Hey Everyone,
This month we're talking about engaging with friends and family who struggle with gender or sexuality issues in a compassionate, understanding way. Today I want to look at how inductive reasoning in childhood can lead to confusion.
INDUCTIVE REASONING
As believers, we know that we have an enemy and that there are demonic influences looking for open doors of opportunity to plant lies and cause confusion in people. One way that confusion can enter into a person’s life is through inductive reasoning as a child or teen.
As adults, our brains have the ability to come to logical conclusions after analyzing many factors using deductive reasoning. However, children are not born with this ability, instead it develops over time.
As a child or teen, what often happens is after making an observation (a perception from the child's point of view), a conclusion is then made by inductive reasoning that may not match reality. Without outside input, that conclusion can fester and grow into a core belief that affects the child’s perspective and actions.
For example, a friend of mine had struggled with being a woman and lived as a man for many years in her adulthood until she encountered God in a real way and returned to living as a woman. She recalled when a lie entered her life. When she was a little girl, she perceived that her mom loved her brother more. So, she concluded it was better to be a boy. This lie became a core belief through her teen years, which led her to choose to live as a man.
I know of a young man who, in his growing-up years, was very outgoing, friendly, and expressive in personality. A few teen peers said, “You are too friendly – are you gay?” He was certainly not, as he was only attracted to girls and dreamed of having his own family one day. But after hearing these comments, he began to question himself. He then, unfortunately, started to struggle with his sexual orientation.
This is why building a strong, positive, emotional connection with children and teens is so important, so they feel safe to open up to us about any conclusions they are forming. It would be so helpful if they could seek out godly input to discuss if what they are concluding is true or not, and explore what God’s perspective is. Helpful dialogues can make a difference!
Blessings,
Michele
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