Wait a minute…

I just realized something…when a kid, who was previously innocent, reaches the age of accountability, the very first time they do something wrong, Yahweh (who is filled with infinite compassion) immediately looks down on that person from Heaven and yells, YOU DID WHAT? NOW YOU HAVE TO DIE! NOW YOU HAVE TO BURN IN A LAKE OF FIRE FOR ALL OF ETERNITY! Seriously? Come on guys, that’s seriously how it is?

“But wait!” You say. “This book told me so.”

Yeah, let me see that book for a second. Is this the same book that told everyone that the Earth was flat, that the Earth doesn’t move, that slavery was ok, that women are property and that Africans don’t have souls? THAT book?

“Well, yes and no”

What? Yes and no?

Yeah…see, it’s the same book, but those ideas were false interpretations.

And how do you know that your interpretation isn’t a false one?

“Because my interpretation is found in the Bible verbatim.”

You mean like, how the Bible verbatim says that slavery is ok and that the Earth doesn’t move?

“Well yeah, but…”

And this is where I start slapping people in the face. I can’t believe it took me this long to figure this out. If you die at the age of 13, having committed only one sin, your punishment is to be tortured forever by a God of love? Something (I don’t know what) is seriously wrong with this idea. Either God is not love or is there is some serious misinterpretation going on. But of course, we know from history, that people never admit to having misinterpreted the Bible.So yeah, I’m gonna have to invoke belief #5 on this joint “beliefs shall not contradict logic”.

Dear God! What is wrong with you people? How have you dared for so long to blaspheme the name of almighty Yahweh with these foul doctrines? You have not spoken of Yahweh the thing  that is right.

The End is Nigh?

I’ve been thinking alot this weekend and I realized that the time may have come for me to make my exit from the world of theology. I’ve discovered my purpose and arguing about Restorationism on the Internet isn’t it. I thought that would help, but it didn’t. I think I’ll wait a week or so, just to make sure it isn’t a “false positive” or whatever, but I’m very sure of this one. Besides which, regardless of whether or not I’m right, I’m starting to feel this blog can only endanger me. And it certainly won’t help me get to where I want to go. Of course, I could put some stuff on here about my new direction, but if there’s anything I’ve realized over the last few months, it’s that if you want the world to change, you have to talk to the people in power. And again, that’s something I can’t do on the internet. I appreciate the 70 views I’ve gotten so far, and whoever it is that’s been reading this thing, but even heresy has to come to an end sometime.

A Preacher, A Scientist, and an Atheist Walk into a Bar…

Ok, so stop me if you heard this one. A preacher, a scientist and an atheist walk into a bar. The all order their drinks and then sit down at a nearby table. A football game is playing on the bar’s big flat screen TV, which prompts a discussion about the current season. After awhile, the atheist, absolutely overcome with curiosity, finally decides to ask the preacher a question. He turns to him and says “I didn’t know that Christians were allowed to drink.”

“What are you talking about?” the preacher replies, obviously perplexed.

“Well” the atheist says “You’ve got a white collar on, and it’s not Halloween, so you’re either a con-artist, or a preacher of some sort.”

“Well” the preacher says “I’m not a con artist, but I’m definitely a preacher. I still don’t know what you’re talking about though.”

The scientist chuckles quietly to himself, but is determined to stay out of the matter. The atheist however is a little upset and points at the preacher and says “You know exactly what I’m talking about! You’re a preacher and you’re in here drinking beer!”

“Oh!” says the preacher “Now I get it. You think that this is beer?”

The scientist laughs so hard that some of his drink starts to come out of his nose. The atheist however, is not amused. “Are you kidding me?” he says “That’s beer and you know it.”

“I’m sorry that you think that” the preacher says “But this isn’t beer.” In the hopes of ending the conversation before it gets ugly, the scientist finally interjects “So if that’s not beer, you won’t mind me taking a sip?”

The preacher doesn’t say anything, he just shakes his head and takes a sip. “So if that’s not beer, you won’t mind letting me smell it?” the atheist asks. The preacher doesn’t say anything, he just shakes his head and takes a sip. “So if that’s beer, you won’t mind telling us what that drink is called. The preacher doesn’t say anything, he just shakes his head and takes a sip. “So how are we supposed to figure out if that’s beer or not?” the atheist asks. The preacher takes a sip and says “you just have to trust me.”

And here’s some more thoughts from Diderot

VIII
Lost in an immense forest during the night I only have a small light to guide me. An unknown man appears and says to me: “My friend, blow out your candle so you can better find your way.” This unknown man is a theologian.

LXXII
Formerly, on the island of Ternate no one, not even priests, was allowed to speak of religion. There was only one temple, and a law expressly forbade that there be a second one. There could be found there neither altars nor statues, nor images. A hundred priests, who enjoyed considerable revenue, worked in the temple. They neither sang nor spoke, but in an enormous silence pointed at a pyramid upon which was written these words: “Mortals, adore God, love your brothers and make yourselves useful to the nation.”

-Thoughts on Religion, Diderot (1770)

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/diderot/1770/religion.htm

A Manageable Despair

The last few months have been a time of great spiritual darkness for me. I’ve realized that there are no answers to the questions I’ve asked and that there is no way to know for sure which religion is True, since they all contain the same doctrines and make the same claims. They lied to me. They told me that there was a mountain of evidence, available at any time to those who wanted to see, that would prove our faith. They lied. They told me that we were different from all the faiths of the world. They lied. They told me that we were perfectly rational and our opponents perfectly irrational. They lied.

So what’s the point of going any further? Why even study the Bible since I’ll never learn anything ? And whatever puny morsels of truth I recover are available in a clearer and more understandable form somewhere else. Any question that cannot be answered by reading some commentary cannot be answered at all. Period. And there is no available method for answering those questions except to say “trust, obey and just have faith”. Even if I were dedicated enough to struggle with the Text itself, I would find that there is no need to apply my Reason to it, for if I ever reached a conclusion that was not approved by Tradition, I would be wrong, no matter how logical or scriptural said ideas were.

It seems that the only recourse is to study the Gospels and to burn the rest of the Book.

Surely I have gone insane, but it no longer matters. If I am wrong and the majority right, I shall never see Heaven. And if I am right and they wrong, it will not do me any good to tell them, since they will reach the Gates regardless. But still, it seems wrong to allow such lies to triumph when I know the truth.  My mind must either be destroyed to save my faith, or else my faith must be destroyed to save my mind. Either way I go, whichever path I choose, I am doomed to a life of misery.  I no longer have any hope, but I find that it is a most manageable despair.

Back to the Drawing Board

The discussion on the future of the Progressive Churches of Christ on Jay’s board seems to have stagnated. I checked some other blogs and noticed that none of them had picked up the story yet. I was thinking of getting more involved with it to move things along, but then I realized that this wasn’t my fight. Conservative or Progressive, it doesn’t matter, there’s no place for me in this world anymore. I can either give up my new found belief in universalism (and with it my Reason) or I can leave the religion entirely. There’s no sect or denomination that accepts universalists and the authority of the Bible. And the Churches that accept the authority of the Bible hide all manner of blasphemous doctrines behind pitch black curtains of faith.

So I’m stuck with two choices, a life of silence, or a life of lies. If I live a life of lies, why not a life of murder or adultery (since all sins are the same)? If I only committed one sin in my entire life and that sin was the most innocent of all lies, I would still burn in Hell for all eternity, next to Hitler, Judas and the Devil. And if I live a life of silence on an issue most dear to me, why should I be forced into vocalizing doctrines I find evil and repugnant? What could possibly be the point of preaching or evangelism? If I have to convert people to someone else’s beliefs, I might as well become a Muslim missionary.

It occurred to me that Universalism needs a champion, but then again, why should I waste my time on any doctrinal debate? The Church has not been as helpful to the world as it should have been. But in the end, it won’t matter. They’ve already killed Christianity. Denominational loyalty, doctrinal awareness and Biblical literacy are at all-time lows. I’m not interested in packing pews, but in filling up soup kitchens, prisons and hospitals with the most sincere followers of the Lord.

Ironically, it won’t matter what I say, if I’m ever attached to any heretical doctrine. Helping the poor won’t get nearly so much attention as saying that Hell is not eternal. There would actually be those who would caution the young against reading my works since by doing so they might led into the heresy of believing that feeding the hungry is as important as going to church. Sigh. Well, in parting, let me leave you with a few thoughts about Hell…

VII
Pascal, Nicole, and others have said: “That God should punish innocent children with eternal punishment for the guilty deeds of a father is a superior proposition and is not contrary to reason.” But what then is a proposition contrary to reason if that which obviously expresses a blasphemy isn’t one?

XVII
Take the fear of hell from a Christian and you take from him his belief.

XXII
But what will God do to those who didn’t hear His son speak? Will He punish the deaf for not having heard?

XXIII
What will He do to those who, having heard tell of His religion were not able to understand it? Will he punish pygmies for not having been able to take giant steps?

IX
The author of nature, who will not reward me for having been intelligent will not damn me for having been a fool.

XLVIII
A long time ago it was asked of theologians that they find a way to reconcile eternal punishment with God’s infinite mercy. They haven’t advanced a step.

LXIX
This is what I think of Christian dogma. I will only say one word on its morality: It is that a Catholic who is father of a family, convinced that the maxims of the Gospels must be practiced under penalty of what is called hell, and given the extreme difficulty in reaching this degree of perfection, which human weakness prevents, I see nothing else to be done than for him to take his child by the foot and smash him against the ground, or to suffocate it at birth. By this act he saves it from the peril of damnation and assures him eternal happiness. And I maintain that this act, far from being criminal, should be considered infinitely praiseworthy, since it is founded upon paternal love, which demands that all good fathers do all the good possible for their children.

LXXI
What is that, Monsieur de la Condamine? It would be permitted to inoculate your son to protect him from smallpox, but it isn’t permitted to kill him to protect him from hell? Surely you jest.

Moving Away from the Drawing Board and Towards the Lab (Part 4).

The discussion on Jay’s blog is moving along quite nicely and several plans have been generated as to how this thing should be done. But really they’ve kinda clustered around two plans, so I’ve summarized them here, Constitution style.

The Guin Plan – A live chat at OneInJesus, open for reader comments. And buy an add at the Christian Chronicle to advertisement.

The Starling Addendum – No comments (seconded by Short).

The Himes Plan – a face-to-face discussion, followed up by a GraceConversation type forum.

The Dabbs Addendum – Himes’ plan, plus youtube, and a CD mailout. Talk to New Wineskins about advertisement.

The Madman Addendum – The Dabbs Addendum plus written essays by the participants placed on a blog. Create a mailing list of progressive bloggers to advertise.

Just Trust and Obey

I was thinking about posting this up on saintsmeet.com, but then I remembered why I have this blog to begin with. But anyway, I’m fairly certain that the comments below accurately sum up the majority position. And quite frankly, I find that disturbing.

Faith vs. Works

Ideally, we should have faith and works, but

1. No one can work their way to salvation

and

2. No one will be saved without faith.

Therefore, faith is more important than works, since those who have faith but no workds will still be saved.

Obedience vs. Understanding

Ideally, we should obey and understand, but

1. No one can ever have a complete understanding of God’s commands

and

2. It is not acceptable to obey only what you understand.

Therefore, obedience is more important than understaning, since those who obey without understanding will still be saved.

So there you have it folks. All you have to do is listen to the song. Just “Trust and Obey”.

Moving Away from the Drawing Board and Towards the Lab (Part 3).

Jay Guin’s idea for a dialogue on the future of the progresive Churches of Christ is starting to materialize now. Here’s the link With my post, there are now 23 comments on said page. Some anonymous guy has kinda hijacked the thread, but I’m hoping that my entry will get things back on track. The questions that are being discussed now are

1. Who to invite.

2. What format the dialogue should be in.

and

3. How to advertise the dialogue.

As for the nominations, they are as follows

Jay Guin (4)

John Mark Hicks (3)

Landon Saunders (2)

Patrick Mead (2)

Todd Deaver (2)

Leonard Allen

John Alan Turner

Wade Hodges

Terry Rush

Randy Harris

F. LaGard Smith

Edward Fudge

Douglas Foster

Flavil Yeakley

So clearly, at this point, we’re looking at having Jay Guin and John Mark Hicks at the table. But who else? Well, we’ll just wait and see what develops. As for the other questions, lots of things have been put forth, but like I said, the discussion’s been semi-hijacked, so we’ll see what happens when other people come in and start participating. But some other issues were brought up in the comment section. What about a progressive publication, mailing list or lectureship? Are any of these things in our future? Well I guess that’s what the meeting is for right? And eventually, there will have to be some sort of agenda set for this thing, but that’ll come later.

Forget About Justice, We Have Doctrine

I was hanging out at the BCM (Baptist Campus Ministries) today and I found out some rather embarasing facts. We were in a discussion about what the Church’s response should be to mass injustice (i.e. slavery) this guy told me that he’d never heard anyone defend the righteousness of slavery. And keep in mind that he’s from The Denominations  (bum bum buuuuuum!).  Meanwhile, I had to admit that I knew of at least two people in my own group (both of whom are ministers) that don’t believe that slavery is or was a sin. We also talked about homosexuality and how no one is ever upset that gays gets killed and once again, I was interrupted by someone claiming that they’d never heard someone stand up for the idea of killing gay folks. And there I was, once more, having to admit that I’d heard a Church of Christ preacher make an excuse for the murder of homosexuals. The final blow came when literally everyone in the room interrupted my rant on the Church’s lack of action on the issue of child sex trafficking, only to learn that apparently the Churches of Christ are the only churches in the Atlanta area that aren’t taking place in Atlanta’s fight against sex trafficking. Wow! I feel pretty bad right now. We, the so-called “True Church” are the only ones in the entire city of Atlanta who are not participating in this mass action campaign against this hideous injustice. And why aren’t we in this fight? Because we’re too busy yelling about women preachers, the age of the Earth and homosexuals. I think this pretty much makes my point for why doctrine is absolutely useless. Ladies and gentlemen, the prosection rests.