out of order

Here's a quick way to express the change in perspective that helped dislodge me from my former faith-based beliefs (which were in the US white evangelical category). Back then, my commitment to those beliefs was the starting point of my thinking. Those beliefs literally were introduced to me first before I learned various other ideas. Then, because those other ideas happened to correspond very well to reality, I was obliged to try to harmonize those with the faith-based beliefs. I had to cram the pieces I'd been handed into the crooked frame that I'd been handed long ago.

The epiphany was to stop assuming these grandiose ideas were accurate to begin with. The reason behind this tactic is simple: ideas like talk are cheap. None should be necessarily trusted because an idea can be fabricated and spread so easily. The way to cope with the deceitfulness of ideas is to decide that each one, no matter where it came from, is only as accurate as the results of the the methods that are used to hold it up next to reality. The details of the results matter of course, but equally as important are the details of the methods. "Good" results obtained through unsound methods haven't gained much credibility for the tested ideas.

I'd gotten the order wrong. Another way to put it is that people shouldn't start with an end result in mind and then proceed to manipulate the facts so it remains feasible. The instructions to follow are: take the idea that you wish were accurate, consider what facts you'd reasonably expect to find due to the effects of the idea, then finally examine reality through appropriate methods and judge whether the expected facts have been found in practice. 

The change was like asking myself, "If I weren't someone who'd been raised to treat my beliefs as presumptions, who instead had to treat my beliefs as conclusions to be demonstrated, how well would that go?" The mental shift to giving the honest answer to this question was a lengthy process. After thinking out of order for so long, backtracking was the only way forward.