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There’s a little phrase that ruffles my feathers sometimes, “I was always taught.” It bothers me because it suggests not really thinking for yourself, not even really taking responsibility for what you do think and believe. “I was always taught,” as if this is the approved curriculum so I don’t even question it.

Question everything.

God Himself appreciates our questions and we are told to seek wisdom. Seek and ye shall find. Not knowledge, but wisdom. Also, she is female, wisdom that is, not because women are smarter, but simply because it is a delightful analogy with many implications. It is the nature of women to receive, reflect, and multiply. So it is with wisdom, too. Also the dreaded s word applies here, submission, because all great thinkers must surrender what they know, submit to the possibility that our own intelligence is not the end all and be all of all things. Come unto Him like a child full of wonder and curiosity and He will show you what you need to know.

Don’t believe everything you think.

I really grew up on the fringe, in rather unpleasant circumstances, did not go to school, or church, and while there were a lot of drawbacks, there were some good things about it too, I really had to learn how to think for myself. Unfortunately many of the things I was taught were not so good. There is no God. Life has no meaning. The world is a dangerous place. People are out to get you. That is the cruelty of atheism and those who don’t see it, should try to perceive it through a child’s eyes.

Today I am a radical free thinker, one who constantly questions everything, even God Himself, although with great reverence and admiration, at least for the most part. Sometimes I am more like that annoying little kid that just keeps asking “why” because they don’t like the answer, but for the most part I question with reverence, like one might admire a great artist and wish to understand them.

There is a lot of indoctrination in the world today, technology, advertising, education, the media, all entities more than willing to do all our thinking for us. Break out of that sound barrier, step out of the box, use your own brain and think. That’s what moves us forward, that’s what brings us wisdom.

I love the quote, “The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself.”

lion