Life is more complex than the toss of a coin …

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How would you like your future to be dependent on the toss of a coin?

That’s a risk not worth taking, but it was the real-life experience of a man as reported by Reuters in the Los Angeles Times:

    Phillip Givens, 28, of Louisville, KY, was on trial for the murder of his girlfriend. Both the defense and prosecution presented their cases, and his fate was now in the hands of the jury.

    Deliberations came to a standstill, however, when jury members could not decide whether to find Given guilty of murder or the lesser offense of manslaughter. So they did what any group of law-abiding, responsible adults would do … they tossed a coin. Heads it’s murder, tails it’s manslaughter.

    News of the coin toss was leaked, gossip spread rapidly, and eventually made it to the ear of Jefferson County Circuit Judge Kenneth Conliffe who promptly ordered a new trial.

Navigating our way through our human experience has many opportunities and challenges, and our approach to both is a little more complex than leaving life’s decisions to chance. As human beings, we’re complex creations of God, and there are multiple key elements involved in how we make decisions and entertain ideas. So, let me share with you a very brief primer of how we can use IDEAS to gain a greater understanding of ourselves and make better decisions …

IDEAS:

    • Intellection
    • Decision
    • Emotions
    • Actions
    • Situation

INTELLECTION encompasses all of our mental processes and stored information. It includes our beliefs about:

    • how things ARE (information);
    • how things SHOULD BE (values);
    • how things COULD BE (hope);
    • and how things WERE (memories).

The Apostle Paul stated his belief about the importance of the intellectual process vividly:

“Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will,” Romans 8:5-7.

Healthy, mature living begins with right thinking (Romans 12:2, Ephesians 4:23).

DECISION is an internal commitment to a course of action, whether that course of action is taken or not. Decisions prove our priorities. When we put decisions into action the world knows, imperfectly and incompletely, what God has known perfectly and completely … the intentions of our heart (Psalm 44:21, 1 Thessalonians 2:4).

Decision is:

    • Internal permission.
    • A “moment.”
    • Influenced by the lifetime that preceded it.
    • Under our control.
    • The effects of decisions are cumulative.
    • Decision is so influenced by the unconscious that we may not be aware of the why of a choice.

EMOTIONS are what we feel.

ACTIONS are what we do; our actions are controlled by our intellection (actions may be a problem for family and friends, but usually they are the symptoms and expressions of the problem, not the problem itself).

SITUATIONS are the things that happen to us. Usually closely related to our actions, sometimes not.

As you can see, our developing healthy ideas and making healthy decisions is a little more complex than just tossing a coin. This is just a primer, a short introduction to key components in our decision-making. If you would like a color-coded copy of IDEAS, just send a request to me by email for the IDEAS handout at dr.scott@ScottFreeClinic.org.

Scotty