Not far from where I live, and about .6 of a mile from where I work is a church of the same fellowship in which I was raised. It is a church that my brother spoke at occasionally while he was a minister in that fellowship of churches. My brother and I looked a like while he was alive. In fact, to strangers, I would say we looked very much alike.
Because of the proximity of that church to my workplace and the nature of my workplace I see a significant number of those that worship at that church when I am working. Nearly all of those who I have come to know from that church are exceptionally loving and friendly people. And each of them has let me know, most of them repeatedly, that if I would come to their church for worship I would be very welcome.
I would say the majority of those who go to that church knew both of my parents, some of them knew my parents better than I knew them. I would say pretty much everyone in the church knew my brother. And they all liked my parents and my brother. Some of them actually know all of my family.
While I have great respect for most of the people who go to church there, I have some serious issues with what is standard rhetoric coming from the pulpit. Remember I spent the first 19 years of my life in a cookie cutter type church. And what is expounded from the pulpit has changed very little since then. I have been in enough services in the intervening years to be very sure of that.
That, in and of itself, is reason for me to not be interested in what I would hear. I believe that what we know is constantly changing and evolving. And to stay with the same ideologies seems to me to be a stalemate and a waste of the amazing ability of our minds.
I understand the concept of the same yesterday, tomorrow and forever, but that is not indicated as a guideline for knowledge but a description of God Himself. God is not content with the lack of progressiveness in our knowledge base and understanding of His creation. I see God as delighting in our finding out more about Him by finding out more about His creation.
But it seems like a large portion of what calls itself fundamental Christian want to hold to a 400 year old interpretation of writings that predate the interpretation by what Christian scholars believe is between 2820 to 3061 years. So after 400 years of investigative and intensive pure scientific and non-religiously biased research coupled with a translation removed from the actual writing date of another 3000 years we want to stake our existence and eternal destiny on thoroughly hypothetical stabs at what the writer(s) intended to convey.
Well, don’t count me on board. I’ve studied the scientific process for scientific research. I’ve followed the process in my own investigations of phenomena around me and proved the processes work clearly, concisely and conclusively.
I will not argue about such things as whether Adam and Eve lived or not, but I know if they did, they were only a part of a much bigger plan and more spectacular creation via evolution than the writers of Genesis could conceptualize. The writers of that day did not have the knowledge to address the topic of creation, so in fact, they didn’t. Genesis is not a description of the creation of our world and surrounding universe, but is a description of God establishing a relationship with the created human race.
So it is not because I would be unwelcome at the church, but it is because I really don’t wish to sit under someone who will flail me concepts and interpretations that were never truth. I just don’t think I have the time to spend. My time, at this time in life, is too valuable.
But thanks for asking. It means you care and that I value.
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