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June 2, 2005 - Default Christian -I'm an American citizen. Why? Because when I came out of my mother's womb and breathed air for the first time, I happened to be doing it on American soil. Though I personally had no choice when or where to be born, or the capacity of any volition at the time, by default that made me an American citizen. In the same way I was born a "default" Christian, and lived as one for many years of my life. It was not until I became aware of my default state and became a follower of a long gone Palestinian Jew named Yeshua that I became a convert to Christianity. Let me explain. We all were born a default something; the same way we we're born a particular citizen of a particular country. Whether were born a default Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Atheist, Jehovah's Witness, Agnostic, or Necromongerian, we're all born into some sort of belief system. What about orphans that have no parents Keith? They're born into a belief system also. Just because a child isn't raised by a particular set of parents or whatever doesn't mean they'll won't be introduced to a set of beliefs that will most definitely shape their formulative years of life. For example, an orphan raised by a Jesuit monk will probably adopt Catholicism as their belief system. We're all raised by someone or something, whether it's mom and dad or the streets of Chicago or whatever. So this leads us to the realization that there are two kinds of people in life; default "somethings" and converts to "something". Many people remain default "somethings" their whole lives, many don't. And many people even convert to something more than once. I was raised a default Christian. Had I been born in Yemen, chances are I would've been a good practicing Muslim. Had I been born in North Korea, chances are I would've been a nice happy communistic atheist. The idea of being labeled a "default" Christian, etc. is probably offending to some. They'd probably argue that sure their parents reared them in the ways of the Jedi, etc. but that that is what their belief system teaches parents to do and that they were merely passing the truth onto their progeny. Also that their religion is the "true" religion and that they just "know" it because they've known it all their lives. Great and all, but it's just circular reasoning based in emotion and faulty logic. Basically no one wants to accept that what they've been taught their whole lives could be wrong, or even worse, a lie. But the law of non-contradiction leads us to that very inevitable conclusion for a whole lot of folks (i.e. contradictory truth-claims cannot be simultaneously true. For example: Christians believe Jesus is God - Muslims believe Jesus is not God. Only one or neither can be correct, but not both… Logic 101). Many people have realized this, usually during their mid to late adolescence and convert to another religion or belief system. Many people refuse to acknowledge they and their beliefs, developed during their formulative years (zero to say sixteen) are merely products of basically brainwashing techniques used by their parents or guardian, usually in the best of motives, and that these said beliefs may be wrong. And so they remain obstinate to testing their particular set of truth claims and believe absolutely and blindly just because they have not the courage to face a potential conflicting truth; ergo we have people that firmly believe in completley contradictory belief systems of what truth is. This was a truth I had to face in my late teens/early twenties. *Please see side note below Personally, I began to realize that what I had believed, which was a product of how I was brought up, meant absolutely nothing and was potentially a big lie unless it was the belief system that correctly corresponded to reality; which is essentially the definition of veritas. This led me through a intent and deep journey into the pursuit of truth, specifically related to the Christian religion. The particulars of that pursuit are beyond the scope of this article, I just wanted to show that it wasn't until I realized my "defaultness" that I could actually honestly seek the Truth, or be sought by It, realizing it may crush or affirm the beliefs I had previously held more or less "blindly". There is no need to feel bad for being a default something. It is beyond our control to prevent or change that. What we do have control over though is when we do reach maturity, where issues like truth and reason and logic become comprehensible, what we do with the things we were nurtured to believe. Do we have the courage to test those beliefs? And if those beliefs are found to be false do we have the courage to accept that? Or will we forever be blind adherents to a system of beliefs that we only believe to be correct because that is all we knew growing up? Side Note: -I need to address something that irks me within Christendom and is directly related to default beliefs. It is very common for default Christians to identify their "moment of salvation" or "accepting Jesus into their hearts" at very young ages (by "young" I mean like from as low as three or four to around eleven or so). Christian parents also tout this experience of their young children, often with extreme pride and glee. These instances are all great and dandy, but I fear, mostly due to emotions (which by the way are no basis for truth), that these people don't quite have a grasp of what it really means to "ask Jesus into your heart" and what he really asks from us when we do that. You see, when a child is brought up in a Christian home, usually they are brought up as a Christian child. They are taught Christian principles and are cultured in a Christian lifestyle based on the Bible. They are not taught the Five Pillars of Islam, the Buddist code of ethics, atheistic creeds of disbelief, the provocativeness of hedonism, or intricacies of New Age forces. So when Christian mommy and daddy come to little Bobby or little Susie at age six and ask them if they want to accept Jesus into their hearts to save them, honestly, what do you think they're going to say?! "You know 'rents, I've been thinking, I don't really believe in this Jesus dude like you guys, that he really was the only way. I've been siding more towards a pluralistic viewpoint. I'm starting to embrace some eastern thoughts and aspects of Hinduism. Hope you don't mind." Of course not! And because children aren't stupid, they do know what will put a big huge smile on their parents' faces and so of course they'll say yes to accepting Jesus into their hearts even though they have no earthly idea what that really means. Please realize I'm not criticizing the child in this case; by no means, they don't know any better. But that is exactly my point, they don't know any better. How can you expect a child of that age to accept or choose Jesus into their hearts when, in their little world, there is no other choice? In those cases the only choice they're aware of is the Christian one so of course they're going to accept Jesus into their hearts. But it's not because they've realized their spiritual bastardization or sinful depravity in light of a Holy and perfect God, it's because they know it will make they're parents happy. So the thing that irks me isn't the children and their decisions and it's not even the fact that the parents encounter their children with these sort of questions and circumstances. It's when the parents, and the people that rely on these childhood "spritual" experiences, that put so much stock in them that concerns me. And parents are so emotionally attached to their children because they love them and want them to go to Heaven that they'll deny their child is too young to grasp their sin and God's grace that they'll convince themselves the child is saved just because the child said the words that they accept Jesus. Or even worse, the children are save merely because the parents themselves are Christians. Folks, saying the "sinner's prayer" and "accepting Jesus into your heart" is more than holding hands, saying words, and praying with someone. It involves deep reflection into one's very soul. It involves moments of absolute spiritual agony realizing your separation from God, and it involves indescribable humility to submit to God everything. These are depths, concepts, and feelings a child just cannot possibly comprehend or experience. But Jesus requires from us faith like a child Keith. Yes, but that faith is required of believers who've already gone through the aforementioned spiritual transformation, so that they won't marginalize God's infinite power in their lives and the lives of others. I'm not going to address the state of these children's souls (whether "innocents" go to Heaven or Hell), much like the souls of the unborn or babies, etc., because that is beyond the scope of this article. But I will say that parent's and person's are treading into dangerous territory if they believe a meaningless, to the child that is, prayer that a child said under their parent's prodding, or that they said when they were a child, has real eternal bearing. If they are relying on those times as their "salvation moment", they could be in danger of the gates of Hell. Those times aren't "bad", and they very well may be the beginning of a salvation process, it is just they are merely "default" spiritual experiences that you or the child had no choice to enter into. We must recognize this as Christians and as Christian parents so that we take stock of our own spiritual state and that we encourage our kids as they get older to seek out God and Truth on their own so they develop their own faith, apart from their parent's. The question I struggle with though is how does one bring up a child? Obviously I'm not going to refrain from saying anything about the particular belief system I and my wife believe in because if I don't "brainwash" my child, someone else will. But I think this brainwashing (in essence, that is what parents do to their children, you can't deny that) can be done in a manner that encourages the pursuit of truth on their own. If in fact what belief system you've taught them is correct, an honest pursuit of truth by your child (and this does not necessarily mean comprimising their current faith), when they're old enough to do it and comprehend it, will lead them to that system. So I don't think we should be afraid to show our children vulnerability towards the unempirical nature of what we believe. I'm not saying that we should all bring our children up in relativism (i.e. "whatever you discover "truth" to be is true for you but not me"); I'm just saying that we should be honest with them and encourage them to pursue truth on their own throughout life and to not just accept what people tell them at face value or rely on their parent's faith. Encourage them to test everything and to hold onto the good. For when all truth-claims have been thoroughly tested and reasoned through, only the real Truth will remain standing, that which best describes reality, our place in it, and that which is beyond it… ...but I'm not a parent, so I couldn't possibly know what it's like to raise a child... |
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