The previous two days I wrote about where Atheists and Christians can find some common ground to at least understand each other as people. And I think there is value in that... to a point.
However, I find that it's usually left up to the Atheist to make the concessions.
And that's not fair.
In fact, its time to get to the meat and potatoes of why I am an atheist. And to empower myself to stop being "too nice" and get some things out in the open!
Evangelical Christianity is not a neutral position that atheists should "accept" and respect. I hope I did not give that impression in the previous posts. I want better dialogue with Christians that are willing. But there is a lot to address here! This brand of literal interpretation Christianity has had cataclysmic, hurtful, painful effects on my own life and on the lives of so many people. And that deserves to be called out and bashed in public forums.
The basic premise of the evangelical faith is the complete inability of a person to please God. Oh, he certainly "loves" us, but we are filthy, disgusting and born apart from God. We fearfully baptize babies, pray for them using the words "beautiful" in the same breath as "sinner." Parents dedicate their babies to the Lord to put the focus on indoctrination and early decision for Christ. And as much as we hear Pastors talk about God giving children that die a special type of grace, it doesn't jive with that dedication rhetoric.
That's all very fucked up. It is time we address that. Because there's no way to come half way on indoctrinating children.
The other huge issue with sin is the equally disturbing view that evangelicals have of our final destination after we die (in sin.) Hell. If it is not abuse to talk to a child about burning in a lake of fire and everlasting torment because of rejecting Jesus... I don't know what is. To tell a child that their every thought and decision is a sin that has eternal consequences is the cruelest, most harmful thing I can think of.
And it gets worse! Not only to bring up a child in the church with this "sin sick" conscience, but to cause them to create this diametrically opposed "us vs. them" world in their brains. Saved/non-saved. Heading to heaven/heading to hell. Children of God/Children of the devil. Able to please God/unable to please God at all. A person goes into teenage years with a distinct view that they have to keep separate.
And this brings me to the biggest reason I left the evangelical faith and why I have no problem calling out evangelicals: portraying clinical depression as a result of our sin!
There I was, convinced I was sad all the time because of unconfessed sin, constantly fearing that God heard every thought and knew how weak I was. I was convinced from books and messages that I was a sex addict, a lukewarm Christian, unable to keep my heart on Christ. Why did I think that? Because I was depressed all the time! And that had to be solved via applying the Holy Spirit's revelation to my conscience and constant discipline.
I hated myself. I hated who I was and I felt like God agreed with me. Oh, he loved me, but only because he created me. I could do nothing to please him. I could do nothing worth his love. He loved me because of a loophole. Jesus death and resurrection. Otherwise, I didn't deserve it.
So we have a group of people, walking around with deep conflicted hearts and self hatred, trying not to cling to this world because its destined to burn in unquenchable fire! And we are called to hate everything about the secular world, because everything is tinged in the color of the devil. His shadow is over everything that is outside the church. Music, media, government, on and on...
Punishment is coming. Fire is coming. Judgment is coming. I could feel my arm hairs stand on end as I thought about that moment.
Raised in Christ, sitting before God the father hearing a summary of my pitiful life. My failings, my sin, my inability to shake the sins of my flesh. And after all was laid bare, I would be allowed in, forgiven but... barely. I was lucky to be anywhere near saved.
Then to sit and watch the sword of Christ cut through his enemies... who rejected him... who deserved hell. And all my loved ones, reaching for my hand as they are stirred up in the lake of fire... because I had not done my job.
I should have prayed harder... listened to music less... pleaded with them! explained it again and again. Lived my life in a more perfect manner...
I cried all the time for my non-Christian family... friends... prayed quietly while driving for each person. Cried for Catholics, for Muslims, for anyone that I was told was still outside God's grace... even other denominations that were "liberal" and headed to hell.
Fuck it. I'm done being nice. I laid out my case to cooperate and join together on human rights. But that's not a statement of weakness. That's a statement that says "you better come together on human rights, because if you don't, you are an enemy."
So evangelical Christians, let me lay out my direct statements, minus any fucks given.
1. Don't tell my kids they are going to hell. I will not allow them to hate themselves because of this literal bullshit
2. Don't touch LGBTQ rights or you will lose all your influence (justifiably so)
3. Don't take away a women's right to make their own decisions regarding their body, keep the fuck away from legislation that discusses contraception.
4. Don't tell me I need to support Israel because it fulfills some end-times prophecy so you can get to the rapture quicker
5. Don't tell me we are a Christian nation founded on the bible. You know its not true. You know most founders were deists. You know there's a separation for a reason and you know we are owe most of our modern law code to Great Britain.
6. Don't go into other countries with the guise of giving aid just to force a bible on someone and tell them the good news they are going to hell. I will give my money to NGO's with secular visions.
7. Don't tell me we can't restrict gun ownership because of some "Republican-Jesus-Rambo" bullshit. Let's get laws out there that make sense.
8. Don't tell my kids that one particular Iron/Bronze age origin story belongs in a freaking science class.
9. Don't fight against Climate Change laws because you feel like the world is going to end and this won't be a problem. Fine, drink the Kool-Aid and get out of here so we can change the course of man-made climate change.
10. Don't tell me I have no moral compass when the bible is not a paragon of morality... need I say more?
And finally, don't tell me my depression is because of sin. I'll send you my therapy bills.
Thursday, May 2, 2019
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
Dear Christians - On Atheism
Dear evangelical Christians,
It's only fair that I send you an open letter because I took the time to write to fellow atheists and agnostics about good and bad ways to talk to Christians about their faith. And I think that's a productive conversation!
But I'm sure that you have a lot of misconceptions on your end about atheism. I was in your position. I had no idea what it meant to be an atheist. And I had no idea why they did not have a belief in the God of the bible. I had the same assumptions that you might have. So I want to write this out to you evangelical Christians about dialoguing with Atheists. Should we be scared of them? Do they have a holy text? Are they all the same? Are they trying to take over the world!!!! Will they eat my babies? Do they worship Satan?
1. Atheism is not ONE collective, organized position. It's one position on the claim that a God exists. So its impossible to sum up all atheists or bring them under one umbrella. That does not mean that atheists do not believe in anything. Its just an answer to the God claim. I'll use the general term Atheist, but not everything applies to every atheist. And I hope this is appreciated because I also don't lump every Christian into one group.
2. The basis for a position on the God claim usually comes from simply not being convinced there's enough evidence to have a positive position. For myself, it came from taking a rational, skeptical look at the claims and realized I did not have enough evidence to remain in the church. A lot of atheists use words like evidence, skepticism, rationality, sources etc. In other words, everything that remains when you take away emotional claims/faith.
3. Atheists do not hate God or worship Satan. I can't hate what I don't believe in. I also don't believe in a Satan... so I definitely would not worship Satan. And I don't hate the Bible or Christians or religion. The only thing that I would take a position on is protecting people who's freedoms would be taken away by legislating from the Bible.
4. The majority opinion among scholars is still that there was a historical Jesus. You may have heard most atheists do not believe in any historical figure that could have resembled Jesus of Nazareth. Even amongst Agnostic/atheist scholars, they still find convincing evidence for a historical person. There are a number of influential writers who are trying to build a case to challenge that (Mythicists.) But as of right now, they can't assail the scholarly work done by Historians.
5. Atheists do believe in morality. But it is not a morality found in a set of laws. It is a morality that has developed within social groups for survival and cooperation. This is how morality is explained and how it developed over hundreds of thousands of years even to the point of groups forming laws.
6. Atheists are not atheists just so they can get away with sinning. If a person takes a position that the bible is not the moral authority and that morality has origins in the past, sin is not a "thing." We make decisions in our own understanding of morality as part of a social group based on risk/reward. Yes, this does free the conscience from the biblical idea of 'thought police." There's no doubt about that. but people still have consequences for actions that are illegal in our society.
7. Atheists are not trying to take God out of everything. This is the focus of Christian movies and books. Activist atheists trying to impose a Godless society on the world. My perspective is historical. That's the purpose of my blog. I have no problem saying that Christianity and religion in general are huge parts of our western culture and would be incalculably different without it. Art, music, works of literature and elements of culture that are religious have value. However, my position is that we can't dictate the morality of the bible into someone else's life that does not believe in it. Christians are protected by the church and state division as well as adherents to other religions or no religion.
8. Atheists do not hate creationism. For myself, in historical perspective, the epic narrative of the book of Genesis have value in context. There's no reason why creation epics should not have a place in literature and comparative religion classes. However, they are not scientific explanations that can be taken apart and tested via the scientific method. It does not mean they have no value as literature. But they are not science. Therefore, they should not be put next to methods that are testable and repeatable.
9. Atheists do not have "nothing to live for." This is something I hear all the time. Once I left my faith, I must be miserable and destitute for meaning in my life. Nothing could be further from the truth. I love my life. I find meaning in what I do. I enjoy my relationships and being a father. I love art, history, nature and enjoy making the world a better place. I am not sad that I left the church and furthermore, I don't hold any disdain for Christians. My journey is unique, just like each journey in faith or out of faith.
10. Not all atheists are nice. Not all are assholes! They are just people. You wouldn't want an atheist judging all of Christianity based on one jerk. Well, same with atheism. I don't like some of the atheist activists on YouTube and at conferences. That's just natural. It has to do with approach and personality. Unless you want every Christians judged by the Westborough Baptist Church... (which I know you don't) give us some leeway as well.
So let me know what you think! Thanks for your time Christians!
Steve
It's only fair that I send you an open letter because I took the time to write to fellow atheists and agnostics about good and bad ways to talk to Christians about their faith. And I think that's a productive conversation!
But I'm sure that you have a lot of misconceptions on your end about atheism. I was in your position. I had no idea what it meant to be an atheist. And I had no idea why they did not have a belief in the God of the bible. I had the same assumptions that you might have. So I want to write this out to you evangelical Christians about dialoguing with Atheists. Should we be scared of them? Do they have a holy text? Are they all the same? Are they trying to take over the world!!!! Will they eat my babies? Do they worship Satan?
1. Atheism is not ONE collective, organized position. It's one position on the claim that a God exists. So its impossible to sum up all atheists or bring them under one umbrella. That does not mean that atheists do not believe in anything. Its just an answer to the God claim. I'll use the general term Atheist, but not everything applies to every atheist. And I hope this is appreciated because I also don't lump every Christian into one group.
2. The basis for a position on the God claim usually comes from simply not being convinced there's enough evidence to have a positive position. For myself, it came from taking a rational, skeptical look at the claims and realized I did not have enough evidence to remain in the church. A lot of atheists use words like evidence, skepticism, rationality, sources etc. In other words, everything that remains when you take away emotional claims/faith.
3. Atheists do not hate God or worship Satan. I can't hate what I don't believe in. I also don't believe in a Satan... so I definitely would not worship Satan. And I don't hate the Bible or Christians or religion. The only thing that I would take a position on is protecting people who's freedoms would be taken away by legislating from the Bible.
4. The majority opinion among scholars is still that there was a historical Jesus. You may have heard most atheists do not believe in any historical figure that could have resembled Jesus of Nazareth. Even amongst Agnostic/atheist scholars, they still find convincing evidence for a historical person. There are a number of influential writers who are trying to build a case to challenge that (Mythicists.) But as of right now, they can't assail the scholarly work done by Historians.
5. Atheists do believe in morality. But it is not a morality found in a set of laws. It is a morality that has developed within social groups for survival and cooperation. This is how morality is explained and how it developed over hundreds of thousands of years even to the point of groups forming laws.
6. Atheists are not atheists just so they can get away with sinning. If a person takes a position that the bible is not the moral authority and that morality has origins in the past, sin is not a "thing." We make decisions in our own understanding of morality as part of a social group based on risk/reward. Yes, this does free the conscience from the biblical idea of 'thought police." There's no doubt about that. but people still have consequences for actions that are illegal in our society.
7. Atheists are not trying to take God out of everything. This is the focus of Christian movies and books. Activist atheists trying to impose a Godless society on the world. My perspective is historical. That's the purpose of my blog. I have no problem saying that Christianity and religion in general are huge parts of our western culture and would be incalculably different without it. Art, music, works of literature and elements of culture that are religious have value. However, my position is that we can't dictate the morality of the bible into someone else's life that does not believe in it. Christians are protected by the church and state division as well as adherents to other religions or no religion.
8. Atheists do not hate creationism. For myself, in historical perspective, the epic narrative of the book of Genesis have value in context. There's no reason why creation epics should not have a place in literature and comparative religion classes. However, they are not scientific explanations that can be taken apart and tested via the scientific method. It does not mean they have no value as literature. But they are not science. Therefore, they should not be put next to methods that are testable and repeatable.
9. Atheists do not have "nothing to live for." This is something I hear all the time. Once I left my faith, I must be miserable and destitute for meaning in my life. Nothing could be further from the truth. I love my life. I find meaning in what I do. I enjoy my relationships and being a father. I love art, history, nature and enjoy making the world a better place. I am not sad that I left the church and furthermore, I don't hold any disdain for Christians. My journey is unique, just like each journey in faith or out of faith.
10. Not all atheists are nice. Not all are assholes! They are just people. You wouldn't want an atheist judging all of Christianity based on one jerk. Well, same with atheism. I don't like some of the atheist activists on YouTube and at conferences. That's just natural. It has to do with approach and personality. Unless you want every Christians judged by the Westborough Baptist Church... (which I know you don't) give us some leeway as well.
So let me know what you think! Thanks for your time Christians!
Steve
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Dear Fellow Atheists/Agnostics
Dear Friends,
I bet you're wondering why I'm writing this afternoon. I wanted to talk to you about your approach and its impact of influencing Christians. Whether on Twitter or Facebook or out in the community, you are going to come across some Christians. It is just inevitable.
I'm mainly writing to you who were never in the church. Yes, that does mean you have a lot less guilt-sorting and drama, but it also means you might be at a disadvantage when talking to Christians. It's hard to understand the other side when you've been (thankfully) on the side of rhetoric, skepticism and common sense.
I wish I had learned about Darwin from a teacher and been like "yeah, that sounds about right." Instead, I learned the name Darwin in the same breath as "Evolutionist truth hating secularists."
And you probably had sex for the first time and were like "that was fun, I enjoyed that, good condom choice." Instead, I was like "I think we need to confess this in church, I hate myself! It felt so good, but I'm so disgusting."
Yeah, I know. Ex-evangelicals are a bit messed up and probably not going to be exactly the same. I know because I am one of them! But it might help me (now) to talk to Christians and see where they are coming from.
So today, my heathen friends, I want to give you a list of Do's and Don'ts. Why? Well, probably because of the propensity for Christians to frame their whole lives around lists of rules and it still feels natural! (should possibly mention that to my therapist.)
Do's and Don'ts of Talking to Christians about their Faith
1. Don't assume that they are ignorant about science because they are believers
I mean, this is completely possible. But I don't think I had a disdain for science or huge ignorance about whether science worked while I was a Christian. And that actually helped me get out of the idea of Creationism pretty quickly! I mean, science is a great subject to bring up and can usually bridge a gap because its testable and verifiable.
2. Do ask questions about science and basic idea of what is testable. Despite a giant Ark Encounter park and fake scientist Ken Ham's notoriety, I don't think most Christians are Young Earth Creationists. For myself, I knew the earth wasn't 6000 years old, I just wasn't sure how it all fit together.
3. Don't attack their well wishes and messages that have nothing to do with religion. This is annoying to me. I'm going through Twitter and all a Christian said was "my thoughts and prayers are with you," or "God Bless" etc. And some Atheist armchair activist will say "I don't believe in God!" or attack the idea of Thoughts and prayers. Usually, this is not an attempt to convert you, its just their second nature and they don't realize they are doing it.
4. Don't assume that every Christian adheres to the same Fundamentalism as the groups that you love to hate. A large amount of Christians are LGBTQ supporters, even if their church is not. In fact, every single Christian in that church probably has a different view on a number of subjects. I went to a church that preached YEC and biblical marriage but I was not the only one that didn't agree with that. I was leaning towards pro-choice but didn't care who married who and thought anyone should be able to believe what they wanted.
5. Do ask them about their faith and get into the reasons they personally believe! Usually, belief in God will be deeply personal and they can share how they came to that decision. (Even if it makes no logical sense to you.) Most adults who grew up in the church are not still forced to be in it (although some are) but most made a decision in adulthood to stay. And it is more complicated than that. Maybe they left their home church and then bounced around etc.
6. Don't assume everyone is in a cult where they sit around and have no fun. I had a blast in High School. We were always going to Six Flags, water parks, bonfires, game nights (mafia etc) summer camp (which was fun) and I enjoyed singing as well as simply being with awesome friends. People are rarely held in a church by a chain. In my experience, it was my whole sense of community. And not everyone is a prude. There's exciting crushes, romance, juicy gossip, divorce, cheating etc.
7. Do ask about what they love about their church and their sense of community. Don't bash the idea of community. Ask about what things they like to do, who's cooking sucks at potlocks, their favorite hymn, favorite secular music, movies. In my experience, Christians have good taste in beers and wine. Those who enjoy studying Greek in their spare time certainly know how to get a Beer aficionados magazine and find a highly rated IPA.
8. Don't simply swear at them. Look everyone, I grew up in a secular household and my dad was the best swearer in the entire world. My swear vocabulary is pretty sound. It would not bother me at all and I'd just match you. But for a lot of Christians, that is when the conversation ends. I see this all the time on Atheist Talk Shows. It is completely unhelpful and cuts off communication. It might be therapeutic for you, but what's the point if it simply stops the dialogue? Just a thought.
9. Don't assume they have no life outside of church. Even if their profile picture is him/her hugging the cross and holding a lamb, that is how they are presenting themselves. Its not necessarily the reality. And once you get to know them better, you find out that's a persona that they use in public.
10. Do discuss how religion has effected you personally. If you have a story about how a Church hurt you, or how an anti-LGBTQ Christian made you upset, or how a chauvinistic Christian bothered you, share that with them! Perhaps they can't see what certain rhetoric is doing to the rest of the world because of the Christian bubble! It brings out your humanity as well as their own. And that's important.
Churches look like bunches of identical, cookie cutter Christians. I assure you they aren't. They are communities of people from various cross-sections of every group. Sometimes they look alike culturally, but each is an individual worth talking to!
I bet you're wondering why I'm writing this afternoon. I wanted to talk to you about your approach and its impact of influencing Christians. Whether on Twitter or Facebook or out in the community, you are going to come across some Christians. It is just inevitable.
I'm mainly writing to you who were never in the church. Yes, that does mean you have a lot less guilt-sorting and drama, but it also means you might be at a disadvantage when talking to Christians. It's hard to understand the other side when you've been (thankfully) on the side of rhetoric, skepticism and common sense.
I wish I had learned about Darwin from a teacher and been like "yeah, that sounds about right." Instead, I learned the name Darwin in the same breath as "Evolutionist truth hating secularists."
And you probably had sex for the first time and were like "that was fun, I enjoyed that, good condom choice." Instead, I was like "I think we need to confess this in church, I hate myself! It felt so good, but I'm so disgusting."
Yeah, I know. Ex-evangelicals are a bit messed up and probably not going to be exactly the same. I know because I am one of them! But it might help me (now) to talk to Christians and see where they are coming from.
So today, my heathen friends, I want to give you a list of Do's and Don'ts. Why? Well, probably because of the propensity for Christians to frame their whole lives around lists of rules and it still feels natural! (should possibly mention that to my therapist.)
Do's and Don'ts of Talking to Christians about their Faith
1. Don't assume that they are ignorant about science because they are believers
I mean, this is completely possible. But I don't think I had a disdain for science or huge ignorance about whether science worked while I was a Christian. And that actually helped me get out of the idea of Creationism pretty quickly! I mean, science is a great subject to bring up and can usually bridge a gap because its testable and verifiable.
2. Do ask questions about science and basic idea of what is testable. Despite a giant Ark Encounter park and fake scientist Ken Ham's notoriety, I don't think most Christians are Young Earth Creationists. For myself, I knew the earth wasn't 6000 years old, I just wasn't sure how it all fit together.
3. Don't attack their well wishes and messages that have nothing to do with religion. This is annoying to me. I'm going through Twitter and all a Christian said was "my thoughts and prayers are with you," or "God Bless" etc. And some Atheist armchair activist will say "I don't believe in God!" or attack the idea of Thoughts and prayers. Usually, this is not an attempt to convert you, its just their second nature and they don't realize they are doing it.
4. Don't assume that every Christian adheres to the same Fundamentalism as the groups that you love to hate. A large amount of Christians are LGBTQ supporters, even if their church is not. In fact, every single Christian in that church probably has a different view on a number of subjects. I went to a church that preached YEC and biblical marriage but I was not the only one that didn't agree with that. I was leaning towards pro-choice but didn't care who married who and thought anyone should be able to believe what they wanted.
5. Do ask them about their faith and get into the reasons they personally believe! Usually, belief in God will be deeply personal and they can share how they came to that decision. (Even if it makes no logical sense to you.) Most adults who grew up in the church are not still forced to be in it (although some are) but most made a decision in adulthood to stay. And it is more complicated than that. Maybe they left their home church and then bounced around etc.
6. Don't assume everyone is in a cult where they sit around and have no fun. I had a blast in High School. We were always going to Six Flags, water parks, bonfires, game nights (mafia etc) summer camp (which was fun) and I enjoyed singing as well as simply being with awesome friends. People are rarely held in a church by a chain. In my experience, it was my whole sense of community. And not everyone is a prude. There's exciting crushes, romance, juicy gossip, divorce, cheating etc.
7. Do ask about what they love about their church and their sense of community. Don't bash the idea of community. Ask about what things they like to do, who's cooking sucks at potlocks, their favorite hymn, favorite secular music, movies. In my experience, Christians have good taste in beers and wine. Those who enjoy studying Greek in their spare time certainly know how to get a Beer aficionados magazine and find a highly rated IPA.
8. Don't simply swear at them. Look everyone, I grew up in a secular household and my dad was the best swearer in the entire world. My swear vocabulary is pretty sound. It would not bother me at all and I'd just match you. But for a lot of Christians, that is when the conversation ends. I see this all the time on Atheist Talk Shows. It is completely unhelpful and cuts off communication. It might be therapeutic for you, but what's the point if it simply stops the dialogue? Just a thought.
9. Don't assume they have no life outside of church. Even if their profile picture is him/her hugging the cross and holding a lamb, that is how they are presenting themselves. Its not necessarily the reality. And once you get to know them better, you find out that's a persona that they use in public.
10. Do discuss how religion has effected you personally. If you have a story about how a Church hurt you, or how an anti-LGBTQ Christian made you upset, or how a chauvinistic Christian bothered you, share that with them! Perhaps they can't see what certain rhetoric is doing to the rest of the world because of the Christian bubble! It brings out your humanity as well as their own. And that's important.
Churches look like bunches of identical, cookie cutter Christians. I assure you they aren't. They are communities of people from various cross-sections of every group. Sometimes they look alike culturally, but each is an individual worth talking to!
Monday, April 29, 2019
Easy Conversion
A 20 Foot Gutter Sundae, with all the toppings! As much as you could eat in one sitting.
That's all it took to entice people to come to the event, no matter where it was. And this particular event was called a Jalopy raid. We had a list of unsaved friends that we gave our Youth Group Leader and then call them up and see if the Sundae would inspire them enough to come out! This is how every event at Youth Group went. Bring friends out for food and games and then a quick message from the pastor.
A strange mix of teenage hormones, sweat and religion. Once we had eaten our fill of the ice cream and settled down from Capture the Flag or Mafia, we would sit and listen to the Pastor give us a message.
It usually went a few different ways:
"If you went out that door tonight and were hit by a car and were at the gates of heaven, what would you say to God? Why should he let you into his heaven?"
"The bible says that Adam and Eve sinned against God and were separated from Him. That's what Hell is, friend, eternal separation from his presence."
"Think of all the things people do to get to God. Good works, charity, follow the ten commandments, try to love each other, study the bible... It won't be enough in the end."
The entire summation of the bible and God's plan for salvation, dumbed down to simple steps. Anyone could make a split decision to go to heaven! And we could settle that tonight!
"It's as simple as ABC friend.
A: admit that you're a sinner in need of God's forgiveness. Romans 3:23 says For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
B: Believe in what Jesus did on the cross. That he lived a perfect life, was persecuted and crucified for our sin and paid the penalty that should have been ours!
C: Confess with your mouth and ask Christ into your hearts!"
There are 66 books in the Protestant Bible, 27 books of the New Testament. There is some 1000 years of histories, poetry, prophecy, law, genealogy and stories. Commentary books on the shortest books of the bible run multi-volume. It encompasses an ancient time frame that had different thoughts on morals, government, family relationships and nearly everything else.
But I'm going to present it to you as a A-Z books with one message and one goal and pretend that its settled and there's a quick answer to get out of this book.
Easy Conversion.
What does easy conversion look like when its played out? Well, I think we can see it in America today:
- strange attempts to apply ancient texts to different world. There's nothing in the bible about a thousand different modern topics and Iron/Bronze Age morals are impossible to apply in many cases
- An entire group of people that believe in a book they have only read in portions.
- A populace that denies basic science because nothing can challenge the belief they wrote on that decision card in the back of "Four Spiritual Laws."
- A culture that divides every human being to "saved" or "unsaved." And can't understand why people don't convert because, after all, it is so easy.
Easy conversion is supposed to be followed up with discipleship and instruction on how to read the bible. And that's usually about the time you realize that answers are heavily coded and mostly influenced by church rules and vague interpretations. It took only a few months in my church to realize that along with the check off list on the card, we were signing up for a massive amount of things.
- Time to be fitted for a purity ring and time to sign a "True love waits" card. The implications of this are staggering because its all about discipline and thought police. Everything you look at is temptation and its time to train your brain to hate that
- The complete demolishing of all secular music... At some events they even had huge bins to throw your beloved heathen music in. And that also means listening to some pretty mediocre Christian replacements.
- Beware atheist activist teachers! Yes, most Christians find that there is a huge conspiracy amongst the academic world of evil teachers who hate God because of some dark event in their lives. (See: God's not Dead...)
- Seeing everyone as "others." Everyone that is unsaved is incapable of pleasing God and is "of the world." Satan will try to influence you through them so you need to start cutting people out of your life. (or bringing them to church.)
- patriarchal without even knowing it. Indeed, this was something my sister noticed right away when she started going and I was ignorant about it. Submissive women, chest thumping men, modesty and purity. Acting as a "lady." An entire plethora of ancient precepts that they insisted was God's will for women. You already know you won't be preaching or praying or teaching Sunday School above 4th grade.
You are signing up for a complete worldview when you sign that card. And its a world view that immediately sets up inconsistencies and drama that you could never think of.
If you had to think about it, you probably wouldn't do it.
That's why the language is so simple.
ABC... and then right into a world of things you had no idea you signed up for. We need to add more letters.
That's all it took to entice people to come to the event, no matter where it was. And this particular event was called a Jalopy raid. We had a list of unsaved friends that we gave our Youth Group Leader and then call them up and see if the Sundae would inspire them enough to come out! This is how every event at Youth Group went. Bring friends out for food and games and then a quick message from the pastor.
A strange mix of teenage hormones, sweat and religion. Once we had eaten our fill of the ice cream and settled down from Capture the Flag or Mafia, we would sit and listen to the Pastor give us a message.
It usually went a few different ways:
"If you went out that door tonight and were hit by a car and were at the gates of heaven, what would you say to God? Why should he let you into his heaven?"
"The bible says that Adam and Eve sinned against God and were separated from Him. That's what Hell is, friend, eternal separation from his presence."
"Think of all the things people do to get to God. Good works, charity, follow the ten commandments, try to love each other, study the bible... It won't be enough in the end."
The entire summation of the bible and God's plan for salvation, dumbed down to simple steps. Anyone could make a split decision to go to heaven! And we could settle that tonight!
"It's as simple as ABC friend.
A: admit that you're a sinner in need of God's forgiveness. Romans 3:23 says For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
B: Believe in what Jesus did on the cross. That he lived a perfect life, was persecuted and crucified for our sin and paid the penalty that should have been ours!
C: Confess with your mouth and ask Christ into your hearts!"
There are 66 books in the Protestant Bible, 27 books of the New Testament. There is some 1000 years of histories, poetry, prophecy, law, genealogy and stories. Commentary books on the shortest books of the bible run multi-volume. It encompasses an ancient time frame that had different thoughts on morals, government, family relationships and nearly everything else.
But I'm going to present it to you as a A-Z books with one message and one goal and pretend that its settled and there's a quick answer to get out of this book.
Easy Conversion.
What does easy conversion look like when its played out? Well, I think we can see it in America today:
- strange attempts to apply ancient texts to different world. There's nothing in the bible about a thousand different modern topics and Iron/Bronze Age morals are impossible to apply in many cases
- An entire group of people that believe in a book they have only read in portions.
- A populace that denies basic science because nothing can challenge the belief they wrote on that decision card in the back of "Four Spiritual Laws."
- A culture that divides every human being to "saved" or "unsaved." And can't understand why people don't convert because, after all, it is so easy.
Easy conversion is supposed to be followed up with discipleship and instruction on how to read the bible. And that's usually about the time you realize that answers are heavily coded and mostly influenced by church rules and vague interpretations. It took only a few months in my church to realize that along with the check off list on the card, we were signing up for a massive amount of things.
- Time to be fitted for a purity ring and time to sign a "True love waits" card. The implications of this are staggering because its all about discipline and thought police. Everything you look at is temptation and its time to train your brain to hate that
- The complete demolishing of all secular music... At some events they even had huge bins to throw your beloved heathen music in. And that also means listening to some pretty mediocre Christian replacements.
- Beware atheist activist teachers! Yes, most Christians find that there is a huge conspiracy amongst the academic world of evil teachers who hate God because of some dark event in their lives. (See: God's not Dead...)
- Seeing everyone as "others." Everyone that is unsaved is incapable of pleasing God and is "of the world." Satan will try to influence you through them so you need to start cutting people out of your life. (or bringing them to church.)
- patriarchal without even knowing it. Indeed, this was something my sister noticed right away when she started going and I was ignorant about it. Submissive women, chest thumping men, modesty and purity. Acting as a "lady." An entire plethora of ancient precepts that they insisted was God's will for women. You already know you won't be preaching or praying or teaching Sunday School above 4th grade.
You are signing up for a complete worldview when you sign that card. And its a world view that immediately sets up inconsistencies and drama that you could never think of.
If you had to think about it, you probably wouldn't do it.
That's why the language is so simple.
ABC... and then right into a world of things you had no idea you signed up for. We need to add more letters.
Thursday, April 25, 2019
A network of empathy
"I'm glad you wrote that editorial. That was a bold move."
I was heading out of church and across the parking lot when two older church members stopped me.
The second person nodded, "that mayor, I can't believe what she did, she's probably a gay too. They all are"
It was the event that had rocked the evangelical bubble on the North Shore. The Mayor of Salem had chosen not to let Gordon College renew a lease they had with the Old Salem Town Hall. The reason was because their school bylaws violated new city protection for LGBTQ employees and visitors. They were a conservative Christian college and had stringent rules about same sex relationships and premarital sex. They were renting space in the Old Salem Town Hall to do a historical play regarding the Witch Trials.
I had written the editorial to counter equating a biblical view on homosexuality as "hate speech." I argued that taking one group out of the situation would not bring diversity of opinion and dialogue.
But to these older people, it made me an advocate against the "gay agenda."
I was met at work the next day by a friend who had a gay son. She had a patient demeanor and more empathy than I could ever imagine. But her eyes showed that she was hurt by what I said. She had read my post about the situation on Facebook and my editorial. And she wanted to tell me how important her son was to her, and how he struggled for years accepting who he was. He went through depression and then counseling and then fully accepted who he was.
Suddenly, I saw the face of a mother and the face of her son that would be effected by the colleges bylaws. I realized how brave it actually was for a gay person to come out in the face of ignorant people like myself who would just dismiss their whole journey as "sinful."
And it broke my heart because there was no other coworker I respected more.
My opinion didn't change overnight. But within a year I had left the church and was taking classes for my Bachelor's degree and chose a class on Human Sexuality. It completely opened my world to what it meant to grow up and discover attraction and the beauty of our sexual selves.
And the harm of conversion therapy. Which I could agree with because this was a lot like "church" therapy for topics like masturbation, pornography and many other "taboo" subjects. Discipline, confession, accountability and repeat.
I wrote a letter to my friend because I felt so bad about my previous post and editorial and asked her forgiveness. I shared with her a powerpoint that I had done on advocating for LGBTQ teens and preventing suicide. Then wrote another editorial talking about how brave this actually was for the Mayor to do with the amount of ignorant people (like myself) who just didn't get it.
A few months after the editorial I decided to volunteer for "Freedom for All Massachusetts." This was an organization that was advocating for Transgender rights. The Massachusetts legislature passed a bill protecting people from discrimination based on gender identity (the same way it protected you from discrimination based on age, sex, religion etc.) My old church and other churches got enough signatures to put this to a ballot question for voters in 2018. Voting "yes" on question 3 would keep the protection in place. A "no" vote would strip that protection.
It was a no-brainer for me now in my understanding of gender and civil rights. This was all about a person's right to exist in public. If this was repealed, it would be a travesty for human rights. So I volunteered to canvass. I met some of the most amazing human beings I've ever met in this campaign and empathy was the key word. We went door to door canvassing and the person a partnered with used him/his/their pronouns and I was able to ask every question that I ever had and he asked me all about my journey.
But also I was surprised to see various religious advocates from different groups. We were literally meeting for the event at a church the day before Easter Sunday.
Two months later I went to my first Pride Day in Boston wearing my Pride Sox hat and a Yes on Three shirt. I cannot put into words how amazing that day felt. Empathy, care and celebration of being human.
___________________________________________
Starting this blog and dialoguing with Christians and Atheists/Agnostics has brought me to realize how diverse each individual is in their thinking. There's no way to generalize what a Christian believes despite the church they belong to and their creed. Yes, there are plenty of literal/inerrant interpretation Christians. But there are literally people who believe everything between fundamentalism and progressivism.
I talk about the evangelical church because that's what I know. Its important to expose homophobia and hate, but its also important to affirm empathy and understanding.
Enter in Franklin Graham and his call for Peter Buttigieg to "repent."
This is the time for progressive Christians, agnostics, atheists and everyone in between to call out this rhetoric! To fight for individual rights against dogma and to join together to advocate for equality and protection under the law.
Its possible to come a long way on this topic. I know because I did and that doesn't make me a hero. It makes me someone that should have known better to start.
But getting out of ignorance isn't about religion. Religion varies. Its about human connection and empathy.
I was heading out of church and across the parking lot when two older church members stopped me.
The second person nodded, "that mayor, I can't believe what she did, she's probably a gay too. They all are"
It was the event that had rocked the evangelical bubble on the North Shore. The Mayor of Salem had chosen not to let Gordon College renew a lease they had with the Old Salem Town Hall. The reason was because their school bylaws violated new city protection for LGBTQ employees and visitors. They were a conservative Christian college and had stringent rules about same sex relationships and premarital sex. They were renting space in the Old Salem Town Hall to do a historical play regarding the Witch Trials.
I had written the editorial to counter equating a biblical view on homosexuality as "hate speech." I argued that taking one group out of the situation would not bring diversity of opinion and dialogue.
But to these older people, it made me an advocate against the "gay agenda."
I was met at work the next day by a friend who had a gay son. She had a patient demeanor and more empathy than I could ever imagine. But her eyes showed that she was hurt by what I said. She had read my post about the situation on Facebook and my editorial. And she wanted to tell me how important her son was to her, and how he struggled for years accepting who he was. He went through depression and then counseling and then fully accepted who he was.
Suddenly, I saw the face of a mother and the face of her son that would be effected by the colleges bylaws. I realized how brave it actually was for a gay person to come out in the face of ignorant people like myself who would just dismiss their whole journey as "sinful."
And it broke my heart because there was no other coworker I respected more.
My opinion didn't change overnight. But within a year I had left the church and was taking classes for my Bachelor's degree and chose a class on Human Sexuality. It completely opened my world to what it meant to grow up and discover attraction and the beauty of our sexual selves.
And the harm of conversion therapy. Which I could agree with because this was a lot like "church" therapy for topics like masturbation, pornography and many other "taboo" subjects. Discipline, confession, accountability and repeat.
I wrote a letter to my friend because I felt so bad about my previous post and editorial and asked her forgiveness. I shared with her a powerpoint that I had done on advocating for LGBTQ teens and preventing suicide. Then wrote another editorial talking about how brave this actually was for the Mayor to do with the amount of ignorant people (like myself) who just didn't get it.
A few months after the editorial I decided to volunteer for "Freedom for All Massachusetts." This was an organization that was advocating for Transgender rights. The Massachusetts legislature passed a bill protecting people from discrimination based on gender identity (the same way it protected you from discrimination based on age, sex, religion etc.) My old church and other churches got enough signatures to put this to a ballot question for voters in 2018. Voting "yes" on question 3 would keep the protection in place. A "no" vote would strip that protection.
It was a no-brainer for me now in my understanding of gender and civil rights. This was all about a person's right to exist in public. If this was repealed, it would be a travesty for human rights. So I volunteered to canvass. I met some of the most amazing human beings I've ever met in this campaign and empathy was the key word. We went door to door canvassing and the person a partnered with used him/his/their pronouns and I was able to ask every question that I ever had and he asked me all about my journey.
But also I was surprised to see various religious advocates from different groups. We were literally meeting for the event at a church the day before Easter Sunday.
Two months later I went to my first Pride Day in Boston wearing my Pride Sox hat and a Yes on Three shirt. I cannot put into words how amazing that day felt. Empathy, care and celebration of being human.
___________________________________________
Starting this blog and dialoguing with Christians and Atheists/Agnostics has brought me to realize how diverse each individual is in their thinking. There's no way to generalize what a Christian believes despite the church they belong to and their creed. Yes, there are plenty of literal/inerrant interpretation Christians. But there are literally people who believe everything between fundamentalism and progressivism.
I talk about the evangelical church because that's what I know. Its important to expose homophobia and hate, but its also important to affirm empathy and understanding.
Enter in Franklin Graham and his call for Peter Buttigieg to "repent."
This is the time for progressive Christians, agnostics, atheists and everyone in between to call out this rhetoric! To fight for individual rights against dogma and to join together to advocate for equality and protection under the law.
Its possible to come a long way on this topic. I know because I did and that doesn't make me a hero. It makes me someone that should have known better to start.
But getting out of ignorance isn't about religion. Religion varies. Its about human connection and empathy.
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
A bigger view of the World
When I was little, I loved to hear about "the olden' days." As if we could generalize the past in one phrase! But it always fascinated me how people lived, what games kids played and what people did to pass the time! As I got older I came to understand each era and take it in context. It all started with that phrase "the olden' days." Learning about the past gave me a warm glow and that grew into my academic pursuits which are ongoing.
When I became a Christian in my teenage years, I heard this same expression used in a different way. The preaching cast an ethereal, magical canopy over the era that encompassed the Jewish scriptures and the New Testament era. There was a glow on these events through the words of the Bible. And taking Genesis as a history book, the past gets foggier and focused on this era as the origin story that explains it all. We can explain away the supernatural because of its literary beauty and convincing building blocks.
In a similar way we can see the origins of the United States as ethereal and otherworldly. People elude to characters from the past in caricature form: heroes, villains. Its a simplified way to understand history. I was on a mission to take away the fog and understand each culture in context. Regarding the United States, it didn't take long into my study to realize the absurdity of deifying or vilifying any founder. It wasn't that simple. Each player had interests and background and trying to generalize gets the historian into more and more issues. Adams was a very different person than Washington, Paine was a different thinker than Jefferson, Hancock had an agenda, so did King George and Lord North. There's so much to unload and sort out.
So we use sources to get past the glow and fog to put the events in context. These were people, they didn't exist in a vacuum. It was complicated. That's history.
But, at the same time as learning this, we come to the claims of the bible as a historical sourcebook. Could I use the same perspective I used to deconstruct other histories? or would this hold up as the one perfect, verifiable origin story? I didn't have a choice because this was the heavy lifting that I had to do to sort out the claim of the divine. Was I correct in assuming these recorded events were historically accurate? Did the validity of the bible rest on these texts being accurate?
For Christian apologists it certainly seemed that they were banking on these texts being accurate. Ken Ham's site is aptly called "Answers in Genesis." This was historic bedrock for a number of claims that were paramount to Christianity including: original sin, curse on the snake, prophecy of the seed, the historic claims of Noah, dispersion of languages, the promise to Abraham to bless all the world through his seed, the system of atonement by substitution and the list goes on and on. Not only that, but the creation account and the early history of humankind and the land claims of Israel. The fact that God spoke to one people group to preserve his word. And doing this, Christians claimed a direct descent from the promises to the Jewish people.
Just writing it out shows some deeply problematic historicity. As we look around the world, we can see religious movements rising out of an older idea of God and creating their own origin story. The issue here is that the origin story of the bible was created in a world that lacked the scientific and historical understanding and went unchallenged in the western world until those genres of study were able to sort things out. Obviously, with a monopoly on the historic view of the world, western cultures hold dearly to this foggy ethereal past. But that's why the sciences and history matter so much and using a multi-discipline approach, we can get a clear view of the past.
Before the fog rolls away, its important to state something. We can vilify this era as fraudulent all we want just like older generations venerated it. Neither is beneficial in a historic context! There is benefit to studying these works and the people of this period. And there's no way to take away the influence that they have had on Western Civilization just because we find that they also have a context. Historians have correctly stated that the world would look vastly different without Judaism or Christianity/Islam.
As the fog rolls away we see the Jewish holy texts in a wider perspective of 2nd millennium BC Canaan and the various polytheistic religions and pastoral cultures. And we see similar origin stories and values. But none of these existed in a vacuum either. Archeologists and Anthropologists are paramount to tracing civilizations back further and further and using that lateral academic approach to understanding the past better. It makes sense that the origin story of Abram starts in Ur of the Chaldeans and we see older civilizations in this area and a context for the religion of the Jewish people! It broadens our horizons and helps us find that common ground.
It also means we need to deal with inerrancy and literalism. Science couldn't be clearer regarding the development of homo sapiens from other cousins in Africa and then spreading out over the world until they were the last of the homo genus. DNA shows this and we can look back at sites all over the world to track development of culture. Evidence of tools, art and an academic approach to dating and bringing this to a consensus.
Art is a powerful tool to looking at the past. I will never forget looking at the various cave paintings that I assumed would be primitive. They were transcendent! Art that would stand the probing eye of modern artists like Picasso who saw the paintings and stated that we have created nothing new! It brought me to the point where I needed to see the world of these hunter gatherers and understand them! Otherwise, my historical curiosity would not be quenched and I'd be restless.
It opened up my eyes to the other element of scholarship: multi-ethnic and international cooperation. And that meant not holding one origin story to be silly or inerrant. But to take each one and find value in sacred works, laws and tales. A respect for the human need to tell stories and sort out the past in order to draw out morals and standards!
When the fog rolled away from the Genesis story, the world burst in a magnificent firework of beauty! The world looked bigger and also smaller because I could see commonality like never before.
When I became a Christian in my teenage years, I heard this same expression used in a different way. The preaching cast an ethereal, magical canopy over the era that encompassed the Jewish scriptures and the New Testament era. There was a glow on these events through the words of the Bible. And taking Genesis as a history book, the past gets foggier and focused on this era as the origin story that explains it all. We can explain away the supernatural because of its literary beauty and convincing building blocks.
In a similar way we can see the origins of the United States as ethereal and otherworldly. People elude to characters from the past in caricature form: heroes, villains. Its a simplified way to understand history. I was on a mission to take away the fog and understand each culture in context. Regarding the United States, it didn't take long into my study to realize the absurdity of deifying or vilifying any founder. It wasn't that simple. Each player had interests and background and trying to generalize gets the historian into more and more issues. Adams was a very different person than Washington, Paine was a different thinker than Jefferson, Hancock had an agenda, so did King George and Lord North. There's so much to unload and sort out.
So we use sources to get past the glow and fog to put the events in context. These were people, they didn't exist in a vacuum. It was complicated. That's history.
But, at the same time as learning this, we come to the claims of the bible as a historical sourcebook. Could I use the same perspective I used to deconstruct other histories? or would this hold up as the one perfect, verifiable origin story? I didn't have a choice because this was the heavy lifting that I had to do to sort out the claim of the divine. Was I correct in assuming these recorded events were historically accurate? Did the validity of the bible rest on these texts being accurate?
For Christian apologists it certainly seemed that they were banking on these texts being accurate. Ken Ham's site is aptly called "Answers in Genesis." This was historic bedrock for a number of claims that were paramount to Christianity including: original sin, curse on the snake, prophecy of the seed, the historic claims of Noah, dispersion of languages, the promise to Abraham to bless all the world through his seed, the system of atonement by substitution and the list goes on and on. Not only that, but the creation account and the early history of humankind and the land claims of Israel. The fact that God spoke to one people group to preserve his word. And doing this, Christians claimed a direct descent from the promises to the Jewish people.
Just writing it out shows some deeply problematic historicity. As we look around the world, we can see religious movements rising out of an older idea of God and creating their own origin story. The issue here is that the origin story of the bible was created in a world that lacked the scientific and historical understanding and went unchallenged in the western world until those genres of study were able to sort things out. Obviously, with a monopoly on the historic view of the world, western cultures hold dearly to this foggy ethereal past. But that's why the sciences and history matter so much and using a multi-discipline approach, we can get a clear view of the past.
Before the fog rolls away, its important to state something. We can vilify this era as fraudulent all we want just like older generations venerated it. Neither is beneficial in a historic context! There is benefit to studying these works and the people of this period. And there's no way to take away the influence that they have had on Western Civilization just because we find that they also have a context. Historians have correctly stated that the world would look vastly different without Judaism or Christianity/Islam.
As the fog rolls away we see the Jewish holy texts in a wider perspective of 2nd millennium BC Canaan and the various polytheistic religions and pastoral cultures. And we see similar origin stories and values. But none of these existed in a vacuum either. Archeologists and Anthropologists are paramount to tracing civilizations back further and further and using that lateral academic approach to understanding the past better. It makes sense that the origin story of Abram starts in Ur of the Chaldeans and we see older civilizations in this area and a context for the religion of the Jewish people! It broadens our horizons and helps us find that common ground.
It also means we need to deal with inerrancy and literalism. Science couldn't be clearer regarding the development of homo sapiens from other cousins in Africa and then spreading out over the world until they were the last of the homo genus. DNA shows this and we can look back at sites all over the world to track development of culture. Evidence of tools, art and an academic approach to dating and bringing this to a consensus.
Art is a powerful tool to looking at the past. I will never forget looking at the various cave paintings that I assumed would be primitive. They were transcendent! Art that would stand the probing eye of modern artists like Picasso who saw the paintings and stated that we have created nothing new! It brought me to the point where I needed to see the world of these hunter gatherers and understand them! Otherwise, my historical curiosity would not be quenched and I'd be restless.
It opened up my eyes to the other element of scholarship: multi-ethnic and international cooperation. And that meant not holding one origin story to be silly or inerrant. But to take each one and find value in sacred works, laws and tales. A respect for the human need to tell stories and sort out the past in order to draw out morals and standards!
When the fog rolled away from the Genesis story, the world burst in a magnificent firework of beauty! The world looked bigger and also smaller because I could see commonality like never before.
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
A historian walks into a church
Theologians are not historians. That's the first thing you learn when you start listening to their arguments. Historians study how a group of people worshipped, but it doesn't make a distinction in the truth claims of each religion. Theologians want it both ways. Not only to look at the bible as sober history, but also infer inerrancy.
It happens subtly. No Christian apologist will start off an attempted conversion from a historical avenue. The process will start with an appeal to emotion tied to personal responsibility to the moral teachings of the bible. If there are some questions about historicity, they are dealt with tactfully without discussing the gaping holes in the record. The goal is to bring the "sinner" to the foot of the cross and make an emotional decision. Everything else will be explained by the "spirit of God."
The "Four Spiritual Laws" does not have an appendix that shows historical footnotes that support the claims. No altar call is preceded by a discussion of the authorship of Mark. The purpose is to commit to the emotional appeal of the faith and get you invested in it! Once you are emotionally invested in the theological end of the arguments, historical inaccuracies are easier to explain away. Then you can appeal to interpretation and discover the myriad of arguments meant to simply fend off "unbelievers."
Pretty soon, you hear yourself saying the same things as other Christians. "You don't want to be believe in Jesus because of your sin, not because of the history around it."
The arguments turn into you having a value of truth in your statements that are backed up by the Spirit of God who has placed these in your heart. All of a sudden, you have an upper hand on these people attempting to throw "secular" arguments (like historicity) at the gospel. It is a short jump to seeing a giant "atheist conspiracy" in the historical arguments and that their lack of a moral center is the deciding factor in not accepting the inerrancy of the bible.
A good apologists will have the Seminary level expertise in dodging the common questions on: genocide, free will, marriage, omniscience and transubstantiation but that dodging is not meant to convince a person of the historicity of the bible. The goal is to dodge the surface level questions in order to get a person to think of the bible as a A-Z book of answers and focus the spotlight on the spiritual condition of the questioner. Staying on the historicity debate will soon show the holes in the work and that's not beneficial to the theologian. The statement is made that the bible is a great history book because its "His-story."
The dabbling into historicity is a tricky scenario for the theologian because then you have to reckon with the thousands of episodes of miracles, zombies, talking animals, 900 year old people, rock giants (nephilim), floating zoos and virgin birth. All of these can be found in works that are contemporary to the bible and that's a problem. There are a number of smokescreens that theologians put up to divert attention away from this. The unique character of Jesus is usually stated to counter any argument. There were a lot of people claiming to be divine in history, but Jesus was what one of my pastors referred to as "the only original in a world of carbon copies."
The problem is, you can't just accept the interesting and edifying teachings of this character, you have to face his claims of divinity. And that is tied to your own personal responsibility as a person before the God that created you... In other words, guilt will bring you to the cross and general statements about "have you broken God's laws?" The "Way of the Master" ministry takes this approach with Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort confronting people with the Ten Commandments and getting to the quick fact that we all break "God's law." Its a quick jump to personal responsibility without having to go through the heavy lifting of discussion if this is all true.
The first appeal is made to the element that will do all the heavy lifting for the Christian: feeling.
Feeling will bring you to biblical inerrancy without having to go through the hard questions. You fully accept the inerrancy of this book before even reading it. In fact, so many Christians throw up the defense of inerrancy without having looked at the claims at all. Because the fuzzy warm feeling inside is enough for them, it should be enough for anyone.
Listen to any atheist call-in shows like the "Atheist Experience" and its clear that the arguments every Christian uses show the progression of their conversion. They weren't saved through historical arguments and can't counter the hosts points, but they CAN and WILL make the claim to inerrancy and personal responsibility in a heart beat! How many times has the argument been made "you are rejecting the almighty God because of your hatred and because of sin."
In my life, I had a knowledge about God inside but didn't realize it was made of the same material any other shared idea was made out of: feelings. And its hard to go back to that first moment when I was saved but the basis of that decision was not intellect first, but feeling! I have discussed this before in the blog where I was face to face with this caricature of Jesus and had to make a split second decision because I could walk out of the auditorium and be faced with a Christ-less eternity!
You assume that the factual work has already been done. So you accept whatever is thrown out there until you realize that you joined something without reading the fine print. But by then, you have so much invested in the belief and your eternal destiny, there's no point in going back. That's why Christian apologists create endless wiki pages about young earth creation, biblical history and archeology sites. There is a guise of historicity without the sober examination of this era versus any other era.
That's why history was the sword that cut through my faith. Because I could not understand how archeology showed hundreds of thousands of years of development which countered any 6000 year old earth and historical "orchard thief" event. History cut through the inerrancy of the bible as I found the claims of hundreds of thousands of people in an exodus and conquest of Canaan to be unfounded. The development of the Hebrew God from polytheism and through the influences of other cultures like Persian Zoroastrianism. And then the attempt to smoosh this all together in one book that is supposed to be A-Z. Instead, its a hodge podge of ancient works that fit together as Jewish history and teachings... but that's about it.
History is the knife that cut through the claims of the New Testament and showed 4 anonymous gospels written year after the fact with no direct claim to sources. Also, most of the other books were written by Paul who made the claim he did not receive his message from human sources, but from the glorified Christ in visions/revelations. And that's all we should need to know to see this book for what it is, a compilation of stories around a figure in the 1st century, just like any other.
But, if you come to that conclusion, the appeal is made again to feeling. And fire and brimstone.
It happens subtly. No Christian apologist will start off an attempted conversion from a historical avenue. The process will start with an appeal to emotion tied to personal responsibility to the moral teachings of the bible. If there are some questions about historicity, they are dealt with tactfully without discussing the gaping holes in the record. The goal is to bring the "sinner" to the foot of the cross and make an emotional decision. Everything else will be explained by the "spirit of God."
The "Four Spiritual Laws" does not have an appendix that shows historical footnotes that support the claims. No altar call is preceded by a discussion of the authorship of Mark. The purpose is to commit to the emotional appeal of the faith and get you invested in it! Once you are emotionally invested in the theological end of the arguments, historical inaccuracies are easier to explain away. Then you can appeal to interpretation and discover the myriad of arguments meant to simply fend off "unbelievers."
Pretty soon, you hear yourself saying the same things as other Christians. "You don't want to be believe in Jesus because of your sin, not because of the history around it."
The arguments turn into you having a value of truth in your statements that are backed up by the Spirit of God who has placed these in your heart. All of a sudden, you have an upper hand on these people attempting to throw "secular" arguments (like historicity) at the gospel. It is a short jump to seeing a giant "atheist conspiracy" in the historical arguments and that their lack of a moral center is the deciding factor in not accepting the inerrancy of the bible.
A good apologists will have the Seminary level expertise in dodging the common questions on: genocide, free will, marriage, omniscience and transubstantiation but that dodging is not meant to convince a person of the historicity of the bible. The goal is to dodge the surface level questions in order to get a person to think of the bible as a A-Z book of answers and focus the spotlight on the spiritual condition of the questioner. Staying on the historicity debate will soon show the holes in the work and that's not beneficial to the theologian. The statement is made that the bible is a great history book because its "His-story."
The dabbling into historicity is a tricky scenario for the theologian because then you have to reckon with the thousands of episodes of miracles, zombies, talking animals, 900 year old people, rock giants (nephilim), floating zoos and virgin birth. All of these can be found in works that are contemporary to the bible and that's a problem. There are a number of smokescreens that theologians put up to divert attention away from this. The unique character of Jesus is usually stated to counter any argument. There were a lot of people claiming to be divine in history, but Jesus was what one of my pastors referred to as "the only original in a world of carbon copies."
The problem is, you can't just accept the interesting and edifying teachings of this character, you have to face his claims of divinity. And that is tied to your own personal responsibility as a person before the God that created you... In other words, guilt will bring you to the cross and general statements about "have you broken God's laws?" The "Way of the Master" ministry takes this approach with Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort confronting people with the Ten Commandments and getting to the quick fact that we all break "God's law." Its a quick jump to personal responsibility without having to go through the heavy lifting of discussion if this is all true.
The first appeal is made to the element that will do all the heavy lifting for the Christian: feeling.
Feeling will bring you to biblical inerrancy without having to go through the hard questions. You fully accept the inerrancy of this book before even reading it. In fact, so many Christians throw up the defense of inerrancy without having looked at the claims at all. Because the fuzzy warm feeling inside is enough for them, it should be enough for anyone.
Listen to any atheist call-in shows like the "Atheist Experience" and its clear that the arguments every Christian uses show the progression of their conversion. They weren't saved through historical arguments and can't counter the hosts points, but they CAN and WILL make the claim to inerrancy and personal responsibility in a heart beat! How many times has the argument been made "you are rejecting the almighty God because of your hatred and because of sin."
In my life, I had a knowledge about God inside but didn't realize it was made of the same material any other shared idea was made out of: feelings. And its hard to go back to that first moment when I was saved but the basis of that decision was not intellect first, but feeling! I have discussed this before in the blog where I was face to face with this caricature of Jesus and had to make a split second decision because I could walk out of the auditorium and be faced with a Christ-less eternity!
You assume that the factual work has already been done. So you accept whatever is thrown out there until you realize that you joined something without reading the fine print. But by then, you have so much invested in the belief and your eternal destiny, there's no point in going back. That's why Christian apologists create endless wiki pages about young earth creation, biblical history and archeology sites. There is a guise of historicity without the sober examination of this era versus any other era.
That's why history was the sword that cut through my faith. Because I could not understand how archeology showed hundreds of thousands of years of development which countered any 6000 year old earth and historical "orchard thief" event. History cut through the inerrancy of the bible as I found the claims of hundreds of thousands of people in an exodus and conquest of Canaan to be unfounded. The development of the Hebrew God from polytheism and through the influences of other cultures like Persian Zoroastrianism. And then the attempt to smoosh this all together in one book that is supposed to be A-Z. Instead, its a hodge podge of ancient works that fit together as Jewish history and teachings... but that's about it.
History is the knife that cut through the claims of the New Testament and showed 4 anonymous gospels written year after the fact with no direct claim to sources. Also, most of the other books were written by Paul who made the claim he did not receive his message from human sources, but from the glorified Christ in visions/revelations. And that's all we should need to know to see this book for what it is, a compilation of stories around a figure in the 1st century, just like any other.
But, if you come to that conclusion, the appeal is made again to feeling. And fire and brimstone.
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