Many times in my life I’ve asked people what they believe. It’s probably the question I deem to be most important in determining the role someone will play in my life. Unfortunately, about 75% of the time, I’m met with an answer that begins with “Well, I was raised…”

Why do we do this? Why is how one was raised the first thing that comes to so many people’s minds when asking that question? I couldn’t care less about how you were raised; I care about what you believe.

I was raised in a Christian household, and I’m eternally grateful for that. Unfortunately though, that piece of information has been an obstacle in my experience when trying to get people to take me seriously. When someone is raised in a particular environment, people assume the child and even the eventual adult will become a product of that environment. People will even use their upbringing as an excuse for their behavior.

We need to stop doing this. We as Christians, we as humans need to break the cycle. We need to become the change we wish to see in the world. If you were raised Christian, great, but don’t take that for granted. Do your own research. Ask questions. Study. Learn. Figure out why you believe what you believe instead of just resting on the fact you were brought up a certain way.

It’s our responsibility as Christians to be able, to some degree, speak up when met with adversary. A part of the adversary mostly all Christians will at some point be met with is the question of why—why we believe what we believe. If “I was raised that way.” is our primary answer, we aren’t really going to be taken seriously, are we? And thus, we will be ineffective at furthering God’s kingdom.

God has given each and every one of us something so often taken for granted—free will, the power to choose for ourselves, the gift to go our own way.