Religious Indoctrination as Children...

I have seen and been through the struggle of having my belief forged in the furnaces of popular opinion - of religious conditioning - of peer pressure from those within Christianity.

We burn neural pathways into our brain, making straight the path of approval for those that want to be accepted into the “fold.”

Human beings need to belong. They are creatures of habit with few exceptions.

From an early age people have their beliefs burned within their conscious record much like a music CD or cinematic DVD is “burned” with a particular song or movie. This is why the scripture is true that says in Proverbs 22:6, 6 "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

I have seen many people that are free from their religious indoctrination as young adults that inevitably return to religious indoctrination - that is because it is familiar to them - those pathways have been established through repetition as children. It is sort of like this:

Imagine that you are in a strange city looking for a grocery store driving along unfamiliar streets (without GPS of course). It is not a good to feel unsure of your surroundings and having the frustration that comes from searching. Now imagine yourself on autopilot in your own city not even remembering how you got to the store because you are so familiar with the route. As you arrive at the store, people cheer, hug and accept you for making it to the store. How would you feel about going there? This is similar to religious indoctrination - it is familiar to us and will strike familiar chords within us. Comfort is found within familiarity. And so many return. And when they return, they are lovingly accepted back into the fold.

Indoctrination lasts a lifetime UNLESS…. and UNTIL…

There is a seed of RIGHTeousness planted deep within us that begins to sprout, and GROW and eventually it will overtake the “GARDEN” that is, our consciousness. There is such deep truth that has been a part of us forever, that when it begins to grow will eclipse those old and familiar pathways - truth that begins to challenge indoctrination.

I remember a story that the reason why train tracks are the width that they are is because that was the width of horse and buggy carriage wheels. The old always births the new and the new carries with it the earmarks of the old. The reason why we resort to childhood indoctrination is because that is what we know, not necessarily what is true.

Now more than ever people are leaving religious structures because consciousness is much more sophisticated than what we have been force fed as children - it is no longer that familiar to us because we as a civilization have grown past the point of our programming. No longer do we accept that a loving God would burn people forever - that wasn’t God, that was a concept birthed within the “Inquisition" period of time and that was adopted as a very effective means to control people.

A while back I heard a man named Ian Chellan say this: “For those of you that believe Satan and Lucifer are one and the same and am here to tell you that they are not. But don’t take my word for it, study FOR YOURSELF.”

I was shocked at the statement but took his advice to study and after weeks of reading do you know what? He was absolutely right!

Too many will just accept what they are told rather than to become a student and pursuer of truth. I thought to myself, if I was wrong about Satan and Lucifer being one and the same then what else do I have wrong???

That was the beginning of the end of Christian indoctrination for me and I have not looked back. I became VERY uncomfortable and could simply NOT conform any longer. It became very uncomfortable for me to attend church anywhere that taught similarly that the reason we have train tracks the width that we do is because that was the width of the horse and buggy carriage wheels. No more.

To break free from those pathways is UNFAMILIAR. Remember the word familiar is akin to “family.” It is a hard thing to leave our parental and religious oversight but we must if we are to truly grow into the full measure and stature of CHRIST.