My thoughts on Christianity...

I hope you're comfy.

Let me preface this post by saying that these are my beliefs. I'll do the best I can to present you with the facts as well as my opinion. Though since I'm writing this without my textbooks I can't cite any of it for you. Its there... just look on Google. And I'm being myself writing this... I'm not trying to give you a run-down of Christian Doctrine 101 or Theology 102... just being me.

Sometime in the year 2002-2003, a friend of mine from church told me that there are 2 things that could possibly happen when you go to seminary (which I was about to go to): 1. You graduate firm in your beliefs, with unwavering faith because it has been tested to its breaking point. 2. You come out of seminary distraut, with a faith that is in shards, and a sense of failing something.

I'd love to give that person credit where it is due... he was right. I came out with the second one.

Now the Christian church believes 5 root truths. Every denomination. Even Catholics, though they'll argue that there are more than 5 root truths. In the 1800's (maybe early 1900's, I'm not really sure) these became known as the fundamentals of faith. You'll see... when you read them, they sound naive and senseless. Here they are:

1. The inspiration of scripture as the literal, revealed word of God.
2. The virgin birth as the miraculous and literal means by which the divine nature of Christ has been guaranteed.
3. The substitutionary view of the atonement that was accomplished in the death of Jesus. The affirmation of the saving power of his blood and the gift of salvation that was accomplished by his death.
4. The certainty of the physical bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The accuracy of both the empty-tomb and the appearance stories in the gospel tradition.
5. The truth of the second coming of Jesus, the reality of the Day of Judgment, which would be based on the record of one's life, and the certainty of heaven and hell as eternal places of reward and punishment.

I think I'll take these one at a time. Then add some things.

The inspiration of scripture as the literal, revealed word of God.
I think you would be hard pressed to find a person that believes that God on high wrote the Bible. Or even dictated it. And scholars have proved that he didn't. Take for instance, the Torah, the first 5 books of the Bible or the Hebrew Bible... NOT written by God or Moses! There are 4 authors, rather groups of authors that wrote editions of the Pentateuch. They are:
J-Pro-Judah; anti-Israel, their rival. Less interested in Moses.
E-Pro-Israel; anti-Judah, their rival. Pro-Moses; Anti-Aaron.
P-Written as an alternative to JE. Pro-Priests, specifically the priests who claim to be descended from Aaron. Against rival priests who claim to be descended from Moses.
R-Redactor. J & E were put together earlier to create JE. The Redactor combined JE, D, & P, adding just a few lines of his own to make the transitions smooth. The D mentioned was a group that was Pro-Josiah... the king who's country collapsed from underneath him basically.
There are many other examples... I think my favorite one to laugh about is that the Gospel of John was most likely not written by John. :)

The virgin birth as the miraculous and literal means by which the divine nature of Christ has been guaranteed.
This one is kindof tricky for believers. And it is 2-fold. One part is that even the Gospels under scrutiny suggest that Jesus was not born of a Virgin. Lets go to the earliest written Gospel. Written approximately 70-90 years after Jesus chronologically died, the Gospel of Mark, chapter 3, verse 6 quite clearly says, "Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" I can hear you now saying, "yeah, but that's just pointing out who his Mom is"... well no, its not. In those times, a Patriarchal society mind you, people were identified by their birth mother, and the allusion to his siblings meant that they all shared the same father... and the daddy wasn't God.
Second in this two-fold argument is about the divinity of Christ. Christ never claimed divinity. He claimed he was a prophet, no more. He even silenced the people that said that he was more than a prophet for fear that he would be killed. And yes, it finally caught up to him... mostly because Peter couldn't shut up. But the fact remains that Jesus was NEVER (even by the Gospels) assumed to be divine until the Council at Nicea. Thats right, a group of politicians, including the Roman Emperor Constantine got together in modern-day Turkey in the year 325 to decide the politics and direction of the Christian church (to which Constantine only joined from the pagans one year prior). They did a lot more too... read the Nicene Creed sometime. None of it existed before that.


The substitutionary view of the atonement that was accomplished in the death of Jesus. The affirmation of the saving power of his blood and the gift of salvation that was accomplished by his death.
I'll direct you again here to the Council of Nicea. The year was 325 folks. Kindof late to start throwing around rumors that Jesus healed everyone's sin wounds 322 years prior. Again, not much mention of it before this... Even though there was some mention of it before 325. The next fundamental pretty much covers that one.

The certainty of the physical bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The accuracy of both the empty-tomb and the appearance stories in the gospel tradition.
The Resurrection was not written into Mark (the earliest Gospel) until a very late edition of it... somewhere around AD 90-100.
I have much to say about the saving power of his blood, salvation, and atonement and how much they mean in relationship to the resurrection... read on to the bottom.


The truth of the second coming of Jesus, the reality of the Day of Judgment, which would be based on the record of one's life, and the certainty of heaven and hell as eternal places of reward and punishment.
Have you read the "Left Behind" series? Its crazy. My favorite book of the Bible was (and still is) Revelation. I enjoy it for what it is... a story. When the people met at another Council to decide what books (of the Bible) were cannonized and which ones were burned, they argued over this one for days. Not one of them then, nor anyone now should or did take Revelation seriously. It was written by a man, exiled to Patmos, who spent 20 some odd years in isolation. The accounts of visits to him are written down, I don't have my notes to cite where though. But this was one strange bird... Even then it wasn't written until AD 96.

After having written all of this, I'm wicked tired. But I promised a brief run-down on my thoughts about the crucifixion and resurrection.

The meat of the resurrection story is that Jesus died for our sins. He died then and there to erase our sin off of God's radar. Personally, I believe that this is barbaric. Any God that needs to kill or eternally punish those who stray away from him hasn't yet earned the title "God". He'd be essentially punishing that which he created for something that he created for you to have access to... ok, let me explain that. If creation is true (which it's not) then God created you in his image...blah, blah, blah. God is supposed to be perfect right? Then if you are like him, then he cannot punish his perfect being for choosing free will, which he also created.

This is why I don't believe in sin. I don't believe that humans are born into sin… and therefore I don't believe in the necessity of atonement. I don't believe in the theory of "Original Sin", partially because I know that there is no such thing as sin (only an ever changing theory of morality), and partially because there was no Adam, and there was no Eve, but even if there were, they were given the free will to eat from the tree that God created and then hipocritically said do not eat from. With no creation, there can be no original sin, no fall of mankind. Since there are also no universal laws, where would the basis for sin come from anyway?

As far as "sin" goes... I think that there is wrongdoing in this world. I think that there is a morality or a moral code that people live by. This code isn't written, but its a general feeling that pretty much anyone other than a sociopath feels about what is right and wrong. I DO NOT believe that this should be called "sin", mostly because sin, by definition, requires punishment. The bible even says it... "the wages of sin is death." Since I don't believe in the literal and physical resurrection of Jesus, I don't believe that the price for "my sin" has been "paid".

No sin, no need to have the sin attoned for... and therefore no need to have Jesus "conquor death".




Boy, I know that this has been a long post. And there is so much more I'd like to say. So comment, and I'll see what I can come up with.

Let the summer begin... please!?!?

I want to fill you in on a few things around the house, and then I'll get to a real post...

Oli has been safely in Poland now for about a week. He's having a great time as far as I can tell. I really really miss him. So does his brother and sister.

Today was a very trying day. Gabi and Ella were all over the place... all the time. Monika was gone for the entire day. And I'm completely worn out.

I guess that's enough of an update... this is bugging me... and it will be long, that I know.



So anyway, one of the blogs that I usually read (shared by at least one reader here) commonly gives me something to slap my head about... or wish that I could slap someone else's head for... ;) My roommate in college (the first year of it anyway) is named Nick. We went to a Baptist University, so its really no surprise that he's baptist. BUT. Some of the things that he and his wife write there absolutely drive me nuts.

I was raised United Methodist, believed in it all my life, even went to seminary at Boston University hoping to get a masters in Sacred Music (I have a Bachelors in it), but changing my mind to get a Master of Theological Studies. And then, for those of you who may have not yet heard this story, I listened to the facts given. And I stopped believing. Of course, there was much wrestling involved, but ultimately I stopped believing in "Jesus the Christ". I still think that he's a wonderful example, even if he never really did half of the things that were written about him.

Anyway, Baptists and Methodists couldn't be more different. As a matter of fact, Baptists are typically what makes up the "Religious Right." And my favorite quote about that?

"The Religious Right is neither."

And yes, (so sue me) I'm happy that Jerry Falwell is dead. I think the world is a better place without him.

OK, now there have been a lot of posts by my friend Nick and his wife Amanda. No offense to her, but every time Amanda writes something, it irks me. Horribly. I responded once to a post of hers, and after receiving e-hate-mail from that, I won't do it again... on that blog. Here, I will.


I think that the Baptist mentality is completely freaky. A wife should obey her husband and submit to him??? You gotta be kidding me! A woman has exactly an EQUAL right to her opinion! Isn't that what women have been fighting for... Women's Rights?? If you want to submit, do it, then shut the hell up about it. A Baptist has NO RIGHT WHATSOEVER to try and brainwash a perfectly good girl. And for that matter, a Baptist boy has no excuse for growing up thinking that his future wife should submit to him. That is just plain stupidity. Once these people step out into the real world, they'll realize that things don't make sense the way they've been taught in the Baptist church.

Speaking of not making sense... the latest post over there is about giving glory to God. I think that is all well and good unless of course you take it to an extreme. Remember, the Religious Right is neither. Doesn't it feel odd when you "give glory to God" all the time, only to be told when you're disappointed that you obviously gave glory to Man sometimes instead of God??? Do you realize the hypocrisy in that? If God were who he is supposed to be, then he's fine with you just giving your best. He even lets you mess up. And if he's doing his job right, he's even fine with you sometimes not giving enough glory to him... he'd have one hell of an ego if he wasn't.

And if he isn't okay with it, then he's not God. And he doesn't deserve what you had been giving so selflessly.

Ponder on it... then comment.

Kinda sorta not really

So this post is kinda sorta but not really a real post... but it has been weighing on my mind more than anything else lately.

Oli travels tomorrow to Poland. And he'll be there the ENTIRE summer.

As much as I am frustrated by him, I am going to miss that boy. I'm closer now to tears than I have been in a very long time. I'm really going to miss him. I don't really want him to go. Well, at least for so long... I can understand a visit, but THREE MONTHS!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

I'm afraid too... about everything that can change...

I'm saddened as well with the knowledge that Gabi and Ella are going to wail when they realize that Ciocia and "Bubba" aren't coming back for a while. They'll hate me for letting him go. Especially Gabi. He has memories now. He can process it. Ella is still developing. Gabi is old enough now... its going to be miserable for him and us.

Ok, I broke. I'm crying now. I'm going to miss him horribly.

I guess that this turned into a real post after all...

Fantastic Voyage

Slide slide slippity-slide,
With switches in the block on a '65


Now I'm going to have to listen to that song... good ol' Coolio. Yeah.


Anyway, the fantastic voyage of my Pearl Hall Choir went exceedingly well. I was hoping that we would be on TV... but, alas... we were only live and on the radio. :) Still, we had a great time. The kids were fantastic and stayed IN KEY!!! Maybe you don't understand what I mean... 74 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders singing A CAPELLA live in front of 36,815 fans... and they stayed in tune and in key!!! This is outstanding!

In other news... I feel a good post coming soon. I've been thinking about Faith lately, and how mine has dramatically changed over the last couple years. It ought to be a good provoking post when I sit down to write it.

For tonight though, I'm out.

Last call...

I'd love to have a great showing at this Thursday's Astros game... When my school is performing the National Anthem. Anyone going? I'll have enough sanity to post again soon... probably Friday or Saturday.