Heaven, we need some paradigms shifted

"Everything that can be invented has been invented."-Charles H. Duell, U.S. Commissioner of Patenets, in 1899

Sounds pretty stupid, no? But he was convinced it was true.

I had the privilege of a two hour drive with my sister this past Sunday, and we talked a lot about paradigms. For those of you who don't know what a paradigm is, it's basically your point of view, your belief system, your frame of reference. Actually, everyone has multiple paradigms. Paradigms are like the glasses through which we see the world. Most of the time, we have inaccurate or incomplete paradigms, and it's like seeing the world through glasses with the wrong prescription. Props to Sean Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens, for the glasses analogy. Speaking of that book, by the way, my sister is currently reading it, and I read it several years ago. Highly, highly recommended book. I have a copy of it here with me at college and I'm willing to lend it to anyone who wants to read it.

But back to the point. We were talking about paradigms, and how most of the time our paradigms are inaccurate and cause us to view things in a skewed manner. For example, have you ever had a friend who is usually talkative become very quiet around you, and you assume that you did something wrong? When you finally talked to them about it, it turned out that they were having a bad day--maybe they were worried about their grade in a class, or they had just gotten in a fight with another friend. Your paradigm was inaccurate because you had incomplete information. Once you had the additional information, your paradigm was shifted.

Other times, our paradigms are messed up because we have messed up beliefs to begin with. For example, you may believe that you aren't good at a particular subject, such as math or science. When you get a low grade on a test, you may conclude that it's because you just can't learn the material, even though the truth is that you can learn the material, and it's likely that the material on the test was just difficult.

When we have messed up paradigms, we end up making statements that sound just as stupid as the quote at the beginning of the post. The thing is, most of the time nobody realizes just how stupid the statements really are. For example:

"God doesn't care where I go to college/who I marry/etc."

"You can't judge me. You don't understand where I'm coming from!"

"You can't judge me, the Bible says not to judge."

"That can't be God's will, because it won't make me happy."

"You need to date a lot of people to figure out what kind of person you want to marry."

"God, You better have an explanation for that one."

"God, do You even care?"

"I'm this way because of how I grew up/my parents/my education/etc."

"It's part of my personality, I can't help it."

I'm sure anyone reading this has probably said something on the above list, or something similar, before. I know I have. I know I've probably offended someone with the above list.

I don't care.

And here's why:

Over the past several years of my life, God has shown me a lot of truths that go against a lot of what is taught in youth groups, sunday schools, churches, and bible studies today. Some of the things that are taught are just flat out wrong. Others are partially true, but must be balanced against another side of the coin. The result of these wrong or skewed teachings, though, is having a devastating effect on my generation and the generations below me.

Over the next few days I want to post a few of the most major paradigm shifters God has revealed to me, through His Word, other people who are wiser than I, books, sermons, etc. My hope is that others can have their perspectives change the way mine has. I'm not perfect, or even close to perfect, by any means. I'm just a child of God who is frustrated by all the messed up paradigms she sees around her. God can free this generation of the paradigms holding us back. But in order to do so, we must be willing to listen to the truth.