Bag of Randomness

J7SN23R

  • I spent the weekend in Abilene with my closest childhood and college friends, and even though it’s cliche, it’s so interesting to see how much they’ve changed and how much they have stayed the same, and that goes for me as well.
  • Two of those friends are Baptist pastors.  Even as a teen in the Baptist church I had certain questions I wanted to ask but kept them to myself because I wanted more to be accepted by my peers than find the answers that were on my heart.  Since leaving the Baptist church, I always wanted to ask both of them certain questions, but feared I’d sound confrontational or judgmental.  Luckily, one of my other friends ended up asking many of the questions over the weekend and all I had to do was sit back and take it in, which was really cool.  A lot of this started because there’s a bit of a rift in the Baptist church, especially at our alma mater of Hardin-Simmons and churches closely tied to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).  The university is taking a more progressive or liberal view on things while the SBC and affiliated churches are holding true to conservative points of view.  A good example would be the role of women in the church.
  • Something I always wondered was how literal my Baptist pastor friends interpreted the Bible.  It turns out they both take the stories of Noah and the ark and Jonah and the whale literally, like I’m sure many of you do.  However, I’m in the camp that believe those stories or more figurative but ones in which we can still learn lessons from, so they aren’t to be discounted.  A lot of my Baptist and Evangelical friends are somewhere in the middle, they believe the stories are literal and defy nature or physics, but God provided a means to make it all happen by going beyond the laws of nature or physics.
  • I didn’t exactly remain silent during all these questions and took the opportunity to ask one of them at breakfast how fundamental his beliefs are, that is, if he thought the Earth was older than 8,000 years.  I love this man, have high respect for him, but was highly disappointed in his answer as I thought it was a simple yes or no question.  His answer, “I don’t know.”  To me, it sounded like a politician avoiding answering the question by not answering the question.  I tried to press him a bit and in a what sounded like a scripted answer, he said that the when and the how doesn’t matter, only the who and they why, and that’s all he focuses on.  To me, all of those are important, and his answer is on par to believing that the sun rotates around the Earth when there’s clear evidence that it doesn’t.  I guess other than saying yes or no, I was expecting him to say that he believes the creation story is literal and that the Earth is millions of years old, and even though he doesn’t understand how it all comes together, he trusts God.
  • While speaking with one of my friends about the split going on in his denomination, in particular, over a woman’s role in the leadership of the church and the acceptance of homosexuality, he stated, “You just don’t mess with Scripture.”  I mentioned there was precedence in his denomination for strongly interpreting Scripture one way and then changing course, specifically, their founding.  The SBC was founded after parting with the Baptists of the north because they didn’t support the anti-slavery sentiment of the north.  He went on to say that as a whole they’ve repented, but my point was their interpretation of Scripture could change again, and it would be interesting to see how things are 150 years from now, especially with woman and leadership positions.
  • Some Christians believe that what happened in the Bible at a particular time for a particular culture still applies to the current world, and some Christians feel different but think we can learn from those lessons, hence denominations. #oversimplification
  • By now, I bet half of you think I’m picking and choosing what to believe in the Bible and that I’m going to Hell, or that I’m over-simplifying things.  Hey, I’ve heard it all before so there’s no need to tell me again, and there’s only such much to write without making this post longer, so I’m leaving out some details.  I’m also not trying to change anyone’s thoughts, just state my own.  But for once in my life, I’m content with how I feel about all of this and don’t really care if you think otherwise.  I’ll just quote Emerson, “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
  • While I’m not all that proud as a current member of a Presbyterian church, I’m certainly happy I’m no longer Baptist.  I don’t mean for that to come across as harsh, but I’m a round peg and they are a square hole, I just wouldn’t fit it.  Actually, I don’t fit in all that well at my church either, but it’s the closest I can find for now and the family is happy.
  • Man, with all this religion talk, I better understand that “Winter Is Coming”.
  • LiberallyLean posted a picture of Jason Witten and Jordan Spieth right next to one another, and gosh darn it, they could pass for each other’s doppelganger.
  • A bride in her wedding dress drumming on the drums
  • A business in Oklahoma decided to help out a dumpster diver.  My dorm room windowed faced directly towards the dumpster.  This didn’t really bother me until I’d see mothers putting their young children inside to scavage for items.  When I informed the school about the awkwardness of this happening outside my window, they said policy was to ignore them.  That language seemed a bit insensitive coming from a Christian university, at least I thought so.
  • The longest straight line over the ocean without touching land goes from eastern Canada all the way around the world to western Canada.  YouTube
  • One of my readers posted an Instagram of bacon wrapped Oreos.
  • The Wonder Woman movie may be in trouble as they lost Michelle MacLaren as director.  Who’s Michelle MacLaren?  Well, she’s directed some of you favorite episodes from ‘Breaking Bad’, ‘The Walking Dead’, ‘Game of Thrones’, and’Better Call Saul’.
  • Thanks to a loyal reader, the Geeding family will be going to a Rangers game for free today.  This will be the first major sporting event for the whole family.
  • ‘Game of Thrones’ Iron Throne Toilet
  • A couple bought a house from a hoarder and is blogging about the contents.
  • The bluebonnets between DFW and Abilene weren’t all that plentiful, but there was a lot of greenery.
  • Here’s What Elite Athletes Eat
  • I let the kid shave the beard off, now my second chin is showing.
This entry was posted in Personal. Bookmark the permalink.

6 Responses to Bag of Randomness

  1. John Mackovic says:

    Which one of your kids had a beard?

  2. Ben W. says:

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Without doubt and questioning, we can never truly find our faith, and there is no shame in that process. And as for anyone who wants to damn you to hell for having dissimilar thoughts, you are right to ignore them. They have their journey, and you have yours.

  3. Tim says:

    Thanks for your thoughts today. I struggle with the idea of faith. Although I believe it has an important place, it serves as an easy excuse to not give a proper explanation or admit some aspects of Christianity just don't make sense. As a preacher's kid, I spent years silently questioning. I feel blessed that my Dad now is very open to challenging discussions and has evolved quite a bit over the years.

  4. Mr. Mike Honcho says:

    I enjoyed your blog post today. I found my way over here from Barry Green's blog and have read your posts for some time. Keep up the good work.

    I think your comments of Faith strike a chord that many of us feel today; raised in strict, "non-questioning" denominations we grow up, mature, and find ourselves unafraid of asking questions. We tend to be quiet with our doubts, concerns, and search for answers, trying not to disturb anyone else's faith with the questions about our own. A couple of thoughts I'll share…

    1.) An all-powerful, omnipotent God who creates us in His Own Image with powerful brains and capacity for thought would not be angry with our questions.

    2.) A God who creates the majesty that is our Universe and the physical laws that govern it, probably doesn't require us to suspend those same laws constantly as a foundation for our Faith.

Comments are closed.