Adventures in theology
So I had that meeting with the baptist pastor this week about finding out about his church. Turns out that I can't become a "member" of the church because I took a bath once in a building with a different name on the front of it than the name on the front of his building. Anyways, I don't have a terrible problem with that. If I'm not a member I don't have to worry about geting in arguements with them about making my own alcoholic beverages. Or give them any money for that matter.
I think all membership really affects is who gets to vote on certain things. And I don't really care about that, but it does make for an interesting form of democracy: you can vote on everything, but only if you believe the same as we do.
I think he was a bit relieved, actually, as otherwise he'd have had to introduce me as a new member and say I had come from the Scum of the Earth Church. Which, quite honestly, I think the main reason I wanted to become a member was so that I could stand in front of a bunch of rednecks in a Southern Baptist church while the pastor said "Jim comes to us from the Scum of the Earth Church."
He was well-versed in the ways of Southern Baptistism, inserting every conceivable theological point into each sentence, and even holding the Bible up at a slight angle in the patented Southern Baptist manner. I could have argued with him about armenianism, or eschatology, or church government, but at the rate he was going I didn't want to be there all afternoon. So I just said that I had always been a bit leary of Baptist churches because there were prominent Baptists who said things that I disagreed with. And he said there were prominent Baptists that said things that he disagreed with. I was referring to Jerry Falwell. I'm guessing he was referring to Tony Campolla.
Anyways, I'll still be going there, but not as a member. All it really boils down to is that I won't have to argue with them about my mead, but I don't get to be introduced as being from Scum of the Earth. And if I ever get in a disagreement with someone about something, I can just say that I'm not a member so I don't have to follow the creedbook or whatever.
I think all membership really affects is who gets to vote on certain things. And I don't really care about that, but it does make for an interesting form of democracy: you can vote on everything, but only if you believe the same as we do.
I think he was a bit relieved, actually, as otherwise he'd have had to introduce me as a new member and say I had come from the Scum of the Earth Church. Which, quite honestly, I think the main reason I wanted to become a member was so that I could stand in front of a bunch of rednecks in a Southern Baptist church while the pastor said "Jim comes to us from the Scum of the Earth Church."
He was well-versed in the ways of Southern Baptistism, inserting every conceivable theological point into each sentence, and even holding the Bible up at a slight angle in the patented Southern Baptist manner. I could have argued with him about armenianism, or eschatology, or church government, but at the rate he was going I didn't want to be there all afternoon. So I just said that I had always been a bit leary of Baptist churches because there were prominent Baptists who said things that I disagreed with. And he said there were prominent Baptists that said things that he disagreed with. I was referring to Jerry Falwell. I'm guessing he was referring to Tony Campolla.
Anyways, I'll still be going there, but not as a member. All it really boils down to is that I won't have to argue with them about my mead, but I don't get to be introduced as being from Scum of the Earth. And if I ever get in a disagreement with someone about something, I can just say that I'm not a member so I don't have to follow the creedbook or whatever.