| Subject: Re: Why the teachings of my church do not fit the world outside? |
Author:
Fung_Chi_Wood
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Date Posted: 23:38:13 05/08/04 Sat
In reply to:
Liberal
's message, "Why the teachings of my church do not fit the world outside?" on 01:09:49 05/01/04 Sat
I carried similar questions when entering seminary. I was so lucky by the grace of God that I managed to find the "answers" there. But these are only intellectual queries and struggles, but ultimately we christian and religious people should search for spirituality. This is what I am striving for, and sometimes I have forgot this is what I should do.
In Anglican thoughts, Bible, Church tradition, and reason are three pillars of Christian faith. So reason is very important.
>Liberal
>Jan 2004, Ottawa
>
>
>In the past, I was a conservative Christian.
>
>Within the church, I know that the Bible is correct,
>the miracles are true, the Universe was created in 6
>days, Man was made by a puff of air from God, other
>religions are false, homosexuality is a sin, ... But
>outside the church, all the things are different: I
>cannot see miracles, the Universe is billions years
>old, fossils suggest that animals appeared in stages,
>many people from other religions are good humble
>truth-seeking people-loving guys, and they have their
>bibles such as the Koran too, many homosexuals are
>normal and kind, some homosexuals are Christians too,
>sexual orientation is formed in early childhood rather
>than chosen, ...
>
>What the church teaches do not fit what I have
>discovered by myself. What the church teaches do not
>fit the world outside the church.
>
>When entering the church, I must leave my brain at the
>entrance. I am wearing a brain for understanding the
>world outside the church. When I enter the church, I
>must undress that brain and put on another brain that
>is suitable for the peculiar thinking method of the
>church. I become a disintegrated person: I am
>required to cut out half of my brain for my faith,
>leaving half of the brain for my world outside.
>
>What happened? What has gone wrong? Why the
>discrepancy?
>
>These are the questions deep in my heart.
>
>I have talked with brothers and sisters, discussed
>with senior members of the church, consulted
>ministers, attended talks and courses, read numerous
>Christian books, yet none of them offered a
>satisfactory solution to that problem. Complicating
>the issue, I found that the church discourages me to
>be doubtful, or to ask question, or to think.
>
>It was the day when I spotted a book in a Christian
>bookstore. It was the Moody Handbook of Theology. It
>has done a good job of putting together a panoramic
>view of theology. That book opened my mind forever.
>I suddenly realized that what my church had been
>teaching me occupies only a single spot on the wide
>spectrum of theologies. There is a vast world of
>theology out there, which my church has never shown
>me. Only by now that I come to aware that Christian
>faith can be understood from more than one angle. I
>read on and my mind stretched. I explored through the
>pages and I was finally got introduced to liberal
>theology by Moody. Feeling like meeting an old
>friend, I realized that she was the one that I had
>been waiting for all those years. She offered me a
>totally fresh look of my whole belief and the world.
>She led me to rediscover my faith. She seemed to be
>the one who can finally undo the knob in my heart.
>She allowed me to think, to explore, to question, to
>challenge sometimes, and to take risks. She invited
>me to probe deep into the heart of my faith and
>explore the new possibilities of my existence and my
>relationship with God. She took me on an adventure
>through which life will never be the same again.
>
>The adventure is so exciting that I was attracted into
>a theological seminary to have my quest for Truth more
>clearly worked out. The seminary is an evangelical
>one but from there I learned that liberal theology is
>not a cult; it is a mainline academic approach to the
>Christian faith. That reassurance might seem to be
>naive to you but, provided the unbelievable array of
>cults throughout the world nowadays, it is very
>important to me---the reassurance that I am not
>falling into the trap of a cult. For sure,
>theological education did not once and for all solve
>all my dilemmas. But one thing is important, I have
>learned how to define and talk about my problems and
>conflicts more clearly. In other words, now I know my
>problems better. That is already a very good fruit I
>have harvested from the seminary.
>
>Back to liberal theology. She brings me the
>long-awaited marriage between my faith and the world.
>When visiting her home, I am not asked to leave my
>brain at the entrance. Neither am I required to cut
>out half of my brain for my faith, leaving half of the
>brain for my world outside. I become an integrated
>person once again.
>
>How is that possible? Here the story goes. We are
>human beings. We as human beings have our basic
>needs. Our basic needs today are more or less similar
>to those of human beings 3000 years ago. Why mention
>3000 years ago? That was the earliest time when
>people started to talk about the stories which later
>got written down in the Old Testament of the Bible.
>They told the stories from one generation to the next.
> The elderly told the stories to the children. Why
>telling stories? We are human beings. Human beings
>struggle to survive. We need to understand the
>natural phenomena around us to help us survive. We
>try to understand the whole thing. Where does light
>come from? Where does the sun come from? Where does
>the moon come from? And the land, the sea, clouds,
>rain, river, plants, animals in the sea, on the land,
>and in the sky, and, finally, human beings ourselves.
>People 3000 years ago tried to explain all these but
>they did not have adequate knowledge to do so. But
>they did attempt to explain---by stories, stories that
>pass from one generation to another by mouth. When
>the people who had been telling those stories felt the
>need to write them down, the first few books of the
>Bible were written. The stories inside these books
>are essential for the people to understand where do
>they come from, what should they do, and what they are
>not allowed to do. These are the beliefs of that
>people. 2000 years ago, something great happened
>among that people which changed the world. A man
>called Jesus was born into them and he was later
>understood to be the “Son of God.” His teachings
>were later evolved into a religion that formed the
>foundation of the Western world. Various
>understandings of that religion, however, do exist.
>Preachers of a particular understanding came to my
>home town and spread their understanding to me. So I
>was brought up in that particular understanding of the
>religion. But there is a catch in that particular
>understanding---it sees the stories which were told
>3000 years ago as facts, more factual than all modern
>scientific works added together! That is the origin
>of the discrepancy between the teachings of my church
>and the world outside. The church is a school that
>teaches 3000-year-old stories while the schools of the
>outside world teach modern scientific findings. This
>is what liberal theology tells me. Now I know that I
>do not need to keep those 3000-year-old stories in
>order to be a Christian, to believe in God, to follow
>Jesus, to learn from the Bible, to pray, to love God,
>love Jesus, and love my fellow neighbors. God is
>alive and present everywhere, He teaches me
>continually through the whole world, not only through
>those old stories nor a single book. Let me praise
>God, my Lord.
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