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Cognitive Dissonance: Difference between revisions
→Specific examples in "message believers"
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=Definition= | =Definition= | ||
In 1956, Dr. Leon Festinger wrote a book entitled, "When Prophecy Fails: A Social and Psychological Study of a Modern Group that Predicted the Destruction of the World". Here is a quote from that book: | In 1956, Dr. Leon Festinger wrote a book entitled, "When Prophecy Fails: A Social and Psychological Study of a Modern Group that Predicted the Destruction of the World". Here is a quote from that book that describes perfectly what happens when a message follower is confronted with evidence that William Branham's visions failed: | ||
:''A man with a conviction is a hard man to change. Tell him you disagree and he turns away. Show him facts or figures and he questions your sources. Appeal to logic and he fails to see your point. | :''A man with a conviction is a hard man to change. Tell him you disagree and he turns away. Show him facts or figures and he questions your sources. Appeal to logic and he fails to see your point. | ||
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Examples include: | Examples include: | ||
#[[The Municipal Bridge Vision]] | #[[The Municipal Bridge Vision]] | ||
# | ##The fact that this vision took place when William Branham was a child is grounds for it being ignored, as he could have made a mistake. This ignores the fact that he said that it was fulfilled, and it is the fulfillment that creates the problem, i.e. it never happened. | ||
##This happened a long time ago and therefore it is likely that the deaths of the workers simply went unreported. This ignores the fact that the wives, parents and children of a group of 16 men that perished in a construction accident would not permit their memory to be forgotten. For that reason, the deaths in the construction of the Big Four Bridge are still remembered. A death of one person might be forgotten but not 16 men. | |||
#[[The Vision of the Meetings in South Africa|African Vision]] - To avoid this issue, people will say that William Branham was referring to India, not Africa, even though he specifically mentions Durban, South Africa in the vision. Or another method of avoiding the implication of this failed vision is to state that well over 300,000 people have heard the tapes in South Africa thereby fulfilling the vision, although this again is an irrelevant rationalization. | #[[The Vision of the Meetings in South Africa|African Vision]] - To avoid this issue, people will say that William Branham was referring to India, not Africa, even though he specifically mentions Durban, South Africa in the vision. Or another method of avoiding the implication of this failed vision is to state that well over 300,000 people have heard the tapes in South Africa thereby fulfilling the vision, although this again is an irrelevant rationalization. | ||
#[[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] - To deal with this failed prophecy, followers of William Branham search out explanations that are rooted in conspiracy theory. | #[[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] - To deal with this failed prophecy, followers of William Branham search out explanations that are rooted in conspiracy theory. | ||