Nutshell

What I believe in a nutshell…

I had another fight with my father. It’s happened so many times lately I decided to write down a little statement. Often opinions are misconstrued and not stated clearly so I end up looking like a heretic. Maybe I am… Often I share things with others before I have straightened it out in my head. Or a question I pose comes out in less of a question and more of a statement. To clarify, my learning process involves asking questions to make myself think. If anyone else hears them it seems to them like I believe certain things, which results in my father telling my family that I don’t believe in the Bible and that staplers are God. Gossip is an evil thing. So this is my way of stopping it. This little page is not the entirety of my beliefs of course, but it is enough to settle some things and explain why I have certain positions. Even if someone doesn’t agree with me I should hope they could respect my conclusions a little more. As I always say I am not arrogant enough to think I have everything figured out so if someone reads this or anything else I write and thinks I am wrong I welcome discussion. I may or may not change my position but regardless I love information. Thanks for reading and please let me know your opinions on things!

The Bible and Truth

I believe the Bible was written by several authors through several hundred years and then put together by several people hundreds of years later. I believe that the collaboration of that many people over that long of a period of time has got to result in problems. I can especially see problems with picking of the books in the Bible. Ordinary men, not men specifically chosen by God, picked the books that would be included in the cannon. There are books left out that almost made it in. How do we know the right ones made it in? I am not saying God did not have a hand in writing the books in the Bible.  I am not saying the Bible does not contain truth. I am not saying the Bible is false. I am not saying the Bible contains mistakes. I am saying there could be. Then again there might not be.

I believe that too many Christians focus on the Bible above all else; above people, above love, above God. The way I look at the Bible is it is helpful, it contains truth, it contains the Words of God, but it is not God.  If something in the Bible is found to be historically inaccurate for instance, that does not shake my faith in God. I think when people call the Bible “The inerrant Word of God” They are putting it on a pedestal it was not meant to be on. If there ever was anything found inaccurate people’s faith might be shaken because they have put their faith in a book, not in a person.   I believe the Bible is far more than “just a book” as I’ve been accused of believing. I simply don’t want to elevate the book over what it points to.

I believe there is truth everywhere, this doesn’t not mean that I think everything is true. I am not saying that I believe truth is relative. I think too many Christians think they have the corner on truth. Everything I believe is because I learned things from different places. If I learn more about a certain subject I may change my opinion but it still will come from the aspect of a Christian because I have a relationship with Christ. I have faith. In saying that, I am secure enough to learn things from those who might not be Christian. I believe God can reveal truths to anyone and therefore truth can be anywhere. In a book or a movie or a Buddhist. Just because someone is not a Christian doesn’t mean we can’t learn something about God from them. I have learned things from Protestants and Catholics. From people out of church and inside. From Christians and Atheists. Men and Women. Black and White. We all have different perspectives because we have different lives. Why can’t we look for the truth in everything instead of ignoring people because they don’t agree with us theologically? How can we learn anything new if we only learn from those who believe exactly as we do?

Homosexuality

I believe homosexuality is probably wrong. I say probably because I have heard the arguments on why some think it is not a sin. To me it seems they are stretching things and they have not convinced me. I have been wrong before and I am not arrogant enough to think I know everything about an issue so I will say as of right now I believe it is still a sin. I do however think it is just as bad as any number of sins Christians commit every day. Christians seem to think homosexuality is the most horrible sin and the rest are forgivable. Christ never mentioned homosexuality which makes me think. Homosexuality is mentioned in the Bible but it is relatively brief. Other sins are mentioned more frequently and not given as much spotlight in modern Christianity, probably because Christians break those more often. Christians seem to think they are safe to attack the “pagan” homosexuals and not attack their own. In my honest opinion we should stop focusing on changing the laws and get out there and love people. If God is in us and we pour our lives into people, then there will be change.

Church Buildings and Services

After I found out that there were many things in the modern institutional church that were not founded on the Bible I was happy to leave. Besides all the reasons I found, it is boring and a waste of time. There are many traditions and teachings not found in the Bible which leads me to believe that the church is not what Christ intended. I find the Bible tells us to have Christian friends but nowhere does it command to go to a specific building made specifically for worship on a certain day. People started adopting different routines and traditions until it became our modern day interpretation of church. This does not seem like a command to “go to church”, it looks like a habit.  To think that one is sinning by not attending one of these manmade institutions is absurd.  One major reason that I left it that I found there were no Christian buildings specific for worship for hundreds of years. Were they sinning by not going to “church”? Early Christians who were closest to the disciples and Jesus lived their Christianity everywhere they went. They were the church and didn’t need a set aside building to pour money into. If you want to worship by going to a building go right ahead. For me there are too many things I have problems with. One thing I would hope that church goers would change is the amount of time put into this system. If it is there to help you with your Christian life it should push you to share your life and love other people. It shouldn’t suck your time effort and money until you can’t be effective anymore. Do you go to several meetings and practices and services a week until you don’t have time for your neighbors? Do you give so much money at church that you can’t support the poor in your neighborhood? Are you so tired from preparing for a class that you can’t be bothered with friends and family? That was how it was for me and I was sickened by it. That’s not what Christianity looks like to me.

Tithes

After actually studying the Bible and tithes I find it really hard to believe the people that tell me we should. There are so many reasons why Christians should not tithe I could write a book. People already have so I won’t but I will put down a couple things that struck me. Tithing was not practiced in the “church” for over seven century’s.  If Jesus taught his disciples to tithe wouldn’t it be instituted from the beginning and not tacked on 700 years later? Besides this if you look at the true Jewish tithing system you’ll realize it was the taxation system for the Jews. This was political not just religious. God was telling the Jews how to take care of their poor among other things. It was not a way to pay pastors or build buildings. The original tithe also was not required from anyone that wasn’t a farmer or rancher.  If you didn’t raise or grow anything you didn’t give. Also the poor weren’t required to give. It would be stupid to require them to give when the whole purpose of the tithe was to support them. I know some people will read these reasons and say that they still will tithe for a guideline and that’s fine. It’s not bad necessarily, but what is bad is when churches make obligations on people to give when they might not be able to. There are people preaching that God will curse those who don’t tithe. This is a lie that hurts people. I am not saying that giving is bad. In fact New Testament giving is harder than tithing. Please give to people and ministries that need it, just don’t give because you think God will strike you down if you don’t.

Pacifism

I Know things in the world are bad. I know there are bad people doing bad things to people. How the world and the governments handle these problems are not really our problem. Things will sort out. If anything we should work for, “Thy Kingdom come” who is called, “The Prince of Peace” not “God of War”. Christ didn’t tell people to go into government to change laws. He did call people to change hearts. I don’t think I am going to picket the wars in this world but I am not going to glorify violence. The government can make whatever choices it wants, the government is not a Christian. I do however have a problem with Christians joining in and supporting war and violence. I have a problem with churches promoting a system of violence and greed and calling it righteous because of political affiliation. Jesus called us to love our enemies and do good to those who hate you. I have a problem supporting any war after hearing my savior say that.

Pastors

The Bible has the word “Pastor” occurring once or twice depending on the translation. It doesn’t ever lay out what a pastor really is supposed to do. The way it seems to talk about it is a function not a position. What I mean is that the Bible says there are people that have the gift of helping people out like a shepherd helps out sheep. There is guidance and leading but it doesn’t say it is an office and we should follow them as Jesus’ proxy. Jesus is our shepherd and it says so many times in the Bible. Jesus never set up all these offices for us to follow; he set Himself up for us to follow. Why would he go to all that trouble of living on earth and dying to be our savior and leader if he was just going to set up some hierarchy of men to lead us anyways? I believe pastors and leaders should exist but not as a title and with a paycheck. If you read the New Testament without the modern bias you’ll see it was lived out like a relationship. They were a bunch of people who believed in Jesus and got together and lived it out. They didn’t build a bunch of buildings and start paying a staff and hunkering down for the rest of their lives. Additionally, pastors are basically paid Christians. They are doing what the body of Christ is meant to do. We pay someone to be a Christian for us and it is killing them.

Rules

I believe that God gave the Jews a whole bunch of rules in the Old Testament because He was setting up his nation. These rules should not be what modern day individuals set their lives to. Christians sometimes seem to think that because it is in the Bible it has to be obeyed. There are things in the Bible that were written to specific people, not to everyone, everywhere for all time. Just because God told the Jews or a specific person to do something doesn’t mean we have to. Sometimes God said He would bless someone, this does not mean God has to bless you in the same way. The Bible records things for us, but it is not a menu for us to order from or a law book to live our lives by. Another reason why I have problems with rules is that Christians elevate them above a relationship with God. The focus is not on loving God and people so life is reduced to following rules and keeping track of who follows them best. Christ died because we couldn’t follow them. Now we should be able to relax and live life but instead we get paranoid about following rules. It isn’t that I am against following rules. I am not saying people should be able to do whatever they want and get away with it. I am saying if you focus on following all the rules you are a Pharisee. The way I look at it is God gave people rules to follow like parents give children rules to follow. When they are young they need guidelines to protect them. When they grow up they aren’t still in the same kind of relationship. When the child grows into an adult it is more of a friendship. It is about love and respect, not rules and regulations. If a parent still bosses their adult child around like they were four years old it is not a healthy relationship. Christ came and said, “No longer do I call you slaves …but I have called you friends,” Another example is a marriage. When people get married there are rules about fidelity and people follow this because it is the rule, but what happens after 30 years of marriage? Do they stay faithful because they have to follow the rules or because they love each other? From what I’ve heard from people that have been married longer than I have they love each other more than when they first got married. I’ve heard one man say they didn’t even know what love was. Now after being married so long they love each other enough to do the right things. Not because there are rules to follow. Follow whatever rules you want, but do it out of love and relationship with God, not because you have to. Anything else seems fake to me.

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~ by kameronmessmer on June 16, 2009.