Am I Thinking for Myself—Or Just Following the Crowd?
arnie.cole@backtothebible.org / Sun, Nov 16, 2025
**Am I thinking for myself—or just following the crowd?
Have you ever asked yourself that? And more importantly, how
do you tell the difference?
Romans 12:2 tells us: “Do not conform to the pattern of this
world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind….”
I absolutely love this verse. When I think about it “Do not
conform” means that you don’t just mindlessly go along with the
culture around you—maybe even the church culture as well. It means
don’t copy the behaviors and beliefs of those around you, in the
church or out of it, just to fit in. Instead, we are to let God
transform us from the inside out by renewing our mind, by changing
the way we think, through His Word and Spirit.
That’s easier said than done, especially when you look at
others instead of yourself!
It was just last Wednesday I had the privilege of driving my
grandkids to and from school. Whenever I drive, we have this little
routine of singing as loud as we possibly can: on the way there,
we sang “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” at the top of our lungs (yes,
even Grandpa gets in on E-I-E-I-O). We, myself included, giggled
as we mooed and oinked, and I thought to myself how lucky I am to
be a part of these kids' lives. But the real surprise came in the
afternoon when I had to pick them up. As soon as they clambered
into the backseat for the ride home, my sweet grandkids started
yelling one thing, over and over: “67!… 67!… 67!”
At first, I wondered if I’d missed something—67? Was it a
page number from math class? A secret code? “What does 67 mean?”
I asked, truly confused. They just laughed like I’d told the
funniest joke. “It doesn’t mean anything, Grandpa!” my oldest
finally managed between giggles. They then explained (with a mis-
chievous grin) that “67” is just a silly phrase all the kids were
shouting that day. No reason. No context. Just because. It’s the
latest viral inside joke among their friends, picked up from the
internet and the schoolyard.
I thought, funny, not funny. In the span of a single school
day, my grandkids, ages 4, 6 and 10, had gone from singing a
classic nursery rhyme to spouting a random phrase that means ab-
solutely nothing. It was cute and harmless on the surface—just kids
being kids. Yet, as I navigated the evening traffic, I couldn’t
shake a question: What made “67” catch on like wildfire?
In fact, the more I researched the more I found out that kids
worldwide were suddenly yelling this meaningless number in unison?
And what does that say about how easily and quickly groupthink can
shape our children?
Before I could wonder why can’t kids be like we were, I took
a humbling look in the mirror. It dawned on me, it’s not just kids,
adults catch the groupthink as well.
I remembered back when I was a brand new Christ Follower all
my new Christian guy friends were trying to sell me generators
because of the great Y2K threat which was looming. I had never
heard of it from my secular friends, but apparently lots of people
were preparing for the worst.
And who can forget the great toilet paper panic of 2020?
Seeing others hoard in our news feeds created a sense of urgency to
do the same; this kind of chain reaction is groupthink at its
finest.
The truth is, grown-ups fall prey to groupthink all the time.
It just looks a little different for us. Instead of TikTok memes,
we have social media feeds, search engines, news cycles, and
influencer-driven trends with AI nudging our every thought and
action. The mechanisms have gotten more high-tech, but the human
vulnerability is ageless.
Think about how we consume news and information. Ever for-
warded an article because it had thousands of shares, assuming it
must be credible if so many others are sharing it? I have – only
to later double-check and find out it was misleading. In fact,
studies show that on X (formerly Twitter), false news spreads
significantly faster and wider than true news, precisely because
it often appeals to emotions and people retweet it impulsively.
We see a bunch of folks sharing a shocking story, and we join the
chorus without pausing to verify. The crowd’s behavior sweeps us
along.
Think about conversations in our social circles or church
communities. If I am not careful, I find myself nodding in agreement
with a viewpoint, not because I truly examined it, but because it
was the popular opinion in the room? Psychologists actually have a
term for this phenomenon: the “illusory truth effect.” Studies show
that if we hear an idea repeated often enough, we tend to believe
it’s true – whether or not it is.
In our media-saturated world, an opinion (or even a false
statement) can start to feel like “common sense” simply because
it’s echoed by so many voices. We’re bombarded with certain talking
points on our favorite news channel, or we see the same memes and
slogans shared on social media, and gradually those ideas solidify
in our minds. Repetition creates familiarity, and familiarity can
masquerade as truth.
What is so sad is that groupthink has permeated almost every
aspect of our Christian life today as well. Some of it is most
certainly good, that is for sure, but some of it is very hurtful
to the cause of Christ.
Stay tuned, because next week we will explore how to tell the
difference between being transformed by God’s Word, or conformed
to society’s groupthink.
And to finish this week with great news–Nigel has reached out
to us. He said: "Based on the commitment of support from Back to
the Bible USA, we have gone ahead and ordered the StarLink system
for Back to the Bible Jamaica which we expect to be delivered next
week. It will certainly help in our own continuous connectivity.
Being a portal system, we look forward to helping those we can, to
be in touch with loved ones. We really appreciate your support."
In His service and yours, – Arnie**
We have to learn to think for ourselves or Satan and the evil
ones will destroy our love for God and make our relationship for
Him near impossible to survive. God loves us and always will.
Conservatively,
John
Conservativelyjohn.com 