Cognitive Distortions to Avoid

Abide in God's word, we will know the truth and the truth will set us free (John 8:31-32). Sinful actions begin with sinful thoughts (Matthew 15:19). This same principle is understood in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

Common errors in thinking

1. All or nothing: 
When you give up on everything good because of a bad thing
2. Overgeneralizing: 
When you think something will always be bad and never change
3. Mental filters: 
When you only see one side of things, usually only the bad
4. Mind reading: 
When you think you know for sure what others are thinking
5. Fortune telling: 
When you think you know for sure what's going to happen
6. Magnification/Minimization: 
When you think something is a big deal or not a big deal
7. Personalization: 
When you blame yourself for something outside of your control
8. Emotional reasoning: 
When you think feelings define how things really are
9. Mislabeling: 
When you call yourself or others names because of something that was done
10. Discounting Positives: 
When you see the good side, but think it doesn't count

If the thoughts are wrong, the feelings will be wrong; and the thoughts and feelings combined make up the moral character. [MYP 92]

Overcoming Stinking Thinking With Agape Love

Love rejoices in truth, it won't use emotional reasoning or faulty mental filtering, nor will it discount the positive. Love doesn't envy or give into self-seeking forms of all or nothing thinking. Love believes in all things, it doesn't "mind-read" or assume others think a certain way. Love hopes in all things, it doesn't "fortune tell" evil or overgeneralize that something or someone will always be a certain way. Love is kind, it doesn't resort to name calling or mislabeling. Love isn't puffed up, so it won't magnify or minimize things out of proportion. Love isn't easily provoked because it doesn't take anything personally.

Relevant quote
Charity “doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil” (1 Corinthians 13:5). Christlike love places the most favorable construction on the motives and acts of others. It does not needlessly expose their faults; it does not listen eagerly to unfavorable reports, but seeks rather to bring to mind the good qualities of others. [AA 319]

Related Posts

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7 Psychological habits to avoid

What the bible says about hell

Does God have any pleasure in the death of the wicked?

Ezekiel 33:11 Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’

How is God's act of punishing described?

Isaiah 28:21 

For the Lord will rise up as at Mount Perazim, He will be angry as in the Valley of Gibeon— That He may do His work, His awesome work, And bring to pass His act, His unusual act.

Comment: God doesn't like to punish, it's a strange act for Him to do, but he will inevitably do it

For whom did God originally prepare eternal fire for?
Matthew 25:41 Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels

When will the wicked be punished?
Job 21:30 For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom; They shall be brought out on the day of wrath.
2 Peter 2:9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment

How will the dead present themselves on judgment day?

Revelation 20:13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.

Note: Apparently, the judgment happens while physically present in one's body. Also see study on what happens at death

Where does hell fire come from?

Revelation 20:9
They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.

Hebrews 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.

Psalms 68:2 As smoke is driven away, So drive them away; As wax melts before the fire, So let the wicked perish at the presence of God.

What is God able to do with the soul in hell?
Matthew 10:28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Comment: Contrary to popular belief, this verse clearly shows souls are not immortal

What is left after lost souls are destroyed?

Malachi 4:1-3 “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,” Says the Lord of hosts, “That will leave them neither root nor branch. But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings; And you shall go out And grow fat like stall-fed calves. You shall trample the wicked, For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet On the day that I do this,” Says the Lord of hosts.

What past example does the bible give of eternal fire?
Jude 7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

Comment: Is Sodom still burning today? No, because there's nothing left to burn

What will the Lord do with the devil?
Hebrews 2:14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil
Revelation 20:10

The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Who can live in God's fiery presence without harm?

Isaiah 33:14b-15  ...“Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, He who despises the gain of oppressions, Who gestures with his hands, refusing bribes, Who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed, And shuts his eyes from seeing evil

What promise does God give us to look forward to?
2 Peter 3:13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

What will the new earth be like?
Revelation 21:4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.

Will affliction rise up again?
Nahum 1:9 What do you conspire against the Lord? He will make an utter end of it. Affliction will not rise up a second time.

What the bible says about death

How did God create human beings?
Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Note: The same Hebrew word for living soul (Nephesh) is also used in reference to living creatures in Genesis 1 verses 20 and 24, but there is obviously something unique about humans, In Genesis 1:27-28, we read that humans were made in God's image and were given dominion over all living creatures that move about on the earth.

Why do humans die?

Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—

What happens to the soul at death?
Genesis 3:19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.
Ecclesiastes 12:7 Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

What happens when us and our thoughts when we die?
Psalm 146:4
His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.
Job 14:21 His sons come to honor, and he does not know it; They are brought low, and he does not perceive it.

Note: This means supposed "near death experiences" are not true death experiences. If someone were truly dead, all function in the brain would have stopped and consciousnesses would cease. 

What do the dead know?
Ecclesiastes 9:5 For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten.

Can the dead come back to haunt us?

Job 7:9-10 As the cloud disappears and vanishes away, So he who goes down to the grave does not come up. He shall never return to his house, mor shall his place know him anymore.

What did David, Job, Jesus, and Paul compare death to?
Psalm 13:3 

Consider and hear me, O Lord my God; Enlighten my eyes, Lest I sleep the sleep of death
Job 14:10–12 

But man dies and is laid away; Indeed he reathes his last And where is he? As water disappears from the sea, And a river becomes parched and dries up, So man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, They will not awake Nor be roused from their sleep.
John 11:11-14 These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.” Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead."
1 Thessalonians 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

What is the will of the Father for us who believe in in Jesus?
John 6:40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

What does God have in heaven to replace our mortal bodies?
2 Corinthians 5:1-4  For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.

When will we be given our new bodies?
1 Corinthians 15:52-54 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

What does the bible says about us being in our current bodies?
2 Corinthians 5:6-8 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

What must happen for us to be always with the Lord?
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

Note: Notice how receiving our new bodies and being always present with the Lord both occur after the return of Christ

What did Jesus say He will do before we can be where He is?
John 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

When are the just rewarded?

Luke 14:13-14 

But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

Matthew 16:27  For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.

What the bible says about the Sabbath

What day does God tell us to remember?
Exodus 20:8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

What six-day event does the Sabbath point us back to?

Exodus 20:11  For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

After those six days, what did God do on the seventh-day?
Genesis 2:1-3 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

What are we not do on Sabbath?
Exodus 20:9-10 “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.

What is lawful to do on the Sabbath?
Matthew 12:12  Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.

Who was the Sabbath made for?
Mark 2:27
And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath."

Who does God promise to make joyful in His house of prayer?
Isaiah 56:6-7
“Also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, And to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants— Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and holds fast My covenant—  even them I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices Will be accepted on My altar; For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

How do we delight in the Lord?
Isaiah 58:13-14 “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

The Sabbath is a sign that we may know what?
Exodus 31:13 Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you.

What remains for the people of God?
Hebrews 4:4, 9-10 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”.. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.

What was Jesus' custom on the Sabbath?
Luke 4:16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. and as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.

What is the day before Sabbath called?
Mark 15:42-43 Now when evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

What day of the week begins after the Sabbath?
Matthew 28:1 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.

What was Paul's custom on the Sabbath?
Acts 17:2, 18:4, 13:42, 44
Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures...  And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks.... So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath... On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God.

What will we continue to do on the new earth?
Isaiah 66:22-23 “For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me,” says the Lord, “So shall your descendants and your name remain. and it shall come to pass That from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says the Lord.