I hesitate to admit this, but I'd like to share a small bit of my story. Forgive me if I've shared some of this before.
I was not raised in the church and didn't become a Christian until a senior in college. The only reason I became a Christian was a love for Jesus and a desire to be like him. I had no concept of Genesis, Adam and Eve, a magic garden with a talking reptile forbidden fruit, Paul--none of that. It was just Jesus--that was enough for me. I knew I fell short because I knew me, not because of the doctrine of original sin. Once in a church in my mid 20s, I began to get involved in church life and became sensitive to spiritual matters and my need to faithfully attend and learn from more mature Christians. All of this was going on when Falwell and Robertson were at their peak (and getting involved in politics), and many of the Christians I knew watched Falwell, Robertson, voted Republican to fight abortion, etc. I simply assumed, "These are mature, thoughtful Christians of many years, I should do likewise and learn from them." I was steeped in that sort of world for a long time. It was about 15-20 years ago. in my late 40s, that I started to explore other Christian traditions and thinkers and I was amazed--and blessed!
I've emerged from the confining bubble I was in and I'm grateful. (And I'm a little embarrassed about the years I wasted immersed in a very one-dimensional, rather black and white world where to be a Christian was to be a Republican.) Becoming a Christian and growing up isolated in the Old-time Gospel Hour, CBN, and the Moral Majority wasn't the best for me. To be a Christian in the place I was meant to vote Republican, embrace a 6000-year-old Earth, etc. But that's the culture I was in. A somewhat liberal Christian intellectual to me in those days was Francis Schaeffer!
I hesitate to admit this, but I'd like to share a small bit of my story. Forgive me if I've shared some of this before.
I was not raised in the church and didn't become a Christian until a senior in college. The only reason I became a Christian was a love for Jesus and a desire to be like him. I had no concept of Genesis, Adam and Eve, a magic garden with a talking reptile forbidden fruit, Paul--none of that. It was just Jesus--that was enough for me. I knew I fell short because I knew me, not because of the doctrine of original sin. Once in a church in my mid 20s, I began to get involved in church life and became sensitive to spiritual matters and my need to faithfully attend and learn from more mature Christians. All of this was going on when Falwell and Robertson were at their peak (and getting involved in politics), and many of the Christians I knew watched Falwell, Robertson, voted Republican to fight abortion, etc. I simply assumed, "These are mature, thoughtful Christians of many years, I should do likewise and learn from them." I was steeped in that sort of world for a long time. It was about 15-20 years ago. in my late 40s, that I started to explore other Christian traditions and thinkers and I was amazed--and blessed!
I've emerged from the confining bubble I was in and I'm grateful. (And I'm a little embarrassed about the years I wasted immersed in a very one-dimensional, rather black and white world where to be a Christian was to be a Republican.) Becoming a Christian and growing up isolated in the Old-time Gospel Hour, CBN, and the Moral Majority wasn't the best for me. To be a Christian in the place I was meant to vote Republican, embrace a 6000-year-old Earth, etc. But that's the culture I was in. A somewhat liberal Christian intellectual to me in those days was Francis Schaeffer!
Thanks John! God bless.