About me
A little background:
I was raised in a loving Christian home and baptized and confirmed in a Lutheran church. I hit my spiritual peak shortly after college. A powerful experience at a Christian retreat became the moment I truly felt “born again”.
I spent the next ten years devoting time to ministries and groups at my church. I also lead worship music a few times a month and frequently sang offering songs that I wrote. I believed God was moving in my life and using me to touch other people’s lives.
As I continued to study and deepen my biblical literacy, the more frustrated I would become. As a result, I intentionally avoided and ignored the Bible’s conflicting teachings, inconsistent accounts and evil laws that frequently challenged me. But this collection of writings is intended to be the foundation of the Christian faith. So I wanted to come to terms with the words that challenged me. When I failed to find any logical answers I decided to make a list.
My List: Believe the entire Bible, or just the parts that make sense?
This list became my version of the Psalms. King David asked God challenging questions throughout the book of Psalms. So why couldn’t I? The more of the Bible I studied, the longer my list would get. The more I looked at the actions of Christians in the world, the longer my list would get. When the list went past 10 pages, I knew I had a huge problem on my hands. No person I discussed this with could logically justify these biblical inconsistencies. So I prayed to a God that chooses not to talk to us and refuses to respond our questions. This left me with two options. Close my eyes and blindly believe, or keep my eyes open to the truth staring me in the face.
Where does that leave me today?
I am no longer a believer in Jesus or the god of the Bible. Through my recent experience, it has become undeniably obvious that the Bible is too flawed to be a valid record. Without the validity of scripture, there is no validity to Jesus. And with the evidence that prayers aren’t answered, miracles don’t happen, bad things happen to good people, and evil things are done by Christians throughout the world, I couldn’t be a sheep any longer.
That’s where this blog comes in. I have thoughts and topics that would be enjoyable to discuss with people having insights different than myself. This blog is a place for discussion and I hope to hear what others have to say from all sides.
