if i never knew

I've heard about a few people, recently, who've been having doubts about their faith. I'm only writing this because I've had the same doubts. I've often asked myself, "If I had never grown up in a Christian home, raised to believe in an all-loving and all-powerful God, would I still believe? Would I, left to my own devices without having been influenced from a young age, considering the Christian faith objectively, have arrived at the same set of beliefs to which I currently hold?"

How can anyone figure out what he would have believed given a different course of events? We are, in some sense, the product of our past experiences. And, is this even the best course to take when trying to deduce truth? I admit, past experiences can bias our ways of thinking, but they can illuminate them, too. The conclusions you might have drawn in a sterile environment absent past baggage may not always be the best.

Suppose, for example, that I did not go to school. I did not take math classes. Would I have, on my own, stumbled across the theory of calculus? Okay, maybe you would have. And maybe you're Isaac Newton (but even he was "standing on the shoulder of giants"). But I certainly wouldn't have. Does that make calculus any less true? It'd be foolish to ignore the wisdom of our parents, and of those who came before us.

We are taught. We accept some of the things we are taught, reject others, based on the merit of their ideas. But an idea shouldn't lend itself to doubt simply because it was taught.

I admit. If I weren't raised christian, I might very well not be. This could be a disconcerting thought, but I choose to instead to thank God that He chose to reveal himself through me through my parents. And that is why I think christian parenting is incredibly important.

"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."
- Proverbs 22:6

And in case you're wondering. No. I am not planning on having kids any time soon.