Not that I had any idea which version was “best” or divine. I’m no Bible scholar, not even close. To me, it was the message that mattered and I believed most versions conveyed the message I was taught to believe. But, I only believed the Bible said what I was taught to believe because I read it with the presupposition that it in fact contained the beliefs I was taught to believe were already in it (got that?).

I approached the Bible with ideas and beliefs already instilled in me about what it should say, taught to me by preachers who were also taught what it should say by their preachers, who were taught the same by their preachers, and so on…

Moving Beyond Faith…

So, there finally came a point when I wanted to know what the Bible really said. I wanted to be able to read the Bible with absolutely no bias. I started asking questions and those questions were met with ridicule and accusations. Yes, accusations. I was accused of supposedly implying it was impossible to extract (my implication apparently denied the art of hermeneutics) meaning (or, the “true” meaning) from the Bible by asking an honest question.

What question brought on this attack?

Questioning the Reliability of The “Word of God”

I wanted to know how we can know what the authors of the Bible were really trying to say. I didn’t want to know what people thought it said or what their doctrine taught it said. I wanted to know how this could be done when we don’t have access to the original manuscripts of the Bible. Before my beliefs changed, I had no clue about how the Bible was translated or compiled or how certain books used to be considered part of the cannon. And though my knowledge is not even close to scholarly, I’ve learned through scholarly means. I shifted my reading from Christian Inspiration based material to more academic reading. This led me to an author by the name of Bart Ehrman.

Ehrman introduced me to all sorts of information I never knew growing up in the church. Things I felt like I should know. Things that made me look at the Bible in a whole different light. His books were not the tipping point towards my unbelief, but they sure were a path to a different perspective.

My Faith in Unbelief

I finally got to a point where I decided I did not believe the Bible was the inerrant, infallible Word of God. I eventually ended up where I am now, not believing that Jesus was the Saviour of the universe, because, in all honesty, who really knew who this man was?

I never knew how to fully represent my views about the Bible… until now. It’s very simple and may seem stupid, but it was like a revelation from God to me.

My Attempt at Connecting the Dots

Me and a co-worker were bored at work. She decided that she would make a nice little connect the dots puzzle for me. So, she went to work and handed me the scrap piece of paper when she was finished. She said, “it’s a name.” So I looked down, and all I saw was this:

No guidance. No obvious letters that might be formed. No real pattern to follow. Just a paper full of random dots.

Coincidentally, it turned out to be her name (how creative), but I didn’t get very far on my own. She knew exactly what she wanted me to see. She knew exactly what she wanted the dots to create and what message she wanted me to receive (although, I did already know her name).

And while we have more to go on than just random dots, I don’t feel like basing my life on an ancient document that most can’t agree to what it says.

What do you think about the Bible? Do you think it’s the inerrant, infallible Word of God? Do you think it was inspired by God? Do you think you should live your life based on its teachings?

Let me know in the comments…

However, hell hath no fury like the passion and fervor of a screaming conservative baptist preacher. The holier-than-thou mannerisms and confident warnings of fire and brimstone. The horrifyingly narrow minded axiom of “turn or burn”. It’s enough to make you drop to your knees and beg repentance.

I miraculously “turned” at the age of six, repenting my sins of childhood spasticity, bad school behavior and eating way too much sugar. I had clearly been on the road to hell.

For the next 20 years, my parents (or parent), followed this Biblical rule:

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. -Proverbs 22:6

I can’t say I’ve not departed from the “way I should go”, I just know I was taught rules the Jewish God may have never even considered.

Lucky Jews.

1. Rock Music is of the Devil, Even if it’s Christian

I was the most despised kid in my church by the parents of other kids in the youth group. Not to boast, but I was a pretty influential character in the lives of my fellow young Christians. It was tough back then. I was trying to find a balance between living the typical Baptist Christian life and not looking like a boring loser who only listened to southern gospel music.

Then I discovered Christian rock music.

Sounds like an oxymoron, yet I was ecstatic. I bought a sampler with all the latest, hot Christian rock tunes. It was called Seltzer: Modern Rock To Settle Your Soul and I loved it. It introduced me to such musical talents as: Jars of Clay, Plank Eye, The Supertones and, you can’t forget, DC Talk of the famed Jesus Freak.

I was so happy that I could have “cool” music and still be a Christian. However, my elders disagreed and were constantly condemning me for not listening to “true” Christian music, which apparently consisted only of hymns and southern gospel. Since rock music’s supposed root is evil, there’s no way Christian music could use “fleshly” music.

I listened to it anyway, and, I suppose they were right in the end. Though the music didn’t lead me away from my Christian belief, here I am, a non-believer. Damn that DC Talk:

2. The King James Bible is the Only True Bible

This was a tough one. I loved reading the Bible, and I even loved reading, specifically, the King James Version Bible. It was a beautiful, classic book to read. However, when I decided I wanted to read a different version, I was condemned for not reading the “true” version of the Bible. I have no authority in Biblical scholarship, but I never understood this concept. If every Christian should be reading the true version of the Bible, shouldn’t they all learn to read Greek and Hebrew?

3. Profanity is Wrong

I could insert unnecessary profanity here, but I digress, before… whatever the opposite of digress is. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that profanity may or may not be something that should be used in front of children, but I never understood the extreme focus and the overt punishment upon uttering even the slightest resemblance of a curse word. I’m not saying anyone should condone foul language, but the pressure put on me to not use profanity really just pushed me to use it all the more. I did love my excuses when certain words did slip, though, such as, “the word piss is in the Bible, Dad and so is ass…”

4. Girls Can’t Wear Pants

There was a church in the town I grew up in that had a sign in the vestibule. I can’t remember exactly what it said, but it was something along the lines of, if you’re a woman and you’re wearing pants, you can’t come in here. Of course, women couldn’t do much in the conservative Baptist church. They weren’t supposed to teach, or hold any type of leadership roles and they were even supposed to remain silent in the churches. It seems like they’d be more worried about men wearing dresses, but, I suppose that was never an issue in the church (the churches I attended, anyway).

5. Catholics are Going to Hell

For the longest time, I didn’t even know Catholics were a Christian denomination. I seriously believe they were a pagan religion. It’s still a foreign idea to me to think of Catholics as Christians. I’m not saying that to be offensive or to say they’re not, it’s just that I was passionately taught that Catholicism was wrong. Their belief in baptism was wrong, their belief in communion was wrong, even their belief in the afterlife (purgatory) was wrong. I was taught that they got it wrong and they were going to hell. When I was struggling with doubt, but still a Christian, I became very interested in Catholicism. At the time, I was reading a lot of C.S. Lewis, who was not a Catholic, but still held some Catholic beliefs. I remember reading a book called Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic. It answered all my questions about Catholicism from a Baptist point of view. When I tried to engage in conversation with my Baptist brothers about it, guess what happened?

6. There is an “Age of Accountability” That Determines Your Soul’s Fate

Where to babies go when they die? Well, Heaven of course. That was the answer I got, because, as a Baptist, I had an “age of accountability”. This is the age when I realize I’m a sinner. I’m not real sure if this view is held anymore by many Christians. I know Calvinists believe everyone is predestined either to Heaven or Hell, so they do believe some babies go to hell. Though ridiculous, I do suppose it’s fair. We all learn at our own pace…

7. The Earth is Only 6,000 Years Old

I know this is a heated debate, and it’s not one I want to engage in. I don’t want a Creationist vs. Evolutionist debate going on here. I may not believe the earth is 6,000 years old, but it doesn’t mean I don’t believe that it wasn’t created. It may have been, it may have not been. Of course, no one will ever really know. And I know it just sounds like hypocrisy to say that I believe a scientist over the Bible, because it could be said that I have faith in the scientist without having the facts. I suppose the only difference is that I believe the facts are there and are more evident of an earth that is much older.

In writing this, I feel a bit of nostalgia. While I do think these were ridiculous things taught to me growing up, I think it was more ridiculous that they were taught to me as absolute facts. I feel as though I should have had more options or at least some room to try and decide for myself. I am not bitter about the condemnations, nor is this a diatribe on the beliefs of the Baptist church. My experience in the Baptist church wasn’t all bad, these were just aspects of it that stood out for me as being unnecessary. Looking back, what I would’ve really appreciated was practical advice on how to live a more fulfilling life. I just can’t see why not listening to Christian rock would’ve made me a better Christian, or, more important to me now, a better person.

Anyways, why would anyone not want me to listen to this: