Posts

Blind Faith Vs. Blinded by Faith

     Whenever I was a child, I was taught that we should have faith. Our faith was to rest in Jesus Christ and in him alone and were to believe that everything was going to work out for the good. We were taught that we should keep the faith in good times and in bad, knowing that through it all Christ would see us safely through. The sentiment is beautiful that there is a creator, someone who loves us, someone who cares for us; who is there beside us in every situation and sorrow. I haven't deconstructed to the point of deconversion, I feel that I am a Christian and I feel that I should still pray and ask God for help. My prayers are less different now than they used to be, but they are still prayers. I find comfort in my faith. In a world where I have increasingly less safe spaces, my faith is still a place I can go and feel comfortable and secure. Across the world, there have been millions of people who have had a beautiful face in a beautiful relationship with those thi...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Problem with Power

  It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong. Thomas Sowell     I was a member of an IFB church for years, and in that time I saw a few things that always gave me pause. First it is usually made abundantly clear that if you don't want to be there you should leave. You will only hold those that are there. Second, if you blindly accept everything that comes out of the mouth of leadership you become a member in good standing. Challenging anything is not really appreciated, even if your questions are honest. Third, it is very easy for the leadership team to take advantage of those that are under them. I don't have a problem with the setup, I mean let's be honest someone has to be in charge, it is a fact of life in any organization. You don't have Fortune 500 companies without leadership. What we have been taught in America however is that the leader rea...
Post a Comment
Read more

Serving Two Masters

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Matthew 6:24     In my last entry I wrote that I would share a personal example as to how a pastor making spiritual calls can negatively influence a christian, and a church. This is one of the first steps of my deconstruction, and literally started a journey that I am still on today. It starts with something as simple as service. In any IFB (Independent Fundamental Baptist) church there is an emphasis on service, doing our best for the Master as it were. This service becomes not only your claim to faithfulness, but it is the basis for rewards in the afterlife, and status in the present. I cannot tell you how many times that I have looked at others in the church and justified myself  because I had done some action that they had not. We are encouraged to do this for various reasons, there are obvious ones ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Pastorate: A Recipe for Self Importance

 GALATIONS 6:3 "For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself."     To be in a small church in the Appalachian mountains is sometimes a one of a kind experience. Sometimes the building doesn't have AC and the windows are open, sometimes they are perched in a spot where there is just enough room for the scant membership to park in a gravel lot. Some of these families have been attending this church long enough that the church is named after them. They meet Sundays and Wednesdays and they worship. The follow their leader, the pastor.      Any self respecting pastor will tell you that he is following the Lord's will or, trying his best to. They are all different, some are easy going and quiet, and others are loud and arrogant. They look different, they act different, and they are all odd. Hi. I was one, and who knows I may be again. I can say this though they all have glaring problem in common. They are given authority by...
Post a Comment
Read more

An Introduction

 The Bubble Burst All was given to my trust All I took to heart as truth All I built I built on thus And lost it all in bubble burst     Independent, Fundamental, Pre-Tribulation, Pre-Millenial, King James Only, Bible Believing, Baptist.     Friends that is a mouthful to describe a narrow and hard, and cold view at the world and the life that we must live here. I was born into this life, although when I was young I didn't know that. I attended church from the time I was a baby, to the time that my parents divorced, and even then my mom either made a way for us to go to church, or we found someone who would come get us. My father was a pastor, and my grand father, and many of my family members on that side were ministers. It was a thing. On some level I suppose I was expected to join in this long line of people that were ministers, and for my part I was excited to. I was born in the 80s and my memories from that all involve church. Whether it was the church my da...
Post a Comment
Location: 562 Ocoonita Rd, Jonesville, VA 24263, USA
Read more