Monday, September 21, 2015

Fallacies of the Church -- An Introduction (part one)

As I've talked about before, I grew up in "the church;" specifically, I grew up Southern Baptist. Beyond that, I've worked in "the church," across several different denominations. The difference between me and most people who grow up in "the church" is that, from a young age, I began exploring Christianity on my own. What I mean by that is that I did not rely on Sunday School or the pastor or the youth pastor or whomever to teach me what's what about what's in the Bible and anything and everything related to that. I studied on my own.

My tendency to do my own studying (I was the only one in my youth group when I was a teenager who had read the Bible (even worse, when I got to college, I knew ministerial students who had never read the Bible (that, actually, was more than 90% of them))) led to many disagreements between me and authority figures at my church when I was a teenager. They would say something like... Let's use a great Southern Baptist example! "The Bible says it's a sin to dance." And I would reply, "No, it doesn't." Then, there would be some complicated rationalization about how all these other things the Bible said arrived at the conclusion that "dancing is a sin." It's very clear that God thought it was excellent when David, so overcome by joy and praise for God, danced naked through the streets. I'm sorry, but it's hard to get past that.

The thing is, whenever I would get into one of these disagreements with an authority figure in my church (and remember, I was only 16-17 years old), they would always have to concede to me that I was right. Because I was. They had just accepted things because of the tradition that the church had that the Bible said these things (like "God helps those who help themselves," and "Cleanliness is next to Godliness"). The only one of these I didn't get a full turnaround from the other person had to do with the rapture and when that will happen (in relation to the other events of Revelation, not what year it will happen). He couldn't bring himself to tell me I was right, so he came back with, "I'm not saying you're right, but I will say that I was wrong."

Now, you might be thinking right about now, "Why does any of this matter? I don't care about the rapture or what Baptists think about dancing," and I get that. Totally. I don't care about what the Baptists think about dancing, either, even if I can't do it (and you can ask my wife, even after lessons and more lessons, I just can't dance). However, some of these things "the church" teaches are damaging to people, including what it teaches, mostly, about the rapture. I don't mean damaging in a little way, either. I mean damaging in a big way in that it becomes damaging to society in general.

Now, I am not setting out to be offensive, but I am sure that some, if not all, of what I say will be found to be offensive by at least some of the people who visit my blog. I'd like to care more about that, but I kind of don't. If I did, I wouldn't do this series to begin with. People in "the church" tend to believe too much and trust too much what pastors say just because it is a pastor who is saying it, pastors who have never read the Bible all the way through or ever bother to learn the historical context of what they were reading. I have had people tell me, "You don't need no schooling to be a preacher, all you need to do is have a Bible." And that attitude explains the abject ignorance of at least 80% of "the church." [Yes, I pulled that figure out of my butt, but I expect it's more like 95%, so I was being extremely generous. Remember, I spent decades around people in "the church" and found very few of them to be any kind of enlightened. About anything.]

Anyway... back at the beginning of the year, I promised to be more offensive, and this is just another of the ways I intend to do it. I don't have an issue with tackling difficult topics.

All of that being said, I am a Christian, but I am only a Christian in that I believe in the Kerygma (as I talked about here). I am certainly not the current iteration of cultural "Christian" who is so far removed from anything that Christ taught that if Jesus walked into their church, they would turn Him out. Or barely tolerate his presence in hopes that He would leave on His own. I'll put it like this: I find "the church" to be offensive. I find a significant number of right-wing nutjobs supporting their actions by waving the Bible around (like Kim Davis) to be offensive. I find the people who hold rallies for those people and wave the Bible around as an excuse (I'm looking at you Mike Huckabee) to be offensive. Well, it's time for you to own up to what's not actually in the Bible and to start treating people the way Jesus said to: with love.

21 comments:

  1. Don't get me started on Mike Huckabee. I used to think he was a decent guy but that whole deal with Davis just soured me on him. I'm one of those people who grew up in the church, drifted away, went back, drifted and am back in my Faith again but not in any church. It took me a long time to understand I didn't have to sit in the pews in order to have a healthy relationship with God.

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    1. Elsie: From where I'm standing, all of the Republican hopefuls are assholes. Every single one of them. Bigoted assholes, at that.

      Pews aren't very comfortable, anyway, so it's a good thing they're not required.

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  2. Living here in the bible belt I see so many "Christians" who are hypocrites. What I really dislike is how they say, "I will pray for you" at every turn when I think they are actually the ones who need the most prayers 'cause they ain't livin' an authentic life. I believe you don't have to go to church to be a good person and treat people with kindness, respect and love.

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    1. JKIR,F!: Well, I don't really think anyone is a "good" person, which is the problem with "the church." Going to church doesn't make you "good." People are inherently selfish assholes who have learned, somewhat, to cover it up for the public, but we tend to all be two-year-olds up close. And praying for someone is just a way of getting out of offering actual assistance if it's needed.

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  3. Nice. For the most part I'm not taking offense. I am a Fundamental Baptist at the moment (not raised Baptist, but Congregationalist - where you don't do or learn anything), but as our pastor (my actual true brother from the same mother) says. Do not believe me. Believe the Bible. He has read it all the way through, many times - he has gone to college to study the Word of God. We do not make any pretense of "having religion" in our church. We see ourselves as a group of misfits needing God in our lives and Jesus for our Eternity. We have the homeless, the "just out of jail-ers", the friendless... all sorts, any sorts. We read from the Bible in church and home a lot so we can dissect and define it. We sing to our Lord a lot. We don't dance, but I, like you, have not agreed to that "edict", as I couldn't find that it was a sin in the Bible (and I CAN dance). And we are encouraged to only follow what we see as truth in the Bible - being careful that we give it good study and it isn't just "a way which seemeth right unto a man". I love attending our church. It is always more of a message and a study, and never a "follow the leader" game. You would enjoy it. It is right up your alley. None there profess to be "good" and when anyone there says they will pray for you, they do pray with heart and soul. Some days we have visitors passing through on vacation, and you can tell the unauthentic ones. They stand out like a sore thumb.

    I'm a Fundamental Baptist - not Southern - until they stop being authentic where I go. You do have to look for those churches that aren't afraid to have their people know the Bible for themselves.

    I prayed for you this morning. Really. And now I'm going to dance my praise.

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    1. Oh, I guess I should have said "Independent Fundamental Baptist"...
      but it really isn't the name that does it. It's all about being a Bible believer simply put. The name can change. The Bible can't.

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    2. Donna: I think you might be surprised at the kinds of things I'll be talking about, things that "the church" has just taken for granted as truth when the things have no basis from, well, anything.

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  4. I would agree that the church does great damage by DISCOURAGING people from questioning and learning and looking into everything. My faith didn't survive graduate school with me, but I completely respect people who actually do a bit of study, decide what a consistent, compassionate version of their faith is and then follow it with actions, rather than words. My own spirituality is more energy-based these days. We are all connected and need to do the right thing because we are all parts of a whole.

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    1. Hart: I had a teacher in 6th grade who taught me to question everything. It's a lesson I've carried with me ever since.

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  5. I'm not offended. Too many people rely on what a pastor says without going to the source. Again, that's why I really appreciate our church, as it relies solely on the Bible and our pastor is always telling people to not take his word for anything - look it up and read it for themselves.

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    1. Exactly! You just have to search out the right church. That is exactly what our pastor says. Read it for yourself, don't take his word on anything!

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    2. Alex: Unfortunately, it's more than just a "look it up" kind of thing. Taken out of context, the Bible can say all sorts of things.

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  6. You think dancing is bad? God HATES rock and roll. It says so in the Bible. The book of Elvis, chapter 10. I was much like you. My favorite argument was getting into it with a youth group leader who said that alcohol was a sin. I asked him where it said that, and he couldn't point it out. And when I pointed out the whole Jesus turned water into wine thing, he said that was a misinterpretation and it was actually grape juice. Sure, dude. You have fun with your grape juice. I'm gonna go drink a beer and dance and not go to hell, you uptight goober.

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    1. ABftS: Oh, yeah, I know he does. Even groups like Petra. And he hates games that have any kind of magic in them. Books, too. I suppose I'm not doing too well.

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  7. The church is an institution comprised of imperfect being and therefore the institution of the church is imperfect. I think we can disagree on certain interpretations of what is presented in the Bible without having discord. The big problem is that so many people avoid thoughtful reasoned discussion. Interpretations and perceptions of what we each derive from our study of the Bible (if indeed we are studying at all!) might be in variance between people, but it should not be in variance with the actual Word of God.

    I think one of the biggest problems is when the verses of the Bible are used in order to further an agenda. And this is typically the case. People believe what they want to believe and will twist any verse to prove they are right.

    Arlee Bird
    A to Z Challenge Co-host
    Tossing It Out

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    1. Lee: People can't have reasoned discussion when they don't bother to think. Hmm... I think we were saying this already, today.

      And, yes, that people will pull things from the Bible and use them out of context to support some preposterous claim is one of the lowest things a person can do.

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  8. Ugh, I had a big long comment written and when I hit submit my internet decided to eat it. So I'll sum it up by saying that I'm not religious and have no experience with any church, but I hate it when people use it as a basis for bigotry and oppression.

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    1. Jeanne: I want to know the big, long comment! Bring it back!

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  9. This is going to be an interesting series.

    I tried to read the Bible once, cover to cover. I got about a third of the way through it. I won't pretend I've STUDIED religion. But I think about it a lot. I consider myself a Christian but I'm not sure I'm any denomination. I do agree with you about people wrapping themselves in the Bible, and/or using it to condemn others or justify mean-spirited actions. I've always thought that if your religion involves God telling you to hate people, treat them badly, look down on them, or hurt them, then you MUST have it wrong.

    I feel sorry for people who want to believe in a God like that.

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    1. Briane: People like gods like that, the ones that allow them to condemn others. It sets them apart and makes them feel superior, and who doesn't like to feel superior, right?

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