I posted those thoughts today as an example of what it’s like to live inside as strong a paradigm as some religions and cults promote.

All of us have worldviews /paradigms for how the world works. When we receive information, we pass it through our filter of what we know to be true.

Part of my paradigm filter is that humans, though conductors of the divine/universal, are never always divine/universal. Therefore, the Holy Bible, though certainly inspired by the divine, cannot be 100 percent divine, as it passed through many human filters.

So, debating points 2 & 3 (geocentric universe & Noah’s microbes) with a Bible Thumper can’t even happen because you won’t get past point number 1 (Infallability of scripture).

It predictably turns into a frustrating game of bumping boxes.

I’d love to just let sleeping dogs lie in my family, but listening to arguments like these is like watching someone you love walk up a slippery slope and just bracing yourself for the imminent fall. Unfortunately, the other side feels the same way, only that the fall is a fall to the death in fiery hell, with the added pain of watching your daughter morph into the Devil’s Advocate (a great movie, by the way).

And I told someone the other day I didn’t need Daddy’s approval…I still think that’s true, but is it too much to ask not to be judged as an Antichrist? I actually get that a lot from people that knew me before I reconstructed my personal paradigms about the world. They almost always show disappointment and scold me for the change, which smacks me as repulsive judgmentalism and arrogance thinly disguised as care and concern.

Make no mistake, Fundamentalists “know” they are on the right path and that you are on the wrong one. What they don’t know (and what their paradigms do not permit them to entertain) is that all paths lead to the same shiny happy universe in the end.

We all must be allowed to follow the path that we feel brings the most light into our own and others’ lives. Unfortunately, I do not feel allowed at all–I feel temporarily permitted (by reason of insanity), with the permit revocable at any time.