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Table of contents for Mr Cooper
I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Paul, and I was born and raised in Missouri. My parents were raised in the church, met in church, married in the church and tried very hard to pass their values and beliefs on to me.
I attended Assembly of God churches for most of my childhood. If you’re unfamiliar, AOG churches are a Pentecostal denomination. There’s some great information on Pentecostalism on Wikipedia for a more in-depth analysis of the beliefs, but here’s a short run down, the emphasis is mine.
Theologically, most Pentecostal denominations are aligned with Evangelicalism in that they emphasize the reliability of the Bible and the need for the transformation of an individual’s life with faith in Jesus. Pentecostals also adhere to the doctrine of Biblical inerrancy. Pentecostals differ from fundamentalists by placing less emphasis on personal spiritual experience and more emphasis on the Holy Spirit’s work within a person than other Protestants.
Pentecostals believe that personal afflictions such as disease, psychological pathologies, or addictions are caused by the presence of Demons inhabiting a person’s spirit. They believe that individuals who have a particularly close relationship with God can begin speaking in tongues, and other members of the congregation can be given the gift of “discernment,” or the ability to translate God’s word as it is being spoken aloud.
I have seen my 250lb+ grandmother roll on the floor when “touched by the spirit.”
Sometime early in my childhood, I raised a bit of a stink in a Sunday School class when I asked the teacher, “Do you really expect me to believe that this guy Jonah got swallowed by a whale?” The teacher replied, “Yes, of course, because God says it happened.” I was a precocious child who read every thing he could get his hands on, and I was particularly intrigued by marine life. “But, that’s physically impossible! Whales have a filter in their mouths called a ‘baleen’ and wouldn’t allow anything that large to enter, and even if they didn’t, Jonah would have been digested.”
I was promptly sent to the pastor who administered swats for ‘disrupting the class’ and for ‘being blasphemous.’* I didn’t know what blasphemy was, but I knew it was bad. My parents were called into a meeting, and we soon left that church for another.
As a teenager, I attended a Nazarene church (Wikipedia link) with my best friend. The Nazarene Church believes that it is possible, through complete obedience to God, to live outside the influence of Original Sin. The Nazarene’s believe that dancing is sinful, as is any consumption of alcohol or tobacco. Music was ok, as long as it was secular.
My parents weren’t exactly thrilled by my attending a radically different church, but were happy that I was seeking my own path to God.
I tell you this so that you understand that I have a background in a strict biblical church environment. I have read the Bible, participated in study groups, prayer circles, and Vacation Bible School. I am not uneducated on the subject of scripture, theology, or religion.
In fact, I will posit that I have spent more time studying the world’s religions and philosophies than you have.
I am fascinated by religion from an anthropological standpoint. The psychology of faith, belief, and devotion to those beliefs is probably far more interesting to me than to most average people.
What I’m trying to say, is that I firmly understand your view point. I have lived and breathed your viewpoint, I have had daily contact with people who share your view point of the Bible as the incontrovertible word of God.
And yet, amazingly, I do not believe this. I know it’s probably a hard concept to grasp, but bear with me.
I believe the truth about the fundamental concepts of morality and the purpose of life probably lies somewhere in the common ground shared by all religions. As an example, “Love thy neighbor” (or some variation of this wording) is an edict shared by every religion on the planet, including those of remote tribes in New Zealand and Papua New Guinea that were studied extensively in the 1970’s.
As far as the creation of the Universe, I believe in science. I believe in the mechanics of physics, gravity, and biological processes (including genetic mutation and ‘evolution’ as such).
I believe these things because they don’t require me to have ‘faith’ that they are true and real. They are reproducible, predictable, and tangible.
If you are one of the fundamentalists who believe that the Earth is only 5000 years old, and that dinosaur bones were planted by Satan to make humans doubt the existence of God, you may as well stop reading now. We can not have any sort of an intelligent discussion from this point forward, as you will not be able to accept any argument that I make as valid, and every argument that you make containing the words “because Satan did it” will cause my eyes to roll audibly.
However, if we can agree that there are demonstrable scientific explanations for some phenomena (I’m not saying you have to “believe” in evolution, that’s a completely different discussion for another time), then please join me over at page two.
* This marks the first of MANY occasions in my life where I was punished by the church for being contrary. And please don’t apologize to me on behalf of THOSE kinds of Christians, because I’m quite capable of determining who THOSE kinds of Christians are on my own, thank you very much.