The Problem

Many people are never really sure where they stand with God, and that's assuming they believe there is one. Who is He? What does He want?

Some say they know God and He loves them unconditionally, as long as they do the right things.

The confusion about God is worldwide. Who is Jesus? Why did He have to die? What difference does it make, anyway?

Why would anyone want to worship a God Who has a dark side, which if found on a human being would be considered an evil one?

Need we continue?

The truth is that God loves children because they aren't complicated and neither is He. The answer to every possible question about God is so simple. Only children can understand it. Jesus said if you want to understand you just have to become like a child, you need the mind of a child. Then the whole world opens to you.

Think about it. People are born brilliant. A child comes out of the womb with pretty much a blank slate. They know nothing. They can't understand a word anyone says, yet within a few short years they can often speak several languages. What happened to us? What changed?

It's pretty simple. We start off knowing nothing, so there is nothing to get in the way of learning. As we begin to learn, some of what we learn is not true and we don't know it. We don't even know enough yet to be capable of evaluating what we are learning. That's why having good parents and teachers are so important. Initially, they are our editing mechanism until we can edit on our own.

Unfortunately, by the time we have our own editing mechanisms, our foundational knowledge is pretty well set and has become the filter through which we edit what we are learning. That means our editing will have distortions of which we are unaware. Each of us sees life through lenses of our own making and no one else can see what we are seeing the way we are seeing it. These distortions create the dysfunctions we all  face at various points in our lives.

So, how do we go back and correct the distortions in our own lenses so we can see things correctly and achieve lasting solutions to the world's problems? We have to unlearn what we know that isn't true. Most people do not enjoy the prospect that some of what they know is wrong and they have to unlearn it. They just want things to change so they can get their dysfunctional thinking to work better.

The only knowledge a person can use is knowledge that they believe. They must believe what they learn or it is unlikely they will be able to use it, in fact, they won't want to use it. And, wrong knowledge can become a barrier to learning correct knowledge. People frequently encounter difficulty learning certain things simply because some aspect of their foundational knowledge is not true and they don't know it. What we learn first becomes our basis for determining the rightness of subsequent knowledge. If our first knowledge is wrong, we will very likely reject subsequent knowledge that may very well be true, yet we can't believe it because it contradicts something we already KNOW is true. Of course, good learning involves discovering that certain things we know as true may possibly be superseded by more correct knowledge. But no one escapes all wrong knowledge. For instance, you may be a scientist who is willing to examine and test certain types of knowledge. But, are you also willing to honestly examine and test knowledge upon which your very personality is built? Not likely.

No one wants to believe that somewhere in their belief systems is knowledge that they believe is true but really isn't. In fact, that is a downright scary proposition. If I admit that some of the knowledge upon which my life is based may not be true, I'm in a pickle. If I'm even willing, how do I find out what I know that is false that is causing the occasional dysfunctions I experience. You know what? It may just be easier to deny I have any dysfunctions. It can be even easier to  blame others or situations. My problems and perceptions of others are not indicative of something wrong with my beliefs. And I can prove it. Just look at what they did or what is happening in the world. My perspective is the right one. Those people, they are wrong.

So, we were born brilliant and learned to speak a language and do all sorts of cool things within just a few short years. What has happened to us?

I describe it this way. People are born brilliant. It is what we learn that makes us stupid.

In order to become unstupid in the things of life, we need to start unlearning the wrong things we are sure are true and have never even questioned.

As a friend of mine recently told me, "Okay, I realize I believe things that are wrong. What are they so I can fix them?" Though his was an honest question, it was the wrong place to start. In order to answer his question we had to begin building a new foundation, one of understanding. My friend didn't need to know anything else, he just needed to correctly understand what he already knows. With the correct understanding his life has begun to make sense and answers that he could have never imagined just keep appearing.