Another Friday five -- this one with politics *and* religion
Last week's Friday Five was called "Neither Here nor There."
Here are my answers, if you don't mind a little politics and religion.
1. What’s something you have a love-hate relationship with?
Evangelical Christianity. Here's the thing: Christianity remains, after much soul-searching, my only live option for approaching God (something I still want to do), and -- speaking from four decades' experience -- there is much to commend in the evangelical version of the faith. I embraced it as a teen (after a childhood in the less demanding and, frankly, less interesting mainstream wing of the church) and have stuck with it through thick and thin. My immediate family all made the same choice at the same time (have I told that story in these pages?), and all of the members of my extended family who are still doing church are still doing it the evangelical way.
And I was in deep, folks. Countless of my dearest memories of my most self-shaping experiences are set in the context of my evangelical faith: these include attending Bible studies, participating in prayer circles, leading worship, teaching Sunday School, serving on church committees, singing at revivals, playing piano for Vacation Bible School, baking for potluck suppers, and just shooting the breeze with like-minded Christian friends who were wrestling with the same questions about life as I was (and who were also confident that the Bible and the community of faith held the answers). I've enjoyed many Christian conferences, did a big summer mission trip (that took me way out of my comfort zone), and even endured a few stints of church camp. I'm a veteran of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at institutions on two continents, and I have the IVP books on my shelves to prove it. I'd've once listed "apologetics" as a hobby. I taught (in the General Studies dept., natch) at a Bible College for a decade, during which time I pursued a graduate theology degree for fun. And while I'm no longer quite the person I've just described, as a current employee of a Missouri Synod Lutheran congregation I guess I'd have to say that I'm still in pretty deep.
BUT.
I've found that over the course of the last decade (maybe even decade and a half), there've been fewer and fewer -- until now there are practically zero -- public statements made by evangelical leaders (let alone things posted by evangelical friends online) that I could get behind in any way. I am completely turned off by our politics (in America, at least) and by our stances on just about every social issue, as well as by the offensive degree of confidence with which we judge the world, by the burden we make of religion, by the ease with which we make nuance-free pronouncements of what should be difficult (if not impossible) theologies, by the arrogance with which we reject and even mock honest scholarship, and by our whiny and false (again, I mean in the US) cries of "persecution." On the local level, I am still somewhat nourished by participation in the life of the church -- I can pray sincerely, and when I say the Creed (not something evangelicals in general are known for, but we do it in the LCMS) I mean something by it -- but I seldom hear a sermon without experiencing heaps of reservations, and I find it safest to avoid most of the post-service conversations in the Narthex. Don't get me wrong: I can and do conscientiously apply what I know to be the standards of orthodoxy when I make song selections in music ministry. But it's an auto-pilot component that I switch on when I need it, and the rest of the time I operate in Doubt Mode.
Oh, and somewhere alone the way, I stopped believing in Hell. I didn't consciously try or decide to adopt this position; one day, I just woke up and noticed that it had happened, and there wasn't much I seemed to be able to do about it. Frankly, were I starting my faith journey from scratch, I would never be able to choose evangelical Christianity now (nor, I reckon, would evangelicalism have me!); however, I'm not quite sure how to leave it. Indeed, it may not be possible, since taking the girl out of evangelicalism is not the same as taking the evangelicalism out of the girl. And I'd undoubtedly hurt some people (family members, I'm thinking) if I tried.
So I stay, but in my heart -- and in forums that I know are only read by people who don't know me IRL -- I have already made the break. I love Jesus, but I am not (really) an evangelical. Or, at least, not much of one (see next question).
2. What’s an issue you’ve teeter-tottered on?
Abortion. I'm pro-life as regards the life part, but pro-privacy as regards the laws part. That means I understand the pro-lifers, but vote with the pro-choicers (well, now I do). So I am not at home with either side, and the discussion in my head (the only safe one to have) is very wiffly-waffly.
3. What was the topic of your most memorable back-and-forth with someone?
You mean argument? I'm sure it was politics -- okay, it was taxes, in particular, and it ended with me getting up from the table and leaving (as in, gathering my spouse & kids, saying a terse good-bye, getting in the car, and driving home from) an extended family Christmas dinner at my brother's house. But I like to forget things like that, if I can.
4. In personal and professional relationships, which end of the give-and-take do you seem to do more of?
I'd say give, by which I mean I usually give in -- or at least try to be conciliatory. As I see it, I'm a lover, not a fighter (even the day I left that family dinner, it was more of a "No más" kind of thing, and we'd all made up by the end of the day). But maybe you oughta ask the other guy. :-)
5. Which of your recent days was the most up-and-down?
I'm just home from a lovely vacation, so I have to reach back a little farther than last week for a day with some out-of-the-ordinary "down" in it. How about the day two weeks ago day when, upon reviewing my Affordable Care options, I feared that there might be no good choices for insurance after mine runs out at the end of this month ... only to discover by the end of the work day that in fact I qualified for coverage under one of my part-time employers? That was a roller-coaster ride in terms of emotions, and tears were shed.
Here are my answers, if you don't mind a little politics and religion.
1. What’s something you have a love-hate relationship with?
Evangelical Christianity. Here's the thing: Christianity remains, after much soul-searching, my only live option for approaching God (something I still want to do), and -- speaking from four decades' experience -- there is much to commend in the evangelical version of the faith. I embraced it as a teen (after a childhood in the less demanding and, frankly, less interesting mainstream wing of the church) and have stuck with it through thick and thin. My immediate family all made the same choice at the same time (have I told that story in these pages?), and all of the members of my extended family who are still doing church are still doing it the evangelical way.
And I was in deep, folks. Countless of my dearest memories of my most self-shaping experiences are set in the context of my evangelical faith: these include attending Bible studies, participating in prayer circles, leading worship, teaching Sunday School, serving on church committees, singing at revivals, playing piano for Vacation Bible School, baking for potluck suppers, and just shooting the breeze with like-minded Christian friends who were wrestling with the same questions about life as I was (and who were also confident that the Bible and the community of faith held the answers). I've enjoyed many Christian conferences, did a big summer mission trip (that took me way out of my comfort zone), and even endured a few stints of church camp. I'm a veteran of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at institutions on two continents, and I have the IVP books on my shelves to prove it. I'd've once listed "apologetics" as a hobby. I taught (in the General Studies dept., natch) at a Bible College for a decade, during which time I pursued a graduate theology degree for fun. And while I'm no longer quite the person I've just described, as a current employee of a Missouri Synod Lutheran congregation I guess I'd have to say that I'm still in pretty deep.
BUT.
I've found that over the course of the last decade (maybe even decade and a half), there've been fewer and fewer -- until now there are practically zero -- public statements made by evangelical leaders (let alone things posted by evangelical friends online) that I could get behind in any way. I am completely turned off by our politics (in America, at least) and by our stances on just about every social issue, as well as by the offensive degree of confidence with which we judge the world, by the burden we make of religion, by the ease with which we make nuance-free pronouncements of what should be difficult (if not impossible) theologies, by the arrogance with which we reject and even mock honest scholarship, and by our whiny and false (again, I mean in the US) cries of "persecution." On the local level, I am still somewhat nourished by participation in the life of the church -- I can pray sincerely, and when I say the Creed (not something evangelicals in general are known for, but we do it in the LCMS) I mean something by it -- but I seldom hear a sermon without experiencing heaps of reservations, and I find it safest to avoid most of the post-service conversations in the Narthex. Don't get me wrong: I can and do conscientiously apply what I know to be the standards of orthodoxy when I make song selections in music ministry. But it's an auto-pilot component that I switch on when I need it, and the rest of the time I operate in Doubt Mode.
Oh, and somewhere alone the way, I stopped believing in Hell. I didn't consciously try or decide to adopt this position; one day, I just woke up and noticed that it had happened, and there wasn't much I seemed to be able to do about it. Frankly, were I starting my faith journey from scratch, I would never be able to choose evangelical Christianity now (nor, I reckon, would evangelicalism have me!); however, I'm not quite sure how to leave it. Indeed, it may not be possible, since taking the girl out of evangelicalism is not the same as taking the evangelicalism out of the girl. And I'd undoubtedly hurt some people (family members, I'm thinking) if I tried.
So I stay, but in my heart -- and in forums that I know are only read by people who don't know me IRL -- I have already made the break. I love Jesus, but I am not (really) an evangelical. Or, at least, not much of one (see next question).
2. What’s an issue you’ve teeter-tottered on?
Abortion. I'm pro-life as regards the life part, but pro-privacy as regards the laws part. That means I understand the pro-lifers, but vote with the pro-choicers (well, now I do). So I am not at home with either side, and the discussion in my head (the only safe one to have) is very wiffly-waffly.
3. What was the topic of your most memorable back-and-forth with someone?
You mean argument? I'm sure it was politics -- okay, it was taxes, in particular, and it ended with me getting up from the table and leaving (as in, gathering my spouse & kids, saying a terse good-bye, getting in the car, and driving home from) an extended family Christmas dinner at my brother's house. But I like to forget things like that, if I can.
4. In personal and professional relationships, which end of the give-and-take do you seem to do more of?
I'd say give, by which I mean I usually give in -- or at least try to be conciliatory. As I see it, I'm a lover, not a fighter (even the day I left that family dinner, it was more of a "No más" kind of thing, and we'd all made up by the end of the day). But maybe you oughta ask the other guy. :-)
5. Which of your recent days was the most up-and-down?
I'm just home from a lovely vacation, so I have to reach back a little farther than last week for a day with some out-of-the-ordinary "down" in it. How about the day two weeks ago day when, upon reviewing my Affordable Care options, I feared that there might be no good choices for insurance after mine runs out at the end of this month ... only to discover by the end of the work day that in fact I qualified for coverage under one of my part-time employers? That was a roller-coaster ride in terms of emotions, and tears were shed.