How Do You Change Somone’s Mind? Daniel 1-6

Daniel 6:6-9 (ESV)

Then these high officials and satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him, “O King Darius, live forever! All the high officials of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction, that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.” Therefore King Darius signed the document and injunction.

The other wise men wanted Daniel gone.  In all the previous chapters, under different kinds, Daniel was always getting promoted.   The other wise men (unbelievers) had to find a way to dispose of Daniel.   Yet, Daniel was beloved by the current king (all the previous kings, as well).   He was the golden boy of each of the kingdoms.  God gave him that privilege.  Now he was being hunted.  They were looking for a way to destroy him.  Because they knew he prayed all the time, they would use that to destroy him.  But how would they get the king to make a decree that would destroy the very man he honored? 

This above story is an example of iGAS (Idea-Goal-Alignment-Strategy).   The other men of wisdom wanted to destroy Daniel.   So they went to Darius, the king, and told him to make a decree that no one should pray to any god, except the king, for 30 days.   (Remember, Daniel was a praying man.) they didn’t tell the king their motives were to destroy Daniel.   That was their idea.   Instead, they appealed to the king’s goal (be the biggest and baddest king ever) and he signed the degree (even though it would hurt Daniel).   The other men of wisdom really only wanted to destroy Daniel. They didn’t care about Darius.  So they presented an idea to the king that would align with his internal, narcissistic goals, and the rest is history.  

When trying to change the mind of another we often preset out ideas in a way they believe we want to reach our goals.  Even though the above is a bad example of iGAS, it is never-the-less the tool they used.  They presented their idea in way that the king thought it would accomplish his goal.