It is a word that means a way of thinking or a mind set. It is not easy to change a paradigm because it seems and feels so right. It feels like a moral issue but in reality it is only cultural. Captains, cooks, drivers, hostellers, repairmen, and dock tenders will be left without means of a livelihood, not to mention the numerous farmers now employed in growing hay for the horses. Boat builders would suffer and towline, whip and harness makers would be left destitute.
Canal boats are absolutely essential to the defense of the United States.
In the event of expected trouble with England, the Erie Canal would be the only means by which we could ever move the supplies so vital to waging modern war. The Almighty surely never intended that people should travel at such breakneck speed. As you can see, paradigm thinking can easily hamstring vision, change and progress. The reason they can't relate to the church in it's current form is because socially, intellectually and culturally they have bypassed it. Unfortunately, in many cases, the church has become a subculture unto itself.