Is Christianity JUST for Stoopid Peeples?

"I woke up one day and realized that

I didn't believe ANY of it, none of it!"

"I woke up one day and realized that

I DON'T Believe.

Christianity is for Stoopid Peeple.

I didn't believe ANY of it, none of it!"

Janeway was a sharp, intelligent man, educated (BS, BA and MA, and probably soon a doctorate), and yet he found himself playing in a "praise band," jamming on the electric guitar to Jesus Rock, and yet he didn't believe any of it, none of it.

Absolutely none of it.

How did it happen?

He went the route, yes he prayed the "sinner's prayer," yes he personally "accepted Jesus into his heart," yes he had hands laid upon him, brothers and sisters prayed for him, and then he was physically baptized. They told him he was "baptized in the Holy Ghost" and he actually "prayed in tongues" when they showed him how. He studied the Bible, he memorized big chunks of scripture, he went to church every Sunday morning, and on Wednesday nights too, and he was an active member of the praise band because they acknowledged his musical training and education.

But after two years of this (potlucks and prayer partners and prayer meetings and teaching in Sunday School and "prayer language") Janeway admitted to himself that he didn't believe ANY of it. It was all nonsense. All of it make-believe and childrens' stories, and not even very good ones at that!

There WAS no Jesus, it was all a lie. The Bible was just a collection of fairy stories. How in the hell did he find himself in such a place?

Janeway dropped it all, fast. No more church. No more praying. No more "Jesus music." No more self-deluded lies.

Atheist or agnostic, the thing of it was, Janeway was a smart man, and this Christianity was just plain stupid. And what's more, looking around him, he perceived that EVERYone in the church was just playing the same retarded mental games with themselves, that NONE of them believed any of it!

So how had he gotten sucked in?

Janeway didn't set out to delude himself. He wasn't doing any kind of investigation, or "seeking truth" or even trying to find any "answers." He didn't want to be part of a group or a club, he wasn't lonely, he had a good job and some great kids, a troubled wife but was working things out.

The truth was, he just started hanging out with some guys, and little by little started agreeing with them, without really ever even thinking things through. Just a little of this, then a little of that, and pretty soon he was as deep as the biggest "Jesus Freak" in the group, saying all the same things, scoffing at "unbelievers," saying the same slogans, saying "amen" at the appropriate times, even "putting his money where is mouth was," paying tithes AND offerings, even cheerfully!

From a Christian perspective, wouldn't this man, Janeway, be considered SAVED? He fully believed he was saved, at least he confessed it daily with both his mouth AND his actions, his very lifestyle. He gave up drinking and smoking. He gave freely of his "time and talents" to the church. He not only talked the talk, but he walked the walk.

Then one day he walked away from all of it.

He didn't believe. He wasn't saved. He had never been saved. There was no heaven and there was definitely no hell. There was no God and there was definitely no Jesus.

Guys like Carl Sagan and Isaac Asimov were right.

Christianity, when you faced the facts, really was quite stupid.

Before he entered and while he was in and after he left, he was always the same guy.

But was this even possible? To say yes, and then say no?

The answer most Baptists would give is: "Was he ever REALLY saved, in the first place?" So yeah, once saved always saved, but this idiot was NEVER saved, he was just deluding himself. And when Baptist after Baptist abandons "the true faith," that's what Baptists always say, "maybe he was never saved."

The fact was really, this guy, Janeway, was producing good fruit. He was setting aside his negative friends and developing "saved" relationships. He was saying the right things AND doing the right things. ANY Baptist would have confessed: "Brother Janeway IS saved!" And so "once saved, always saved." Some Baptists would declare that Janeway was still saved, only now he was a practicing "carnal Christian," someone saved who refused to live up to the "Christian standard of living." Stubbornly, they would declare: "He is saved! No two ways about it. Once saved, ALWAYS saved!"

Despite his "nonbelief," then, Janeway would go to heaven. Despite his refusal of Christ, despite his declared "non-faith," despite his refusal to walk the Christian walk -- some Christians would declare Janeway saved, while others would declare him saved, both groups, in the long run, would be judging Janeway, judging his eternal destination, which in reality only God knows, understands or may judge. If you asked ten different Christians about Janeway, you would receive ten different answers as to why, splitting about 50/50 on his eternal fate.

The fact is, if Christianity is anything about "the group" or "the club" you belong to, then Christianity is false, it is group think, and that is why there are so many varied and colorful denominations, all disagreeing with the other and swearing that those who disagree are "cultic" or "outside the pale of orthodoxy;" meanwhile they are industriously building their new traditions upon the traditions of the elders.

Christianity is all about a one-on-One relationship, between one person, and One God, that is the first and primary reason, but this is usually the very last justification for most denominations.

Janeway, apart from the cult, is probably safer, in terms of his "eternal destination" than those who believe they have purchased "fire insurance." Safer than those who feel they are safe in "pale of orthodoxy." Safer than those who cling to "the old-time religion, cuz it was good enough for mammy and pappy."

What happened with Janeway after he left his church of many years, is that he again began to question reality. He again began to wrestle with the questions of the universe. And slowly, on his own grounds, on his own terms, he began to allow Truth to open his eyes. First he admitted that possibly "there is a God," but that He hardly could have anything to do with the God of the Bible. Then Janeway began to admit that possibly the Old Testament could be true, if ripe with metaphor and parable and lesson story, but there was no way in the world that the New Testament could be true, that all had to be invention.

Finally, Janeway began to see how the New Testament could actually jibe with the Old Testament, the Bible made a certain sense when taken as a whole, that the whole is more potent than the sum of its parts, that really there was no separation between the Old and New Testaments, and possibly, even the story of Jesus MIGHT be true (he, Janeway, has not quite accepted that as Truth, not yet, but he has an open mind, and is thinking). Thus, slowly, he is taking the opposite path to his casual "acceptance of the Gospel" by virtue of association and group think. Now his is a solitary journey, wrestling with God Himself.

Janeway, himself, is dealing with God, Himself. And God, Himself, never stopped dealing with Janeway, himself. He never will.

But this is actually what God expects from each person. Come, let us reason together, God invites. God says, you will find Me when you search for Me with your whole mind, and your whole heart, your whole soul and whole strength and whole spirit. Wholly. Holistically. The individual is to work out his own salvation, with fear and trembling, and this, sadly, is NOT what any denomination is teaching. They say "find a healthy, well-balanced church" instead of "seek God with everything you got." They teach drop your worldly buddies and buddy with US, that's the ticket! They say us, us speak, us think, us love, and them hate.

God says if you do not have a love for the Truth, you will be given over to deception.

And that -- deception -- is EXACTLY where Janeway was, snuggly-wuggily in his praise band playing Jesus Rock. Janeway said "YES!" without ever knowing the truth of what he was agreeing to, he might have heard the words of what the truth is, but never found it for himself, that Jesus is the Truth, the Light, the Way, the Door, the Gate; he might have heard the words, he might have parroted them, he might have nodded his head and slapped his money down in the offering plate, but he did so without ever truly believing.

He is undecided, Janeway is at present. He's not sure about this whole "Jesus thing," or the worse "Jee-ZUSS THANG!" or if there really even was a Jesus Christ. But in his heart, Janeway is much closer to choosing something for himself, based on his own thinking, and searching, he is not just swallowing a bunch of stuff that was packaged for him like any good little consumer. Or simply falling into a fad or way of life or clubhouse mentality.

Janeway is in a much better place, and he is seeing that Christianity is not just stupidity, not just for non-thinkers, low IQs and mentally damaged people looking for magical formulae to make them rich. He sees that Christianity is a real search for TRUTH, not fables, not stories, not feel-good maxims and positive confession junk bonds. It's more than spiritual junkfood; he's not sure if it is for HIM, but there is definitely something THERE.

Where Janeway is today, is a place far less likely to ever be deceived by whatever New Age Christian guru is coming along peddling a "new revelation," all the while fleecing the flock of its possessions and self respect (one of the new mind-boggling stupidities is to "convince" you that you are a "bad person," so that you accept the Gospel in sadness, which is just another works-based attempt to misappropriate the Law of God for greed and sloppy agape, then discard it after you "git saved").

If you have never wrestled with TRUTH, you owe it to yourself to start asking the hard questions, even if you never receive the answers you want or need. Seek Truth, with everything you've got. Not for money or fame, but just for the sake of TRUTH. You want to know the Truth, don't you?

You will find God when you seek Him with your whole heart. It's not meant to be simplistic, it's not meant to be based on magic words and fire insurance. It is giving yourself over to Truth, and to the Creator of Truth, wholly, mind and body and spirit and soul and strength. Everything you got.

You don't want to buy into someone's lie, do you? Well, they sure want to SELL it to you, for everything you've got and perhaps MORE (possibly, your eternity).

Deception is out there, all around you. But then so is TRUTH. Learn to discern Truth, to chisel away the lies and half-truths. Cling to what is good, and throw away the traditions and the half-baked scams.

Continue.

NEW! Now available as an eBook!