i'm forcing myself to take the morning off. venti komodo, cain habano and on the back porch listening to the wind rustle the turning leaves. i've wanted to write for a while...so here goes.

i recently read "churched" by matthew paul turner.(thanks lisa) it's a story or a recounting of a small boy growing up in a fundlementalist, independent baptist church/school. it seems to me those that went through this upbringing eventually land on different sides of the fence. one group remains attached to the beliefs of the fibc and the other not only disagrees but loathes the very thought of their religious past. there never seems to be anyone on the fence so to speak. please don't take offence but here's my thoughts. it's not meant to be hateful, disrespectful or antagonistic. i don't arbor any ill will towards anyone. i actually have peace about my time in the hole. i still love ya....

my time in God's boot camp wasn't all bad. i had some great friendships in my years at frcs. my times with doug, chris, star, marilyn, sherry, david and linda, hughie, the vinsants, the sherburnes...the list is too long. from sports to camps to just hanging out i have unbelievably great memories. so many good times in and around frcs and away from it.

my problems with my time there is the religious teachings that were embeded in my head. for some folks, they enjoyed all of it. the friends, the preaching, the lifestyle. i struggled with it then but as i got older i learned to hate it. most the things i hated were not out right spoken but always underneath the surface. it took me a long time to decompress and view God as i do now. some will identify with these things and some will deny that they existed but each person has the right to believe as they choose

there was a brazen, open racism towards anyone not white. blacks were not welcome and discouraged from coming to church or school. like most churches, we loved to send missionaries to preach to these people but over there....not here. we also enjoyed the yearly visit from the missionaries showing us the heathens they were living among.

women were treated as second class citizens. you would have thought we were living in a taliban camp. on a side note, culottes will do very little to curb a young man's sex drive. put 5 guys in a room with a nun and at least one of the guys will be thinking..."i'd hit that". i remember one mother wearing pants, being asked to wait in her car to pick up her child after school. did they think all the boys were going to run outside and start humping her leg like miniature chihuahua?
well, not all.

divorced couples, blended families and single moms. the children of these families were somehow marked as less than those of say...a deacon's kid or the child of an executive of a religious company. we were of a sinful descent and would pay "3 generations for the sins of the father". never mind i has no control over my parents actions or chioces but i learned to think less of myself.

separation from the world. i recently saw a t shirt stating something along the lines of "where was God at columbine...and God replies "you wouldn't let me in". maybe God's present wasn't there because fibc'ers believe we should not be around "sinners". the church pulled God out of schools when they pulled out the "christian" kids. what happened to IN the world but not of it??? one of the things i will say about the starbucks baptist church is at least they get out in the "world".

judgement day. fibc spent a bunch of time talking and looking forward to the day that Christ came back and slaughtered the "sinners". i found in reading the bible that God is patient and doesn't want anyone to perish. they love to judge the world and preach against drinking and gays and... but Christ said He didn't come to judge but to save. are we not supposed to be like Christ? they preached the bible like it was written to the world but it was written to the church or to the believers.

the kjv. i recently saw a post from a fibc that was having a book burning. no, not the koran but the niv, the message, and even the nkjv. i saw a post one sunday morning from bro bs asking people to pray for "bible believing churches everywhere". what about the other churches? i always get a laugh how churches state they "stand on the word of God". they stand on their interpretation of the bible. are you telling me that the fibc has everything 100% correct? Please....

list of don'ts. drink alcohol, use tobacco, dance, mixed swimming, etc....if anyone participated in these fibc teaches that your not right with God. according to the bible, eating sacrificed meat, drinking, etc..is left up to each believer. we are not under the law. we are supposed to keep these things to ourselves. by setting these rules are you not judging the ones that do them. is that done in love .

oh yeah. God is judgemental and can't wait to bring down the hammer. never mind that all of our sins are forgiven, that God sees us through Christ's eyes. and don't forget....during the judgement your life is going to be shown like a movie. mine will be rated r so the fibc won't get to see it.

i could go on. anti rock music seminars ending with a record/cassette tape burning. damn, they took my ronnie milsap and alabama tapes! i remember the staff wigging out at the state music contest when one of the groups sang southern gospel. evidently God only likes fanny crosby. people suspended from school for listeneing to rock music. not only on school grounds but during a personal birthday party. getting sent home for your hair touching your collar or your knees showing...we all loved to see those knees.

politics. jerry falwell and the moral majority. keep Christ of of your politics...He never ran for office or got involved in the roman gov't....you shouldn't either. doesn't history teach us that religion and politics do not go together.

we're right and your wrong. southern baptist, church of christ, assembly of god, ...all these folks are going to burn.

there are so many things i disagree with but that's ok. i will not deny you the right to believe as you will. i will not condemn you to the everlasting flames. i just would like the same right. actually, i'm taking the right. i couldn't care less if you grant that or not.

i'm done. please don't delete me from your friends list as bro bs has done. i really do love ya and enjoying seeing your post.