Before we came to Christ we were all conformed to this world and we will continue to be so if we allow ourselves to be influenced by it. Messages from this world are still being received by our brains and interpreted by our minds. Prior to birth, the only world an infant has seen is the inside of their mother’s womb. Newborn children have just enough preprogramming to sustain life. Other than that, their minds are a blank slate. They have no vocabulary and no understanding of the world around them. Their world view is shaped by the environment in which they are raised. Values and attitudes about life are primarily formed in their minds in two ways. First, through prevailing experiences such as the home in which they were raised, the neighborhood in which they played, the friends they had, and the churches they attended or did not attend. Values and attitudes are more caught than taught. Formal education is another prevailing experience that also shapes our world view. It is important to understand that all children will interpret the data they receive differently. That is one reason why two children raised in the same home respond so differently.
A traumatic experience such as the death of a family member, the divorce of parents, and emotional, sexual, or physical abuse are the other primary contributors to attitude formation. Traumatic experiences are deeply etched in people’s minds and they shape their beliefs about God, themselves and the world in which they live. These deeply rooted beliefs keep people in bondage to their past, and not the traumatic experience itself. Suppose a father abandoned his family. The wife and children would each process this loss differently. They might think: Where was God? What’s wrong with me? All men are sick and untrustworthy. I will never get married (or married again). How come he didn’t love us? Is there something wrong with me? From now on I am going to . . .
These lasting impressions are burned into our minds over time through repetition (prevailing experiences), or by the intensity of powerful experiences both good and bad (traumatic experiences). We live according to what we have chosen to believe about ourselves and the world around us, and we aren't always aware that we are continuously gathering information that forms, alters or intensifies our beliefs. Many cruise through life with a carefree attitude unaware of how they are being influenced by the world in which they live.
The external sources of information vary greatly from one culture to another, and there is no values-neutral culture. Everyone has some safe and healthy inputs from their surroundings, but also some contaminated and unhealthy external stimuli affecting their world view and their belief about themselves and God. Our belief system is always changing as we process positive and negative information and experiences. Unfortunately, not every piece of information we receive comes clearly marked as productive or unproductive, good or evil, true or false!
