Honzo May 22nd, 2005

The following is a post from my old blog that I liked on an
alternative to the big bang theory. Since I did not backup or import my
blog when I moved hosts, it can only be found on the way back machine.

Hey bloggers.
I know I have done this sort of thing before, but it helps me deal with and discover some things…

The other day, my wife and I were helping my sister, Holly, and her husband, Brad,
move into their apartment, which happens to be in the same complex as
us, although we are moving out as of Aug 21st. After we got the main
stuff done we started talking about this and that. One of the subjects
that arose was that of alcohol. It all started with us talking about
one of the parents of their child drinking in front of their little son
Cooper. Anyway we were talking about what a policy on alcohol should be
for a child. We pretty much came to the same conclusion. That is, that
in moderation, the consumption of alcohol is not bad, however when not
in moderation it is bad. Also, breaking the law in anyway as it relates
to alcohol is bad as well.

This sparked my mind a bit. I was able to remember the straw that
broke the camel’s back so to speak. Growing up I was always a
Christian. I never doubted the fact of God and his Bible. I has off and
on cravings to speak the word of God to the unsaved. Starting in high
school and up through my stay at Central I became obsessed with
disproving anything and everything that went against anything that
people said the Bible said. Old universe, evolution, JEDP theory, The “Q” document,
ect… I read on how Christianity was true, but never paid attention to
the critics, except to show their flaws. Anyway Central changed my
attitude forever.

They gave me a dose of my own medicine. There I was able to see
fanaticism at work. There, at that college one is not taught, but
preached to. There is no evaluation, just indoctrination. Now if the
subject matter at hand is correct in it’s fullest, then that is not
that big of a problem, excepting of course that the whole point of
going to college is to be taught how to think and what the facts are
and how to distinguish fact from folly. However, at Central Christian College of the Bible
in Moberly, Missouri, the subject matter was in question. There was a
hard-line insistence on all matters of the Bible, there was no silence
where the scriptures are silent. This way of thinking wore on me and
several of my friends and other students. I thing the exact moment that
I lost all respect for the school was when we had a lesson in one of
the classes (it was a general ministry class I believe) about how the
alcohol of the Bible was not really alcohol at all.

You see the school operated off the following premises:

1. Jesus never sinned.
2. Alcoholic consumption is a sin.
3. The Bible is an utterly accurate transcription of the history that it deals with.

add a few pieces of fact:

• The bible tells of Jesus turning water into wine.
• We hear of Jesus and the disciples drinking wine.
• We also hear of people getting drunk off wine.

And the only conclusion that can be reached is….

The school began with the tradition that to imbibe alcohol was a
sin. Now it is no mistake that the bible says that drunkenness is a
sin, but nowhere does it say that casual or moderate drinking is a sin.
This is a classic example of a false dilemma.
They operated out of the tradition that Jesus could not have had real
alcohol. People from Israel that I have had that over there they serve
the best and most alcoholic wine first, and then later they serve the
watered down wine. They also said that if Jesus was following the
customs of his time, that the wine that he made out of water would have
been indeed quite alcoholic. It took that tradition and made more
tradition out of it. This is exactly what the early Catholic Church
did. It took well-meaning guidelines and codified them and added them
on top of the Bible. Last I checked God does not like the adding on of
scripture, even though every single one of us does it in some form or
another. Also, this is the first “The Greek for _____ really means…..” abuse that I noticed here.

I guess the above was when I opened my eyes and saw the school in a
new light. It was hard blow to my faith. I had been burned, well, not
personally, but lost all intellectual respect for, several other
streams of Christianity. Then in the institution that I identified with
the most, I lost the intellectual faith in that institution and along
with it, that branch of Christianity. The few that I still held on to
were under attack by people close to me. It was a hard time.

I never lost faith in God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, or the Bible, but
everyone that professed the faith hated each other and said everyone
else’s ideas were damnable. I am getting better though. I can listen to
some Christian music now with out being disgusted. I have also found a
church that is healthy and on line with my way of thinking. So I think
I am back on track. However I think all devotion books are a waste of
time and a emotional manipulation of people. Like the Prayer of Jabez. However, there are people who are looking out for the fast food Christianity that is polluting the thought. Check out “The Covering“. I think that this book sheds light on true spiritual warfare.

• Closed Minds
• Emotional Manipulation
• Getting Emotional Highs, and having that be the focus
• Damning everyone that does not view the Bible the exact same way as you.
• Starting with conclusions

• Humor
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