When I said that beliefs taught to me by my culture aren’t necessarily wrong, you helpfully offered, “It doesn’t mean they’re right either!” Of course, you’re correct and you should absolutely make your bold assertion whenever somebody foolishly proclaims, “I’m right because I was taught to think this way!”

Fools are fond of saying stuff like, “The only reason you believe in God is because you were brainwashed by religious leaders,” as if their own beliefs were conjured up out of nothing by unidentified cosmic forces. While they laugh and jeer at my ‘indoctrination,’ it never occurs to their enlightened minds that they’ve also been ‘brainwashed’ by somebody.

I’ve never heard an atheist say, “How convenient that the universe arranged matters so that when you happen to be raised by atheists, atheism turns out to be true.” That’s because fools are dishonest and hypocritical. If they applied the same standard to themselves that they apply to Christians like me, they wouldn’t be fools.

While I appreciate the effort to ‘keep me honest’ by reminding me that I could be wrong; you’re preaching to the choir. I’m NOT the one who’s arguing that indoctrination automatically validates beliefs. I am aware that my ideas about God might be incorrect. But I’m also aware that my beliefs come from the culture where I live and that tells me precisely NOTHING about whether or not those beliefs are true.

(John 8:45) “Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”