Lay Theism

I was watching TV tonight and an ad for “Right from the Heart Ministries” came on…  I first met Bryant Wright back in 1991 when Johnson Ferry Baptist Church (JFBC) was just a little tyke, at least compared to the huge monster it is now.  He was always an affable fellow, and I attended his church for several years as a member.  While I attended with my family, the church started to really grow (and grow) and the monster had an ever increasing appetite for money.  Religion quickly fails without a steady stream of funds… faith may last, but organized religion is dead without cold, hard cash.

Over time, that aspect of church life among others really wore on me, intellectually and financially.  We were driving more than 20 miles one way to attend his little slice of heaven, and I was amazed at how little our attendance, time, and money was appreciated.  It was more of an expectation of a good Baptist.  Bryant frequently reminded the congregation about his business background before he was “called” to Johnson Ferry.  He was not so subtly making the point that for the church to prosper, it had to be run like a business.  Um, duh.  That’s how this stuff works.  It was an important lesson for me and one of the many curiosities that interfered with the worship time that might have kept me in the flock.  N-E-Way… I thought I would do a quick search for Pastor Wright and the second hit on Google was this nut case from Flickr.

I couldn’t help but think, “Hey, that looks just like Bryant Wright!”  What do you think?  Twins?  Separated at birth?  Long lost, pissed off brother?

Bryant Wright?

I thought it would be a fun thing to write about.  In the course of my “research”, I ran across this:

Belief in the Lordship of Jesus Christ
Baptists believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation and eternal life. We believe a personal decision must be made by each individual to repent from sin and trust Him as their Lord and Savior. We do not inherit our Christianity from our parents.

I disagree.  The vast majority of people inherit their beliefs from their parents.  Maybe he’s just pandering to the latest Pew survey that indicates many people switch faiths implying that if you find “Christianity” or “Baptistness” that you must truly have found salvation.  Sigh.  Honestly, I am shocked and saddened that it took me so long to wake up and walk away.  Seriously, read this with fresh eyes and an open mind:

Baptists believe all Christians should read and study the Bible. We are not a creedal people. Our only creed is the Bible. In 2000, the Southern Baptist Convention adopted a revised confession of faith entitled “The Baptist Faith and Message” which says this about the Bible: “The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which human conduct, creeds and religious opinions should be tried.

Come on! No error? Totally true and trustworthy? The Bible is masochistic and misogynistic garbage with a little of grandma’s tall tales and common sense mixed in written by primitive men with approximately zero scientific knowledge of the world.

Holy crap is what it is.

Additional search terms for those seeking common sense and a new church or intellectual home:

Marietta, Atlanta, Kennesaw, OTP, burbs, suburbs, transfer of letter, pain and suffering, adultery, farce, directions to Johnson Ferry, phone, contact, prayer request, fools and zealots, random thoughts, Brian Wright, Brain Wright, good people, kids, wonder, merriment, seeking truth, puppets, monkeys, firefighters, pencils, humanism, alliance, atheists, off the map, secular, mehta, hemant, friendly atheist, tragic, sold my soul, flurg, olly olly oxen free.

Good luck in your search for truth.

Agnostic, Atheism, Religion Atheism, Baptist, Christian, church, faith

You have got to be kidding me. The Southern Baptist Convention has once again done themselves a huge disservice by acting like this is the 1st century BCE.  The SBC has pulled Gospel Today from the shelves at its bookstores. What surprised me more is that the SBC actually owns Lifeway bookstores. Who knew?!  Anyway, maybe moronic actions like this will ultimately be their undoing (from the Associate Press):

The group says women pastors go against its beliefs, according to its interpretation of the New Testament. The magazine was taken off stands in more than 100 Lifeway Christian Bookstores across the country, including six in metro Atlanta.

“They basically treated it like pornography and put it behind the counter,” the publisher, Teresa Hairston, said. “Unless a person goes into the store and asks for it, they won’t see it displayed.”

Nationally, the Southern Baptists have adopted statements discouraging women from being pastors, but their 42,000 U.S. churches are independent and a few have selected women to lead their congregations. The faith was organized in 1845 in Augusta, Ga.

Chris Turner, a spokesman for Lifeway Resources, said the cover was not the reason the magazine was pulled from Lifeway’s shelves.

“The buyers said the statements that were in it took positions that were contrary to what we would say,” Turner said. “It wasn’t so much that there were women on the cover.”

Featured on the cover are Pastor Sheryl Brady of The River in Durham, N.C.; Pastor Tamara Bennett of This Is Pentecost Ministries in Sacramento, Calif.; Bishop Millicent Hunter of The Baptist Worship Center in Philadelphia, Pa.; Pastor Claudette Copeland of New Creation Christian Fellowship in San Antonio, Texas; and Pastor Kimberly Ray of Church on the Rock in Matteson, Ill.

Backwoods, unenlightened fucking idiots. I only put the f-word in here hoping to increase my hits if people go searching for “fucking baptist porno” or “female pastors take it on the chin” or “lifeway books whips it out, but only if you ask nicely”.

Ironically, I support these women being in positions of leadership, as I would anyone.  Discrimination is such an ugly way to retain power — and that’s all it ever has been.  I’m so disappointed that I was born into the baptist faith.  Took me 40 years to escape from the shackles.  Sigh…

Religion bigots, Christian, discrimination, faith, ignorance, magazine, morons, sad

If millions of Christians suddenly disappear from the face of the Earth, most non-believers will be too busy freaking-the-hell out to check their e-mail. But if they do log in, now they can be treated to some post-Rapture needling from their missing friends and loved ones, courtesy of the PAY web startup YouveBeenLeftBehind.com.

Check out the full story from Wired magazine.

read more | digg story

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Nicely done Atheist Revolution and Hopeful Spirit for collaborating on the Christian Blog Carnival.  Atheist Revolution quotes Hopeful Spirit as quoting Atheist Revolution as follows:

Kudos to Christian blogger, Hopeful Spirit of On the Horizon for including my post, “Doubting Your Faith?” in The Seventh Day blog carnival. Hopeful’s rationale for including the post?

Why is a post from an atheist included in a blog carnival hosted at a Christian site? Because the philosophy here at On the Horizon is and always will be “radical inclusivity.” Christians are called to love everyone, including — and many would say especially — our atheist and agnostic brothers and sisters. The author included this description when submitting his article to the carnival:

This post asks Christians who are doubting their faith to consider a possibility that may be new to them – the possibility that their doubt is a healthy reflection of their rational mind trying to break free from superstition to experience genuine meaning.

Here’s an opportunity for Christian and nonbelieving readers to engage in a meaningful dialogue!

If you are interested in this sort of dialogue, check out the carnival and let them know you were there.

I couldn’t resist.

Atheism, Love, Religion atheist, blog carnival, Christian, doubt, faith, theist