Too Many Roads

We all have a story. And this is one reason I went looking for God outside of Christianity. Here are a list of things I have been taught or learned second handed from ministers, deacons, and pastors of various Christian denominations (and the non-denominationals).

 

1  The superiority of the white race was justified through the verse Genesis 9: 27.

 

2  This followed the commonly held belief that Ham was the father of the African race, Shem: The Asians, and Japheth: The Europeans. Through their lineage, it is mentioned that their ancestors were of their own tongues and lands. (Genesis 10: 15-20)

 

3  The Book of Job mentions dinosaurs (Job 40: 15-24)

 

4  There are unforgivable sins that will send you to Hell, regardless of the any repentance. (Matthew 12: 31-32)

 

5  Mother Teresa is in Hell because she was Catholic.

 

6  Jesus was white, because Jesus was a descendent of David who had a light complexion (1 Samuel 17:42)

 

7  Cain and Abel were two of the first Homo Sapiens and their wives were below Homo Sapiens (probably Homo Erectus). This would account for the ability to breed, but since Homo Erectus was not 'human,' they didn't have a Soul.

 

8  The Book of Revelation is literal, and sometime in the future, everything will happen exactly as it is written in Revelation in all its surrealistic oddness.

9  Jesus could feed the 5,000 so easily because there were probably many in the crowd who brought fish and bread with them.

 

10 Buddha was Satan.

11 Joseph Smith (young, illiterate, drug addicted) found a cave in his backyard. In this cave, an angel gave him some magic sunglasses to help him read some tablets.

12 The 9.11 Terror was predicted in the Bible.

 

13 Mormons worship Joseph Smith.

 

14 The Rapture is Biblical (1 First Thessalonians 4:17, et al.)

 

15 The Jews don't accept Jesus as their Savior, so they are going to Hell. But, the Jews are God's chosen people so they are going to Heaven.

 

16 The Asians came from aliens.

 

17 "Thou shalt not kill" really meant "thou shalt not kill unjustly."

 18 Believing in God because you are scared of going to Hell is perfectly fine.

 19 Salvation starts by praying the Sinner's Prayer when you want to accept Jesus into your life.

20 The Once Saved Always Saved doctrine was held by the Southern Baptists, and it someone did something wrong or evil after being saved then, "They weren't really saved in the first place."

21 Methodists: People can fall from Grace (The Once Saved Always Saved doctrine is wrong).

22 The Southern Baptists said that all churches and beliefs were wrong except for the Southern Baptists.

 

 

23 The Theory of Evolution was created by Darwin because he hated God.

 

 

24 The Bible is completely literal.

 

 

25 Babies are born in sin.

 

 

26 Babies are not born in sin.

These were all taught to me directly, or I heard them directly from pastors, ministers, and deacons from other churches around the area. Plus, the discussions from teachers and among students revolved around some of these points. You all can say that I am lying when telling these things, but they have always stuck with me. And, it wasn't that I misunderstood what they were saying, because I have asked bluntly about these points and had discussions about all of them over the years of my youth.

From a Presbyterian church to a Methodist church to a Southern Baptist church, my family moved. It wasn't because of disagreement with doctrine or because of Spiritual shopping but more to do with having to move for my father's job and ending up in small towns. I went to Catholic schools and Southern Baptist schools while attending these churches. At the time, I was a kid and a young teenager, so I was still impressionable and not at that stage where I formed my identity and came to terms with my worldview.

These points all had Biblical backup and explanations from the pastors and ministers who are got their calling to be a Minister from God.

You go to one Christian church and there was some unique doctrine taught. You go to a different Christian church and there was other unique doctrine taught. All the ministers and pastors and deacons had Scriptural, textual, spiritual, devotional, 'historical' (and I use that term lightly in this context), and authoritative backup for what they taught as doctrine and as 'from Christ.' Despite all of the different denominations claiming they never interpret the Scriptures because the Scriptures were clear, there was a wide variance of meaning drawn from the text.

 

Basically, it seemed, to me, that there was a variance of interpretations as to God's personality, which affected much of how the Bible was interpreted.

 

The Southern Baptists seem to view God like William Wallace (warlike and angry).

 

 

The Methodists viewed God like Mr. Rogers (very calm and loving).

 

 

The Catholics viewed God like the Apple Customer Consumer Agreement (nobody ever reads it, but they agree with it wholeheartedly with no problem).

 

 

And, Mormons view God as Dr. Dave Bowman (came to be God...somehow)

Of course, most every Christian denies they do this. It's just my perception from attending such churches and schools for some years. How we view God really affects how we view certain actions and text in the Scriptures.

Anyway...

The reason I searched out Mormonism was not because of weird doctrine taught by individual churches. It was the holes that remained when I started to question all these different perspectives, read the Bible for myself, and read up on Christian theology, philosophy, and history. It was the gaps that I needed to fill and it was the Spirit that I needed to understand. It was the change in views among all the churches and denominations, and the wildly varying views of the individuals who refused the label of 'denomination.' This church is right. That denomination is wrong. You don't need a church. Just come to our study group. I am not religious, I am spiritual....

I needed some stability and I needed some answers