Again... Really?

Here we go again! North Carolina has yet again made it into the public eye through the actions of a Baptist pastor. Pastor Charles L. Worley of Providence Road Baptist Church in Maiden, NC spoke out rather forcefully about the Biblical wrongness of homosexuality and has warranted the attention of national media. Here are two links to the story: http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/21/pastors-anti-gay-anti-obama-sermon/?hpt=ac_bn2 and http://www.wtsp.com/news/national/article/256113/81/Pastor-wants-to-isolate-gays-until-they-die-out 

After reading the lengthy quotes from this pastor's sermon, I am appalled at his ideology. I am also appalled because I used to be a part of churches who took similar stands on issues like homosexuality. Not all Christians or even Baptists would endorse putting homosexuals into concentration camp settings just to prove that homosexuals cannot reproduce, or if you take it to the logical end, to watch the so-called blot of homosexuality die out. Sadly, I know several people who would probably be fine with that scenario playing out. The Bible, mostly in the Old Testament, does refer to homosexuality as a gross sin, and labels it as a stoning offence (Leviticus 20:13). The Bible also says that Christians are to love their neighbors and be peaceful people (mostly in the New Testament). Christians have a hard time balancing out those two ideas, often being on one extreme side or the other. It's issues like this that have led me to make the observation that the God of the OT is not the same God of the NT, despite Biblical claims to that end. The OT is full of harsh, brutal, intolerant and unloving acts that were commanded or committed because of what God supposedly said. The NT, particularly the teachings of Jesus, speak of love, equality (or close to it compared to the OT) and peaceful living. When I was a Christian, I read my Bible and became confused at the apparent contradictions I saw.

Ask A Mennonite

I am having intermittent internet problems, so if I don't get my posts up every day, it's for lack of working internet.

Here is the post: http://rachelheldevans.com/ask-a-mennonite-response

Day Four: Ask a Mormon

Here is the post: http://rachelheldevans.com/ask-a-mormon-response

I thoroughly enjoyed this post, feel like I learned quite a bit from it. I have family members who are Mormon, and they are all extremely nice people, but I've never felt comfortable questioning them about their beliefs. This woman seems to be a very liberal Mormon, so her views certainly don't reflect the very conservative Mormons that many of us are probably familiar with through the media. I found it fascinating that she considers Mormons to be Christians. I've always heard Mormonism referred to as a cult, and have always been under the impression that Mormons do not see themselves as Christians, per se.
Something I'm beginning to notice is that all people of all religions are just swell until they become "fundamentalist" and take things to the extreme. Moderation in all things truly is the way to go.

Day Three: Ask an Orthodox Jew

Here is the post: http://rachelheldevans.com/ask-an-orthodox-jew-response

After reading the post myself, several things stood out to me. According to this woman, Orthodox Jews don't take the whole Old Testament literally, only the Torah (law). If that is the case, then a lot of things in the OT can be left to personal interpretation, but the Torah is strictly held to. Well... as far as I know they don't stone people anymore, so I'm not sure what other things have been ignored as time has gone on. I thought the description of a woman's life was very interesting. The powerful Jewish wife and mother she described seemed nothing like the mousy women Paul references in the NT. Granted, it's still the woman's role to remain silent in church and leave such matters for the men to discuss (she even leaves a doctrinal question to be answered by her husband in this interview, which certainly illustrates a few things). I suppose "separate but equal" is a fairly accurate way to describe how this woman sees her standing as a woman, and she is happy for it remain that way. Personally, I find the idea that only men are allowed to be in positions of spiritual leadership to be unfair. Looking back at history, the general concept of "separate but equal" usually leads to being separate but not truly equal. Anyway, those were a few things that stood out to me. This series is extremely interesting! I have learned a great deal already, and I LOVE to learn.

Day Two: Ask A Catholic

Here is the post: http://rachelheldevans.com/ask-a-catholic-response

Day One: Interview with an Atheist

I just stumbled across a Christian blogger's site and discovered she has already done something I've been wanting to do - interview believers of other faiths/religions/mindsets. I applaud her for being interested in hearing what other people have to say about religion, especially since that's not something I usually associate with Christians (at least not the uber-conservative branch I grew up in). This is her introduction into the series, and this will take you to a listing of all the interviews she's done thus far. I'm going to be posting a link to one interview every day, and, if time allows, make comments about the interview. Speaking of comments, be sure to read the comments already posted on her blog - half the fun of these things is reading what a variety of people think.
Here is the first interview, which was done with an atheist: http://rachelheldevans.com/ask-an-atheist-response

7 Things You Should Know About Me

My creativity usually comes to life right around midnight... guess it's a blessing and a curse. At the moment I'm not feeling terribly creative... just listening to some music and reading about random and sundry things on the web, and pondering all that I take in. My reading tonight has included the blog that was created to debunk everything Threnody and I say on this blog. Because I personally know the author, and know she has only the best intentions, I will be kind in what I say here. A decent amount of Undertaking Liberty's traffic comes over from her blog (she links to our posts and then writes what she thinks about them, from the Christian side). The extra readers are nice, but I can only hope they read both blogs with a discerning eye and an open mind. If you come to me from her blog, or even if you have simply been reading my blog but do not know me outside of the words I write here, you may have an inaccurate view of who I am and what I believe. It is very easy to read what someone has written and then interpret it many different ways. Several of Varda's posts have left me frustrated because what I said was taken to the extreme, at least in my opinion. That is, of course, a danger of writing these posts and making them public... but it's frustrating nonetheless when you see it happen, and increasingly so when it's on a regular basis. The longer I am removed from Christianity, the more frequently I am misunderstood by Christians I once knew, and the more I see myself and my words misrepresented in exaggerated ways. So, let me lay some things out for you, my readers:

1. I was "saved" at the age of four. My mother answered my questions and guided me in prayer, and from that moment on I believed I was saved. I had the relationship. I was going to heaven. I was a Child of God. I read the Bible, prayed, went soul-winning, sang in the choir, attended and worked at a Christian camp, attended a Baptist college, attempted to go to Ukraine on a mission's trip (was thwarted by health problems), etc. I was the model Christian young lady, looked up to by many, seeking God's will and doing my dead-level best to live by the Bible. A once-friend told me that there had never been any doubts in his mind that I was saved - that was early in 2011, if my memory serves me correctly.
If the Bible were true, then I would be one of those people who would have died and asked to be let into heaven but turned away by Jesus because he had "never known" me... and spent an eternity in Hell after honestly believing I was a Christian. What kind of craziness is that anyway? Was my belief, my very heart and soul, not sincere enough to make it work? I find that logic to be silly.

Thinking Outside the Box

This was too good to pass up: Nine Dangerous Things You Were Taught in School

Pastor Promotes Punching Children

Read this article and listen to the audio clip, then read what I write below.

What this pastor says is appalling. Listening to him as he preaches, hearing the raised voice and authoritative words... it brings back memories of many pastors, speakers, whatever that I have heard in my lifetime (all Fundemental Baptists). There are many times I can recall them getting hot about this issue or that and essentially putting their foot in their mouth and saying something outrageous or ridiculous - just like this guy. I am actually somewhat familiar with this particular church - Berean Baptist of Fayettville, NC - and know many people who think very highly of it. I also know that, if someone were to get up and preach like that in the church I grew up in, there would be some laughter, several shouts of "Amen!"... and then the few people scratching their heads and wondering why it's alright to punch a child. Why is it even alright to joke about punching a child (not that this preacher was joking)?
The older I get, the more I question the rightness of corporal punishment. A scene from Little Women stand out in my mind, when the mother writes an angry note to one of the girls' schoolteachers. The child had been hit on the palm of the hand with a ruler (hard enough to leave visible marks). The note made this point: If you hit a child, you teach the child that hitting is okay. I'm not a parent, but I was a child once, and I have done some research into other ways of disciplining children - ways that do not involve violence. If I do ever have the privilege to be a mother, I will not hit my child. There are plenty of other methods that do work - research it.
In regards to what the Bible says in Proverbs 23:13-14 - "Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell." - I find the logic, particularly in that first verse, to be sad. Beat your child with a stick, don't worry, he won't die from it. Besides, you have to keep him from going to hell, so stay really tough on him! Yeah... no.
Discpline is very good and very necessary, but hitting a child, someone who is in the initial stages of learnig what is right and wrong, seems like an oximoron. Don't do bad things, because if you do, I'll hit you to make you learn it's bad. Words and actions that show great anger usually make people become defensive. It's hard to learn if the method of teaching seems more like you're trying to beat the ignorance out of them instead of helping them learn how to live.

A Story

http://www.npr.org/2012/04/30/151681248/from-minister-to-atheist-a-story-of-losing-faith

This is a story that I can relate to in many ways, although I do not claim to be an athiest.