ONTD Original: Great Scandals of the Evangelical Church

[ladyjj]

In light of the upcoming Hillsong documentary and my own experiences with living in a Fundamental Christian/Born-Again household until I was in my 30s (when I escaped--I’m not even lying about that), I thought you fine people of ONTD might enjoy reading through some of the fuckery from so called preachers of the Word of God that have hit the

Comments

[hallyujah]

Full disclosure: 1) questioning and not very good Christian here ha and 2) this is prob TLDR. But your question is a really good one. And what you're describing is basically "Cafeteria Christians," where ok maybe someone puts comments about women or slavery in the cultural context of the time, but refuse to do so for LGBTQ issues and still cling to the notion that it's unnatural. Picking and choosing what to adhere to, in other words like someone picks and chooses what to grab from a cafeteria. To some extent that's actually unavoidable. It's a ~2,000 year old book and while Christians believe it's written FOR us, it definitely wasn't written TO us. This was clearly written primarily for an ancient Hebrew civilization. So much ink is spilled in The New Testament in Paul's letters on the subjects of circumcision and what animals are clean/unclean to eat. Why? Because those were hot topics of debate in 1st century Christianity when Paul was writing- they're not exactly pressing issues today.

So all Christians SHOULD grapple with how to apply it to their lives today and how to contextualize scripture. To not consider the time, place, culture, society, political situation (etc) would only leave you with literalism which is basically biblical illiteracy (and that unfortunately is way too common). Like if you don't have critical reading or thinking skills you're vulnerable to just believe whatever pastor you hear from or whatever your parents taught you growing up without questioning.

But critical thinking skills aside, depending on a person's OWN experiences, values, culture, upbringing, perspective etc that can wildly inform how you interpret scripture. Consider culture/society in mid-19th century America. Northern/Yankee evangelical interpretation of scripture believed that slavery was a grave sin (which ofc it is), whereas southern white evangelicals interpreted scripture to endorse slavery. A lot of Christians think their views "come from The Bible" but it's really just confirmation bias. They're already predisposed to, say, social conservatism, so they interpret scripture in socially conservative ways. They think their views emanate from the Bible, but they're really just interpreting the Bible in a way that suits their predispositions.

Romans 14 talks about how Christians should believe in the core Gospel message about Jesus, but all these other theological questions don't really matter. You can still take positions on them, but it doesn't matter. Some Christians believe in the existence of Hell, others do not. Who cares though? It's not faith in Hell that grants salvation, it's faith in Christ (per The Bible). Some Christians are Young Earth Creationists and believe the Earth is only 6000 years old (LOL), others are regular Creationists, and others like me believe in Theistic Evolution (that evolution/evolutionary processes 100% exist and over billions of years, but rather than advances happening purely by random genetic mutations that grant an advantage, it wasn't random but guided by a higher power).

Maybe it's human nature but unfortunately the "agree to disagree" about theology outside the Gospel hasn't really stuck. It's pretty tribal based on what one's theology is. The Western Christian church also really split apart because it used to all be under Roman Catholicism but the corruption was insane + Henry VIII wanted to fuck Anne Boleyn ha.

Re: "if you're free to interpret the bible however you like, then doesn't it take God's intentions out of the equation?"... my thoughts on it rn are that God is all "idgaf" about theology, the point isn't figuring out the "perfect theology." The point of Scripture is that it invites you into the debate. That by debating and conversing and ruminating and dwelling on these matters of the Divine, that's what brings you into spiritual maturity, that's what brings you closer to the Divine. Meditating and discussing these existential questions draws you naturally closer to the higher power out there ("God" or "Creator" or the energy behind the Universe or however one conceives of it) as you spend time nourishing your spiritual self. So maybe it's not about how we interpret the Bible at all and God's only intention is to have us meditate on it? Just a thought :)

[ems]

I'm really glad I read this, thank you for posting it

[readmymiind]

great explanation! i might talk to you on DM because it's always good to meet Christians like you.

[hallyujah]

Absolutely, I'd love to chat more :)

[ladyjj]

The point of Scripture is that it invites you into the debate. That by debating and conversing and ruminating and dwelling on these matters of the Divine, that's what brings you into spiritual maturity, that's what brings you closer to the Divine.

Mr. Coblentz, is that you? (My 11th grade Bible teacher who started me on the path of where I am today with my faith. My mother hates him.) And honestly, that statement is the reason why I dislike Calvinism so much. Like--what's the point of debate and free will if IT'S ALREADY MAPPED OUT FOR YOU?

However I disagree. You are a VERY good Christian. And this is a VERY great explanation. Thank you so much for sharing it.