It is said that life is a journey, not a destination. Few of our views remain fixed for all our lives, but we change as we grow in knowledge, experience, & awareness. I grew up in a secular home.. no church, very little politics.. & as i went to school, i learned all i needed to know about life (so i thought). I was a liberal hippie.. crazed with sex, drugs, & rock & roll. The back to land movement was very appealing to me, & i was an early advocate to 'save the earth'. I became an atheist, & explained everything with naturalism. Evolution, & animal instincts were the only real motivations in life, & naive theists or altruistic ideals were for the superstitious & deluded. I voted for mcgovern in my first election, & did not believe in absolutes in morality. But, i was a philosopher even then, & was fascinated by discussions of abstract thinking. So by college, my indoctrination from the 'world' was complete. Here were the tenets of my faith.
1. no god
2. man is an accident of nature.
3. no morality
4. love & altruism was for fools
5. man is the lord of his environment
6. grab all the gusto you can, you only go around once
7. the educated elite are supreme.. only deluded superstitious people cling to illusions
8. democrats were the educated elite, & would control the stupid masses
There are probably a few more tidbits of leftist indoctrination in there, but you get the idea. :D
My problem was i was still looking for truth. I was intrigued by life, & wanted to know. That quest led me to an encounter with the Living God. My whole world crashed around me, & EVERYTHING changed. ALL the sacred tenets of my faith (i didn't call it that, then) became suspect, as i looked for a basis for my views, & valued reason & thought over blind faith. It was not immediate.. i voted for carter in '76, & was still liberal in many of my views.. and still am, in the more classic liberal sense. But now my views are more along these lines:
1. God is
2. man is a creation
3. man has accountability for his thoughts & actions
4. Love & altruism were genuine traits, originating in the divine
5. Man is not in control, & is an arrogant fool in the face of the universe
6. Live your life circumspectly, as you will answer for your thoughts & actions
7. Liberation of humanity, spiritually & physically, is the goal
8. Freedom from control, & liberty for the individual, is the ideal, not dictatorial rule
These are all completely antithetical to my original views.. but since the root was changed, it is to be expected that the branches & fruit would change, too. I now see the progressive left as enemies of humanity, & especially the american ideal. Their view of god is not important, since they miss the basic point of freedom. There may still be some tweaking in my world view, but this is where i am in my journey.
