You Guys Need to Communicate! (thoughts from an ex evangelical Christian)

I was born into the evangelical tradition. No need for specifics--just meat and potatoes evangelicalism.In my experience living in this strange world, I can confidently say that evangelicals believe that death was introduced into the world via the Fall.It simply wasn't up for debate. Almost every sermon on sin began with a reference to the impetus for decay in the universe: Genesis 3--the Adamic Fall.I attended several churches, all of which subscribed to this "orthodox" doctrine. I listened to Christian radio, read Christian books, watched Christian television programming, and everywhere I turned, the Adam-Introduced-Death-Through-Sin gambit was being repeated. It was biblical. Nothing else made sense or was in harmony with scripture, I was told.Now cognitive dissonance has won out and I have abandoned the fundies. I have gone on Christian forums to express my dismay at the brainwashing I endured, and even exposed the deceptive tactics of many a YEC.Little did I know I'm still not justified in abandoning the Bible as an inspired text. No, I have been told by seeming reasonable Christians that I need not have been brainwashed. The Bible, they tell me, says nothing about sin introducing death into the world. Things died pre-Fall because the Bible doesn't say that things DIDN'T die.I can only say one thing: you guys need to get your stories straight!It's like some grand Keystone Kops routine.Seeing YECs fight with each other on who has the most biblical YEC stance reminded me of just how ridiculous the evangelism routine is. It's founded on premises that millions of (presumably sincere) Christians can't even agree on between themselves.And now I'm being proselytized to believe in a more liberal Christianity, one vastly gentler and more comfortable than the stuffy YECism that I was chained to before, but no more believable.In a system where religion is a conconction of men, such things are to be expected. That's what gives me comfort. At least it's no mystery why men argue endlessly about trivial religious matters. It's very similar to those who bicker about constitutional authority. Edited by Adminnemooseus, : Added the "(thoughts from an ex evangelical Christian)" part to the topic title.

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Hi Ophir. A hearty welcome to EvC. I hope you enjoy the site. It sounds like you're a sensible thinker. Too bad you aren't into the prophecies so as to stabilize your faith in the scriptures.

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Gimme some prophecies that will erase my doubt.

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It appears that what you needed was not to dump the fundie fundamentals of scripture, but to get deeper into them so you would become apprised as to how it works.

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I did. In fact, I studied with a YEC preacher who taught me all about the verity of YECism, man’s need for a savior, the reality of Hell, prophecies fulfilled, etc. He was an intense spiritual figure and I wanted to live a life for Christ as uncompromising as him.We recently found out this man molested two of my wife’s cousins. Ritually. Under our noses. I wonder if you know what that does to a believer, Buz.I’ll tell you what it does. Such betrayals become the impetus for believers to test what they have been told by such Christian men. When I did this, I realized I had been lied to about YEC and evidence for biological evolution. Things start coming together and making sense, like the catastrophe thread that I started earlier. Soon you realize you can’t concurrently believe one thing while ignoring the obvious evidence against it. I'm not "into" denying what is plainly evident anymore.You are bidding me to believe that God created a young earth while at the same time “planting” evidence of an ancient earth and speciation over time.This might make perfect sense to you, but I cannot even concieve of a God who would weave that kind of deception into the creation in order to test humanity.

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Don't expect to ever know all the details or even to understand it fully. We just are not given those details and after it's OK for God to be God all knowing creator and men to be men, limited in knowledge.

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I never expected to understand it fully. I only expect fundagelicals to get their stories straight about whether the Adamic Fall introduced death into the world. If it did, YECs have a real problem. If it didn't OECs have a real problem. That's why you guys bicker constantly among yourselves about your beliefs.i.e., A religion concocted by men would obviously branch out into various disagreeing sects and result in the doctrinal confusion and uncertainty that we see today. That’s just what men do, and Christianity is no different in this regard.When I realized this, the scales fell from my eyes. At least in this respect, I identify with Paul.