Nothing shouted like a whisper to a fourteen year-old transitioning from a Catholic elementary school to our public high school.
Sitting in Algebra next to one of the cool jocks, I overheard him say something under his breath to a classmate about pot. He turned and looked at me and said, “Oh, you good boys don’t do things like that.”
I was ready to sign in blood. Within a few years, I was into the party scene and accepted as one of the cool kids. Little did I know that I had traded away my soul and it would be a painful six years before I got it back. My soul was bought for the cheap price of acceptance.
PHOTO: Asch's experiment shows the sway that conformity holds.
But peer pressure is not just for adolescents and children. Some disturbing psychology experiments show that adults can actually be influenced to give wrong answers to obvious questions.
In the spiritual world, the influences can be more subtle - especially as the frequency of such cues increase. Most of us have watched television or some form of media where images and concepts have been riveted into our imaginations thousands upon thousands of times.
Whether it’s a car, a neighborhood, a vacation, a political party or candidate, an office water-cooler chat or even the choosing of a spouse, adults are in one big psychological experiment called “the world.”
As if Satan’s scratching of our carnal cravings wasn’t enough, he also uses our need to be part of social groupings.
I could have saved myself a lot of time if I hadn’t let my heart been shouted down by a whisper.
PORTAL TO HEAVEN: There’s a reason why they call it “pressure.”
Do not be unequally bound together with unbelievers [do not make mismatched alliances with them, inconsistent with your faith]. For what partnership can righteousness have with lawlessness? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and Belial (Satan)? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
2 Corinthians 6:14,15 (AMP)