Winter

This is my fourth winter and, so far, the coldest and snowiest up here. So, I'm sitting here at home doing what work I can and enjoying being in the warm house with Sparky. There's so much to do.

I've initiated email correspondence with the son of the youth minister I had when I was a teenager. Boy, has he changed. I feel so validated about my choice to abandon fundamentalist Christianity for a more loving and liberal version of Christianity. Fundamentalism works until there's a kink in the system, like a divorce or two, a gay child or grandchild, etc. Fundamentalism can't address any modern lifestyle issues with any support, dignity, or, ...grace.

That's what's really missing from fundamentalist Christianity. Grace. For a belief system that preaches grace and grace alone, there's so little of it in those camps. At the heart of fundamentalist Christianity is idolatry. They worship a book. Granted, it's a Bible, but it's still a book. I choose to worship the God of the book. I choose to love all of God's children, not just the people I like. I choose to be the way I was created, rather than hide myself away and compartmentalize my life.

When will people learn that there is no salvation in doctrine? We all need an experience of Christ, but those experiences can be different. The Bob Jones' of the world will say that you need to have their unique experience of Christ. Then you have to believe everything the way they do. If you don't, you're not a Christian. Obviously, I don't subscribe to that line of thought anymore. But, I used to. I used to be as narrow-minded and judgemental as they are. Even now I have to fight my desire to be better than others. Sometimes I make it. Sometimes I don't.

Scripture. Reason. Tradition. Experience. I believe they all work together. God gave us minds and expects us to use them. For me, it's not the truth of the Bible stories, rather the truths of the Bible stories. Fundamentalism by its very nature can't accept that premise. Therefore, if it's not in the Bible, it must not exist. Or, if it's in the Bible, it has to be literally true.

Those days were the winter of my life. But, in winter neat things happen. Animals hibernate. Trees prepare themselves to bud again. Seeds rest in the cold ground. My life's winter was the germination time for me. Had it not been for my fundamentalist winter, I would have never blossomed into the person I am now. I can walk and talk. I can touch and feel. I can taste and smell. I can think. To Bob Jones, thanks for everything, Dan Keller.