The Problem of Paradigms
We had an interesting discussion this week in Sunday school having to do with the following question.
Why don’t more people believe Jesus is who devoted Christians believe him to be?
Why is it when two people look at the evidence one believes and the other does not?
One member of the discussion voiced the opinion that change is difficult. It is easier to stay with the status quo than to buck the system. This is true, but would people go so far as to accept what they know to be false in order to keep from crossing over to the other side?
I’m afraid the answer for many, possibly most, is Yes.
We humans have incredible creative skills to justify most anything. In fact we don’t have to go too far into the Bible to find the first man and woman doing just this.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Genesis 3:1-13 (ESV)
So after God finds Adam and Eve hiding from him he asks them to explain what happened. This questioning has echoed down the corridors of time being repeated by parents in every generation since.
“So, tell me what did you do?” the parent asks.
“It’s not my fault! Timmy did it!”
In the story of Adam and Eve, Adam didn’t just blame Eve. He blamed God because God made Eve.
In essence he was telling God that if circumstances were completely different he wouldn’t have been coerced into doing what he did. Obviously, to Adam, it wasn’t his fault.
Eve blamed the serpent and indirectly God as well, because of course, if God hadn’t made the serpent . . .
Which brings me to the problem of paradigms
A paradigm is a way of seeing. It isn’t enough to see something, it is also important to interpret what it is we see.
Let’s stick with the Adam and Eve story to describe paradigms and how they form.
The first paradigm ever for mankind was the God-centric Paradigm. Man wakes up in a completely created beautiful garden on a completely created earth with a beautiful sun shining during the day and a dazzling moon shining at night, not to mention all the stars. Everything was idyllic and in balance. With a little instruction on God’s part man studies plants and animals and names them as he builds his own language. Eventually the man sees he does not have a mate and so God gives him the perfect one. Now he is living in paradise with a beautiful woman and in complete harmony with nature and God. It doesn’t get any better than this.
I don’t know why he did it, but then often my own stupidity is beyond my ability to grasp. For whatever reason the cunning questions of a single creature introduce a new paradigm into the story.
The serpent simply asks a few questions the woman and man had not considered. Why would God withhold something so good and tasty from those he pretends to love? Certainly God is up to no good. (At least that’s what I take from the snake’s tone and line of questioning).
The serpent tells them they are missing out and that nothing is what it seems. True happiness will only come when they do things their way. Does this sound like the logic of adolescence to you?
And that forbidden fruit?
It won’t kill you.
It will open your eyes.
It will be the doorway to an incredible adventure.
Who needs God?
He’s the big spoiler of the wonderful life you truly deserve.
If you fall for believing in God, look at everything you will lose.
And once the first bite is swallowed, the woman and the man enter the Serpent-centric Paradigm — the one we have all been living in ever since.
So my answer to the reason it is so difficult to accept the Good News that believing in Jesus can reverse the curse we find ourselves still in today is because we are still being held captive in The Serpent’s Paradigm.
Take drugs to feel better?
No problem. It’s part of our paradigm.
Trust God to be born back into the original garden paradigm that lasts for forever?
How can anyone believe anything so foolish?
Just consider your first picture of the dangerous, but alluring serpent and you have your answer. Many would rather trade the immediate thrill or pleasure & the lie that they rule their lives rather than hold out for “pleasures forevermore” with the Lord of creation.