Indoctrination Vs. Reality

By Freedom from Guilt ~

I could probably fill a book up with all the disgust I have for fundamentalist indoctrination. But I won't or at least I won't TODAY.

Image by AlicePopkorn via Flickr

Husband and I went to counseling today. It's been a positive experience for us. I realized today, after our meeting that my husband's fear of what I am doing is based largely on what he has been taught to believe about unbelievers or back sliders. For years, he's been listening to the voices, whether it be bible verses, preachers, authors, friends or teachers tell him HOW he should respond to and WHAT he should think about unbelievers. I've walked the road with him and I know that:

Two can't walk down the road together if they are not in agreement
Don't be unequally yoked
Unbelievers are stubborn
Unbelievers Love themselves more than they love god
Unbelievers are disobedient
Unbelievers don't know true love
Unbelievers are deceived or operating under the influence of Satan
Unbelievers are full of sin and wickedness
Unbelievers have hardened their necks and hearts against god
Leading other's astray will result in harsher punishment
Being led away shows weakness, faults in your character, demonic influence in your life, hatred of god

And the list goes on. I can see how he would be so afraid of me. I can see how he must be feeling so confused inside. When you hear ALL your life about how BAD it is to not believe and how EVIL the unbeliever is in their hearts and then the person you love most in the world no longer believes, it must cause tremendous amounts of cognitive dissonance. He's been taught something and he's believed it. Now the reality of it is presented to him and he doesn't know whether he should believe his eyes or what he has been told.

I'm hoping eventually, he will be able to trust in his eyesight. If I'm happy, at peace, balanced and still the shining person inside that I've always tried to be then he can know that maybe, just maybe he's bought into a lie or that reality is never really so black and white!

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