An Evil Notion
Thirty years ago when I started having dealings with Evangelicals I was at a stripmall talking with a man who had been “witnessing” to me. I don’t remember what he was talking about at that moment. What I do recall is that at some point I asked him what he meant by one of the things he said. Sorry. I’m one of those ornery people who has to understand what’s being said to me. There was a girl present who was maybe six years older than me. When I asked “…what does that mean,” she said, “You’re being dumb. Don’t question it. Just accept it.”
I converted to Christianity when I was 20. I tried as best I could to go along with/follow everything people were telling me, and I encountered lots of different ideas and takes on things. There was one thing that I was never able to make any sense of. That was the idea among some that it is necessary to sacrifice my brain to G-d. I really don’t think I ever even tried to do it. That idea was something I thought was just plain nuts. The person who said it might have tried to twist in the living sacrifice verse in Romans Ch. 12. I don’t remember. It doesn’t matter. It’s a fool’s doctrine and the people who were supposedly able to do that never seem to have much to give over to G-d.
Then about twenty years ago a former pastor of mine asked me if I thought we should teach children what to think or how to think. I said “How, I guess. What do you think?” He said, “You can teach them how to think. But if you teach them what to think then they won’t be questioning all these things.” By all these things he meant life, G-d, the nature of the world, why we’re here, is the Bible the word of G-d…you know, the hardball questions.
I’ve had a few years to consider these kinds of things and I’ve come to the conclusion that everything needs to be questioned. If you don’t understand, question. If you doubt, question. Do that first. Do that regardless of ridicule or frustration on the part of those incapable of answering. Never accept anything out of fiat (blindly, without any examination). Anyone who asks you to do that is serving evil, regardless of how well-meaning they might be.
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This entry was posted on Thursday, June 5th, 2008 at 20:23 and is filed under RogueSun. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Debra Masters (
