Can someone explain why being "open minded" is such a glorious thing?

Question

Look at all the junk today. You want to be open to all of it...go ahead.

I was open minded...landed me in jail. I was open to the idea that maybe drugs weren't so bad....maybe selling them is ok too......

I am happy to say if something doesn't line up with the word of G-d, I am closed to it. I will politely say "yeah, uh-huh" and disregard it.

Don't most stick to their beliefs anyhow even the "open minded" ?

I'm just being honest.

Plus G-d works on the heart and Satan can only enter through the mind. That is my belief, I know its not everyone's.

So isn't it better to be closed minded and open hearted??

David

5 answers, 3 insults.....great.

Gravtol I agree with the part of looking at things from others shoes...thats just lack of self centeredness, I just term it different maybe.

8 answers.....6 insults......maybe I'm onto something!

Choose Reality, thats so Romantic! Your wife must be a happy lady.

Answer 1

David,
I am glad you said what you said!

Answer 2

Well.. no David. I disagree entirely with what you're saying.

The heart implies emotion and the mind implies rational thought, (of course, emotion and intellect are both of the mind but no matter for this purpose.) One wouldn't get along very well in this world (and there truly is no other to consider) by acting out of emotion all of the time.

Checking with your bible will get you a direction but it may not give you the broader options available to you. This is not open mindedness at all, but rather a narrow way of thinking, instead.

Your past error of thinking - getting involved with drugs - was just that - a mental miscalculation. You forgot to think through your responsibility toward yourself and toward the people around you... you didn't play well with others... and you were to stupid to recognize all of the ways that you could get caught. Crime doesn't pay - it never has and it never will.

So... No... I don't agree with you and I certainly can't say that following only the way of the Bible is an example of "open mindedness" ... It certainly is not.!!!

Bible philosophy is perhaps one of the most dictated and dogmatic ways of living. Had it not been for the courageous people who were willing to step outside of religion's restrictive boundaries to follow their interests and ask their questions about reality, our scientific and technological advances would never have reached as far and we would now be well behind time in our abilities.

Open mindedness is, indeed a good thing... unfortunately you and plenty of others trapped in the grips of God-based thinking cannot enjoy and profit from it as well as others do. Think about that for a moment.

Its a big big world out here... you ought to join it. Get real

[][][] r u randy? [][][]
.

Answer 3

It isn't glorious in my opinion,since it usually means "no position" or "on the fence", or "no point of view".
Without a stable viewpoint or some degree of personal certainty, it's not possible to evaluate anything,
And "closed minded" isn't actually the opposite either, since it usually means an inabilty to listen or observe.
I think it has been misdefined as the opposite of "closed minded" so tends to be encouraged if not glorified.
It is better to decide what is true for you based upon actual observation and experience.
And yes, an open heart is esssential.

Answer 4

I am not trying to insult you, though it may feel like it, I will attempt to see if you understand your question. If you do, it won't feel as if you're being insulted...

Atheists are not necessarily open minded, agnostics look open minded, and Christians are not always open minded. Here, I am just wondering if you like the truth, or your own version of it. I'm a Catholic, for instance, is my religion wrong? And if you say it is, and I give you reasonable reasons why I don't believe that I am, and understand your reasons, but disagree, what do you say to me? Am I an idiot condemned to Hell? Or maybe you just don't know?

Open mindedness doesn't mean that you have to fall for anything...

Answer 5

Open minded means being willing to look at what another person has to say and to evaluate it on its own merit. It means being willing to accept that while you may be right, that the other may not be wrong.

Open mindedness means being willing to recognize a false dichotomy when you see one. It means being able to utilize the rules of logic over those of emotion. Some Christians are able to do this. Some Pagans and some atheists as well.

Some people automatically assume that anyone who does not support their point of view are automatically evil. Some people think that those who believe differently are automatic threats.

Open mindedness is simply being able to recognize the truth about people and their beliefs in a fashion that isn't unclouded by their own bias.

I'm a Pagan. I have Christian friends. We're open minded in that we recognize each other as good people. They're not evil for being Christians and aren't responsible for the terrible things that Christians have done to Pagans in the past, and they recognize that I'm not evil for simply not believing in their God.

We can talk religion without becoming angry and hurtful. That's what openmindedness is about. It's about putting people before philosophy. It's about being able to discuss philosophy without allowing unfounded emotions destroy relationships.

Answer 6

Open minded is obviously confined to moral grounds, preferrably using Rawls Social Justice scale.

Being open-minded is essential to discovering the truth, since if your current perspective is wrong and you refuse to look at other perspectives and weigh them, you won't find the flaws in your current perspective.

Problem with the "stick to open minded beliefs" is that your trying to apply a methodological claim "be open to yourself being wrong" onto itself as if it was not a methodological claim and instead was a verifiable claim.

Doesn't work that way.

Also, its not possible to be close minded and open hearted, since having an "open heart" involves having an "open mind", specifically an "open" Amygdala.

Answer 7

when i think of being open minded, i do not begin to think that maybe drugs are ok.

open minded in a religious sense. can simply be that you have your belief and are strict in that belief. but you understand that it is not the only belief that may be correct.

selling Drugs as an example of open mindedness is a really bad example. it is a much better example of greed.

Answer 8

Being open minded doesn't mean that you run out and do whatever another person suggest. It simply means that you examine things and make choices instead of having a closed mind that thinks what it thinks is God and can't be budged. Many people who do not believe as you do have good things to offer. It is up to us to measure them in a spiritual sense and accept or reject them. Because someone doesn't believe as you do doesn't mean he doesn't have anything to teach you.

Answer 9

You can keep an open mind about some things, but have a closed mind which means MIND MADE UP about other things. It's a good thing to have come to conclusions with a made up mind. Nothing wrong with it at all.

Answer 10

Open minded is not a glorious thing, but necessary if one is to be tolerant. No one can budge me from my beliefs or understanding, but I listen to others philosophies and let them be as they are. If they need a little help, I will sense that and help, but otherwise not. One must be open minded, but protect their heart from false doctrine or pleasure, for there is always a price to pay for falling to temptation, even if it is done in our own ignorance.

Answer 11

Because the term "open minded" has been coined by the politically correct and the intellectual elite to be a term that goes beyond the obvious meaning of "willing to consider". What it means in today's popular culture is that you have accepted the post modernist proposition that truth is relative and that what is true for one person may not be true for another person.

In other words if you believe that God's word should be placed in a position of authority and that what people think should be subject to the divine revelation of truth contained in the Bible then you open yourself up to the charge of being "close minded" and "bigoted". As people have bowed down at the altar of secular humanism and science they have in effect made humanity it's own "god" and become "wise in their own eyes" :o(

Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. (19) For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. (20) For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. (21) For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. (22) Claiming to be wise, they became fools,