Later they tell their parents thank you, you were right. If you had good parents.

Last, then there are the truly close-minded people. Though I like thinkers, I also believe we need some diversity in the human mix so we do not all become clones of another.

Then again, I hope the police and others are close-minded to bribery. Isn't that a different thought. Now we are getting to morals. I'd like people to be close-minded to murder and oppresssion, but that is utopia. Yet, I'd like that we taught our kids that way, from legal, religious, and conscience perspectives.

So, is a closed mind good or bad? It depends :)

However here is my definition. If being close-minded, is being close-minded to evil, then it is good. Everything else is ok, for if it is opinion, or it is diversity, or it is just pure difference, it is ok.

I realize I just started another issue, for then what is evil? Let's keep it simple. Evil is: sadists, murderers not killers [soldiers], exploiters of innocents.

Evil is not: being a thief, telling a lie, having an affair, or cussing, or not believing in a certain sect, or the Bible, or the Quaran, or not going to church, or not being baptized, or eating meat on Friday, or eating pork anytime, or not wearing a hat, or being mad at Mom and Dad, or drinking some wine, or smoking a cig, or using LSD, or wearing make-up, or being proud of your body, or, or loving sex, or working hard, or being a fool, or yelling, or getting angry, or not keeping the sabbath, or whatever.

Being good "should" be: Loving a God and treating others as you wish to be treated.

However, it should also be to try to not lie, to not cheat, to not rob, to not cuss, to not ...etc. Not issues of evil, but struggles of humans.

I learned a lot from answering this question. Thank you!

Answer 3

Yes I think it is the faith thing, believing without any real proof or evidence, it means through faith you can believe anything, God, the Celestial Teapot or The Invisible Pink Unicorn for example, none of which can be proved or disproved and all as unlikely as each of the others in reality.

With religions like Christianity or Islam there is an inbuilt circular reasoning that shuts out genuine logic We have a book that tells us it is genuine and that it is the word of God - how do we know it is genuine and the word of God? because the same book itself tells us that it is...total self endorsement with no other genuine contemporary independent ex-Bible accounts to check it against. Time to at least be suspicious.

The circular argument seems to satisfy far too many people that there is some real logic in it but it's a circular trap and a trick that shuts in belief and shuts out all criticism, this is how religion closes peoples minds.

Answer 4

Having a closed mind is simply not being open to consideration of what someone else is saying or teaching. This can sometimes be a very bad thing to do, it keeps us isolated. However having a closed mind is not always a bad thing either.... for example if someone were to say i always keep an open mind.... they are not being fully honest.... if a child molester wanted them to consider their choices and reasonings behind what they do as a rational upright decision.... being close minded to that idea is a good thing.
As for faith.... we are commanded to a point to be close minded as Christians, let me explain.... in 2John 1:10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into [your] house, neither bid him God speed:
Just cited as an example.. here the word is telling us if someone tries to teach us anything contrary to the gospel of the Lord we should not be accepting of the teaching nor of the people teaching it.... this is a close minded stance... many will disagree with it... however if someone asks me in a "faith based" question if i am close minded... to be honest with them I would have to answer yes. But that does not mean i am close minded about everything.

God bless you and you and yours have a wonderful Thanksgiving also.

Answer 5

I've always considered another who isn't willing to see a different point of discussion, but would rather go on and on about how they are right and there is no way they are going to change let alone LISTEN. We are all entitled to our own opinions that is a given, but we can not always expect other types of people to see things our way. Sometimes that is too bad, seeing that so many keep a closed mind to getting help especially with drug abuse just for an example. We live in a mixed up destructive world and not much anyone of us can do about it...Sorry. Thanks for the option to profess my ideas.

Answer 6

I think a person with a closed mind is someone who does not want to take in (listen to) any information which conflicts with what they have been taught or what they believe. A closed mind does not apply to only our differant religious beliefs, but to the way we raise our children, what we believe about politics, ect.... It is hard to have discussions and to learn from people who have a closed mind. Good question.

Answer 7

very few everybody is honestly open minded. maximum interpret truth by way of their adventure and if someone elses attitude does not journey it, then they're closed minded in route of that view. hence, theists are closed minded pertaining to to atheism and atheism is closed minded in route of theism. yet argue that the different position isn't conceivable. it really is closed minded. that is like biases. everybody has biases they purely do not recognize that they do.

Answer 8

When person A doesn't give up his/her ideas to follow that of person B, person B says person A is closeminded. Just because person A sticks by his/her guns on an idea/belief/philosophy doesn't make him/her closeminded. Being closeminded is not even giving that idea/belief/philosophy a second thought or trying to see from another's POV. Person A may not agree or change his/her POV, but he/she is not closeminded as long as he/she at least sees where person B is coming from.

example, a hot topic: Pro-Choice

Person A is against, Person B is for (and for aguement sake, they are both of the same religion). Person A may never be for pro-choice, but as long as Person A can understand why Person B is for choice, then Person A is not closeminded. However, if Person A won't even try to see Person B's POV (just to understand, not change his/her standing on the issue) then Person A is closeminded.

Answer 9

Someone who says "with love in Christ, that could not ever accept the truth.

Joshua Bar Joseph (aka Jesus) was only a messenger who preached bible stories in a unique and powerful way (from "Gods own point of View").
As his teachings began to wake people up to the fact that they were still confined slaves (this time under Roman/Jewish human rule), he became an enemy of Rome, and was ultimately killed for his treason.

Around 300AD, the Roman Empire rose up, claiming itself to be holy, (Holy Roman Empire), and essentially went on an evil Blood Quest to "kill" or "convert" the Whole known world into Blood Drinking Zombies, in the Name of Jesus Christ.

One Day, it has been alleged/for-told, that God will personally intervene and remove this horrible affliction from the face of this planet (the Rapture). We can but prey for the end of this madness...

Answer 10

when evidence is presented that shows the close minded persons world view is wrong the close minded person says that the evidence is fake rather than incorporate that evidence into their world view

the best example is evolution has been proven and there are still people who think the human being was created by a hand of god, these are "creationists" and they are close minded,

if they had any evidence of "god" creating a human being, they seem to be sitting on it and not sharing it with the world for scientific verification