Defense of My Faith (part 2)
Here is the reply from k3vin - owner of the blog www.heathenz.com... and my follow-up to him. Was good to have an honest discussion about spiritual stuff.
Author: k3vin
Comment:
The way I understand fundamentalism is that if someone upholds a
holy scripture as the infallible truth then they are a
fundamentalist.
A rational fundamentalist Christian (?) has to separate themselves
so far away from scripture just to fit into modern society. I don't
see people stoning unruly children in the outskirts of town. I don't
see many Christians that would allow slavery (like the bible). I
don't see many Christians that think the punishment for rape is to
pay them 50 shekels of silver to girl's father and you have to MARRY
the girl. You can see where this one can be exploited to not be a
punishment at all. In fact, this happens in the bible.
My point is that if you are a fundamentalist Christian you have to
mentally modify the contents of the book in which you believe is
true (by definition of fundamentalist).
You seem to be introduced to only the good parts of the bible (by
today's standards) and if you're following a book that's supposed to
be infallible and true then why not read and uphold the whole thing?
Smells like hypocrisy to me.
Hey K3vin - took a while to think it thru but here are my
replies...
<< The way I understand fundamentalism is that if someone
upholds a holy scripture as the infallible truth then they are a
fundamentalist. >>
I do believe scripture is error free and inspired by God... I won't
pretend to understand it all - but I still trust that God's message
has been revealed without error thru the Bible.
<< A rational fundamentalist Christian (?) has to separate
themselves so far away from scripture just to fit into modern
society.
I don't see people stoning unruly children in the outskirts of town.
I don't see many Christians that would allow slavery (like the
bible). I don't see many Christians that think the punishment for
rape is to pay them 50 shekels of silver to girl's father and you
have to MARRY the girl. You can see where this one can be exploited
to not be a punishment at all. In fact, this happens in the bible.
>>
Regarding fundies separating themselves from scripture, there will
always be some separation due to cultural differences. We no longer
grade English papers using a 100 year-old dictionary because the
culture has changed and older rules, while excellent at the time,
are no longer applicable. But that certainly doesn't make English
classes an exercise in hypocrisy.
It's tempting to choose which biblical commands should be followed
literally and which should not. Jesus was presented with this exact
argument by religious leaders attempting to trap him into stoning an
adulterous woman. His response was "whoever hasn't sinned throws
first." He wasn't condoning adultery as much as deferring to a
higher law of grace and mercy. Another time he was asked which
commands were greater than others (as though to pay more attention
to some) and his response was that all commands are fulfilled by
loving God and loving your neighbor.
<< My point is that if you are a fundamentalist Christian
you have to mentally modify the contents of the book in which you
believe is true (by definition of fundamentalist). >>
Excellent point! This is what many people, including Christians,
struggle with... NOT wanting to think thru the difficulties of life
and apply WISDOM to their KNOWLEDGE. Most of the time we're all worn
down to the point of just wanting a list of rules to live by where
little to no thought is necessary. That's why people want to simply
believe and follow without thinking or questioning.
But God doesn't want that - the end result would be mindless robots
incapable of handling the difficulties of free will. And my gosh, no
amount of rules could possibly address the depth and complexity of
human experience. This was the purpose of Jesus - to finish what was
started with rules so a greater power of forgiveness and faith could
be established.
<< You seem to be introduced to only the good parts of the
bible (by today's standards) and if you're following a book that's
supposed to be infallible and true then why not read and uphold the
whole thing? Smells like hypocrisy to me. >>
I've read thru the Bible quite a few times and am still amazed at
it's honest portrayal of fallen hypocritical people that God still
thinks are worth saving. Yes - I will admit that I wince at the
stupidity of some Christians today... but they are no worse than
non-Christians. Why God continues to have faith in mankind is beyond
me - I would have given up a long time ago.
Dude - one of the great things about God is his choice to accept and
work thru struggling people... takes a lot of pressure off of trying
to be perfect and allows me to at least smile at the really dumb
parts of myself that I'd rather not admit exist.
-Ter