Monkeys and a Pole (Sermon Illustration)
Our culture and the people we surround ourselves have a huge impact on our behavior.
Whenever we stand out from what others think is “normal,” people will try to pull us back down to be more like them.
There is always pressure to conform.
Dave Ramsey uses the following example from a study conducted:
A group of monkeys were locked in a room with a pole at the center. Some luscious, ripe bananas were placed on top of the pole. When a monkey would begin to climb the pole, the experimenters would knock him off with a blast of water from a fire hose. Each time a monkey would climb, off he would go, until all the monkeys had been knocked off repeatedly, thus learning that the climb was hopeless. The experimenters then observed that the other primates would pull down any monkey trying to climb. They replaced a single monkey with one who didn’t know the system. As soon as the new guy tried to climb, the others would pull him down and punish him for trying. One by one, each monkey was replaced, and the scene repeated until there were no monkeys left in the room that had experienced the fire hose. Still, none of the new guys were allowed to climb. The other monkeys pulled them down. Not one monkey in the room knew why, but none were allowed to get the bananas.1
_
Find more sermon illustrations here.
