More what I learned from church

Posted by Benjamin on: 08.04.2007 /

(that turned out not to be true–and what I’m learning now). the Glenn instigated Synchroblog. From Rachel’s comment in this thread.

Rachel wrote:

Here are a few things I learned from church that didn’t ring true:

• Social action is for godless liberals.
• It is OK to take young, impressionable children to extremely scary “Christian” movies about “the End Times.”
• Parents should try to “break a child’s will without breaking his spirit.”
• It doesn’t matter how we treat the earth because soon God will destroy it in a flaming fireball anyhow.
• Whatever the state of Israel does is always right. Arabs are bad.
• The book of Revelation is to be interpreted literally; the Sermon on the Mount is not.
• “Immorality” means sins having to do with sex.
• Women should be seen and not heard.
• Rock music is of the Devil.
• Ecumenism is bad. Mainline churches have abandoned the true faith.
• It is OK to gossip as long as you present it as a “prayer request.”
• The “Anti-Christ” will probably be a Roman Catholic pope.

Here are a few things I’ve been learning lately:

• It is possible to have strong religious beliefs AND be respectful and tolerant of those who do not share those beliefs.
• The Bible is not more important than Jesus.
• God gets really angry about economic injustice.
• Following Jesus affects every area of life.
• Christians were pacifists for the first 300 years of the Church.
• It’s possible to believe in evolution and creation at the same time.
• I love liturgy and beauty and mystery and ritual. And that is not a bad thing.
• I can’t pledge my allegiance both to Christ and to the empire.
• Jesus feeds me and gives me strength for my journey through the Eucharist.
• I can see the face of Jesus in the face of my cantankerous Grandma.
• It is possible to be theologically liberal and a faithful Christian.
• Faith and doubt go together.
• God loves justice, mercy and humility.