In a recent column I used the word "paradigm." Spoken aloud, it sounds like "pair o dime" - a big word with a simple meaning. We all have a paradigm but likely we never think about it. Today, I want you to take out your paradigm and examine it!
The word "paradigm" refers to the mental filters through which you view your world. For instance, most of us are taught to believe the material world operates based on unchanging laws -- like gravity, cause and effect, or 2+2=4.
Based on knowing these laws, our society has accomplished a great deal. We were schooled in western scientific rationalism. But in some cultures, people believe in an unseen realm: that a spirit can cause events or a curse can impact your life.
Your belief system -- your paradigm -- affects how you interpret what you see. Are you powerless? Is your fate fixed? Can your choices today change your future forever? Here in America, southerners have a different paradigm from northerners. I like catfish and grits. Northerners are ignorant of these fine things. Women have a different paradigm than us men. That fact first hit home soon after I was married. To my surprise, my sweet wife saw things differently than me.
Parents, schools, media, and culture all shape our paradigm. So does religion. What is acceptable and what's not? How should we live? We have a perspective ingrained in our thinking but we don't realize it. Ordinarily we have no reason to examine our assumptions about life. Hey, it works fine for me, thank you very much!
I have friends who have never been to church. They are naive regarding evil; clueless about God. They live with chaos and think it's normal. My own paradigm is from a distinctly biblical viewpoint. I grew up believing in God, reading the Bible, and praying. And, I'm a science nerd. Go figure.
Despite that, I had a huge paradigm shift the first time I witnessed a miracle. I saw a healing occur in an instant. Suddenly, my view of reality shifted. Later, I saw a person set free from a spirit causing them torment. My worldview shook like an earthquake had happened under my feet. "Whoa!" I said to myself, "That's like what I read in the Bible!"
Let me share some recent data that will adjust your thinking toward reality. Are you ready? Warning: this information can cause a "High-Speed Paradigm Shift" in folks!
Many Christians in America - for a variety of reasons - have a paradigm that assumes Christianity is losing ground; that we're in the minority. In fact, we're quite certain that we're losing! We're engulfed in a barrage of information that's overwhelmingly negative. So we hope to escape this crazy world and avoid its impending troubles.
In my lifetime I've seen an explosion of world-changing events. Israel became a nation, men landed on the moon, color TV, Kennedy was shot, penicillin, pocket calculators, Martin Luther King killed, the Internet, the charismatic renewal, cell phones, family disintegration, and the rise of ISIS. My personal paradigm has shifted a lot!
Recent surveys reveal the Roman Catholic Church is still the largest group of those who claim to be Christians. The second largest group (not a distinct denomination) includes the Christians who pray, believe in miracles, and experience the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
With seven billion people on earth, one of three people now identify as Christians. For every baby that's born today, four people are "born again" as believers in Jesus!
By every measure, Christians are the fastest growing people-group on the planet -- not Muslims; not atheists. Worldwide, about a million people a week are converting to Christ.
Maybe your tradition is drying up. But here's the truth -- this is not a post-Christian era. It is a pre-Christian world that's emerging amidst the world's groaning birth pangs.
RON WOOD OF FAYETTEVILLE IS A MINISTER, WRITER AND WORKS WITH EMT IN PRAIRIE GROVE. HE LIVES WITH HIS WIFE, LANA, AND THEIR RETIRED JACK RUSSELL TERRIER, NEAR THEIR SIX GRANDCHILDREN. EMAIL: [email protected].
Editorial on 08/19/2015