Churches Need the Skeptic
Like the Oceans Need
the Sand
I have always had a very skeptical side to my
perspectives and in what others tell me is so. I have been this way since
I was a kid and do not credit with WCG with "making me this way."
I'm Dutch. I have to be skeptical!
But all during my tenure as a WCG pastor, I had
topics that easily aroused my skepticism. One, and one I never gave a
sermon on, was the speculation about the Place of Safety. All crazy
proof-texting aside, I knew in my soul that I would never deliver the message to
"flee" to any congregation I was pastoring. I simply did not believe it
and the risks far outweighed the benefits. "Hide me in the grave," was ok
with me on this one. I simply did not trust any human to get this one
right. Gerald Waterhouse kept my skepticism at an all time high and on red
alert with his serious yet nutty speculations that he made sound like the way it
all is. I can honestly say, I took Gerald Waterhouse with more than a
grain of salt when he came to town. It ended for me finally telling him
that his visits caused me more problems than they were worth, and that from now
on, any fears or questions the membership had about what he said would be
directed to him personally to answer. I was not standing in for him.
Dates when this or that Biblical event would come to
pass always left me terribly skeptical simply because , to date, everyone had
been 100% wrong 100% of the time. The odds were on my side.
I was skeptical about whether it made any difference
if a woman wore makeup or parents had their kids immunized. I had mine
immunized in 1974 which was my second year into the ministry. I was skeptical of
the Divorce and Remarriage question and never kept a current couple apart if
that was their decision regardless of their past marriages. I just didn't
feel i was smart enough to decide such things and had no clue what the Bible
formula for such things was anyway. On many topics my skepticism just
manifested in telling the member to do as they saw fit and as they understood
it. I have never regretted that.
Perhaps it is more common sense that I am speaking
of. It seemed in so many to be in such short supply. but a healthy
skepticism can protect one from a lifetime of believing the unbelievable and
following the wrong guy with the wrong ideas down the wrong
road.
If I were you in RCG/PKG/PCG/ and whatever
other combo of alphabet soup you can come up with, I'd listen up.
Your first clue would be that ONE man at the top who knows it all, decides it
all and declares it all. A bit of skepticism expressed can save you a
lifetime of regrets.
With this in mind, let's expand a bit on the topic of
being skeptical. Is it possible that when a minister stands every week
giving a sermon on a given topic or quoting the various "And God said..."
or "And Isaiah said..." he might simply be passing on hearsay?
We sooooooooooooo easily assume that what everyone said, did, did not do or told
everyone else how it all is, is true and was truly said.
Can we sometimes see the Bible, especially the parts
where people can be motivated to do terrible things or believe harmful stuff,
may just be hearsay, inaccurate and not intended for today? Do you have
enough of a skeptic in you to protect you from the wild ideas of ministers gone
nuts? Let's ask ourselves a few questions on this topic of skepticism and
the Bible itself.
First, a definition of hearsay.
-
Evidence that is offered by a witness of which
they do not have direct knowledge but, rather, their testimony is based on
what others have said to them.
-
And herein lies the rub. Everything written
in the Bible about everything from Genesis to Revelation is mere hearsay.
I was not there. No God said anything unto me. I never knew Adam or
Eve, Cain or Abel. I only know what someone said they said, or did or why
they should not have done it.
I never knew a Noah or his family or got to
actually see how righteous he was or how bad the rest of mankind had
become. I only have some one else's word for it and they got it from
someone who got it from someone who got it from who knows who.
There is not one story, event, conversation,
declaration , idea, truth, practice, misbehavior, sin, righteous behavior or
quote that I ever actually was there to see or hear for myself. I have no
idea what was really said, by whom and for what reason. They say the
winners write the story anyway? Winners of
what?
I am told someone named Moses wrote the first five
books of the Bible. But there is evidence that this is not so. It is more likely
they were written by the captive priesthood during the 5-600 BCEs while in
Babylon to give their obscure people a dazzling pedigree. But I can't know. I
wasn't there. I didn't see who wrote what and how it got put in the mouth of
some one named Moses.
I am told hundred of thousands to a couple million
Israelites left Egypt "that same day." Really? How do you do
that. I can see how long it takes to get a marathon of hundred or a few
thousand going. How do millions do that in a day? How do you tell
them to stop before those in front are pushed into the sea or a sand dune and
suffocated? Why is there absolutely no evidence of this event in
archaeology or secular history? It's all hearsay as far as I can tell.
Whoever wrote it and told the story had some great
details about who was related to who, but then could not once name a Pharaoh in
the whole story. Why would you not mention the name of the presiding
Pharoah. It would help place the story. Or maybe no one really knew of one
specifically and besides the story was more important that who the stars
were. Yet, it's all hearsay. I simply have to trust the storyteller
knew the facts. But how can I do that? Where did he get them?
I am told that Adam named ALL the animals on
earth. Really? How did he do that and why can't you write down what
he called them then. Or are we just led to believe that this is why a
hippopotomas is not called a hippopossum? Who named the Polar Bear and the
Walloby? Where did the platypus and the kangaroo get their names?
Who wrote them down and passed them along. Could Adam write? The
story is merely hearsay. None of us were there and we couldn't prove it if
you put a gun to our heads.
Hundred of times we are told, "And the Lord God
said...", or "And God said..." Really? I didn't hear it and yet so much
seems to ride on my absolutely believing that someone told someone who told
someone who told someone what some voice said to someone at sometime over
something important that God wanted us all to know. How can I believe that
is how a God communicates such important things?
A woman once told me that while I was not aware of
it, I was , in fact an angel. She meant that I was a real Angel in
disquise on this earth and that even I did not know it. Trust me, I did
not believe her. So if I would dismiss something like this I heard
yesterday from the source who said, "God told me...", why on earth could I reach
back and trust something supposedly said 2000 or 3000 years ago and not even to
me! I can't.
Churches base entire prophetic musings on what
they READ the Lord God said to an Isaiah, Jeremiah or and Ezekiel who then turns
around and tells us that God said for them to tell the people this or
that. How can we know that. What if Isaiah was schizophrenic and no
one understood that then? What if Jeremiah was on egg short of a dozen and
nuts needing counseling or medication and not followers? What if Ezekiel
was paranoid or Amos a bit daft for spending so much time in the hills tending
sheep? How can I trust that. The very people who were told such
things rarely believed them. Why 2500 years later would I take their
written words, (are they really their words?) seriously? I was not there
and evidently even if I was , I may have laughed them to scorn as we are want to
do of our own Prophets, Priests and Apostles in the COG quackery.
On top of that, all I actually have is a copy of a
copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy , copies
without end of what someone was originally told before anyone even wrote stuff
down. Really?
The biggest mistake the compilers of the New
Testament made was to include four Gospels. At least now we can see how
hear say works. None of the four agree and are far from harmonious no
matter how sweetly one inserts, "we believe the entire New Testament to be the
inerrant Word of God." Really? Have you read it. What we end up with
are four different accounts of hearsay. Someone later called Mark for
convenience told us his view of "And then Jesus said..."
Someone, later called Matthew for convenience gave us his rendition of "And
Jesus..." amending a few of Mark's more embarrassing memories of Jesus or why
John baptised Jesus, since it was for the remission of sins, which of course,
Jesus had none of.
You should know by now the Birth Narratives of
Jesus must be hearsay. Mark knew of none. Matthew had his version very
different from Luke, while John said Jesus was born from the foundation of the
world. Nice touch? Was he there? No. He just heard it from
someone who heard it...you get the point. We have no idea what Jesus said
himself as Jesus either could not write himself or chose not to. Big
mistake. Letting others get it right decades if not a couple hundred years
later is not very dependable. I can't remember or quote my dad from 1963
much less my Great Great Great Grandfather from who knows when.
And don't even try to figure out what happened at
the crucifixion and resurrection. Those four books can't even get it
straight. Who wrote down what Jesus said when they were all asleep and he
prayed privately to God? Who wrote down or was told to pass on what
Pilate's wife dreamed and said to her hubby about letting Jesus go? Beats
me. But that would have to be hearsay for sure. No one was
there.
Was there an earthquake? Was there
not? A man in white? An Angel, Two men in white. Two Angels?
Depends who you ask. Who went to the tomb? Peter and John. Just the
women? Which women? Did they believe or not? Did they tell
anyone or not? Depends on who you ask. Hearsay.
And finally...the COG of God Manuel for Church
Growth....Revelation. One man, named John, whom is assumed to be the John
of the Gospels but may not be at all, has a vision. Really? And I am
supposed to throw my heart and soul, money and time, belief and loyalty into
this vision of dragons and demons, vials, trumpets, trombones and the occasional
saxophone? Is this not hearsay? Would you believe anyone today who
had such a vision. We don't believe Dave Packs view of himself or Ron
Weinland's view of himself. We don't really think Gerald Flurry is "that
Prophet," do we? Some very few do, but they do so on hearsay as well as
God did not actually speak to the brethren about these great truths. Ron
Weinland just makes it up as he goes as do most but loudly proclaims "God
wants...", God says..." , "God inspires me to say...." "God needs us
to...." Really? All hearsay that you choose to believe without
proof. And to your harm I might add.
So here in lies my problem. God did not
speak any of what is contained in the Bible to me. Oh yes, I know..."That
is what faith is all about." But I am not so willing to give my mind over
to that easy out for the Prophet, Priest, king, Apostle or Witness. Much
too much at stake to allow myself to give in so easily to someone else's vision
of what God or Jesus is doing, how and when. I'm sorry. I just can't do
it. It is all hearsay or made up to sound like something official from on
high.
When HWA used to say, "God says," or "God is
doing...", I sorta believed it and I sorta had the attitude of "well,
we'll see i guess." Nothing HWA said God was doing or saying or
inspiring or anything was really true in the long run. It all was hearsay
on HWA's part and then on ours if we bought into it. None of us, not even
the leadership had any direct experience with any of it. It was mere Bible
readers seeing themselves in the scriptures as some still do today and all they
have to say is mere hearsay about who and what God is , and what is expected of
the congregation.
Ron Weinland declares there not enough time now to
bother with marriage or divorce issues in the church so there will be
none, no dating and no marriages. What a fool. Even I know the
hearsay in the Book says, "In the latter days....some shall depart from the
faith, forbidding to eat meats and to marry," or something like that since
that too was hearsay passed on. And while Ron, or Dave or Gerald or
whoever may say it with conviction, eh..so what. It's all opinion and
hearsay and no one has ever yet been right about how it all is.
So, the next time your guru tells you who said or
who did or what God said or Jesus did or did not do, ask yourself, "Really, and
you KNOW this? Or did you just read that somewhere?" Because there
is a 100% chance that they got it from someone who got from someone who got it
from someone who wrote it down and made a copy of a copy of a copy for the next
3000 years. All hearsay and something that would never stand up as
evidence in any real ability to prove anything really happened or was said as
advertised.
Faith is what we require of ourselves to keep the
story alive. Faith is what we have to bridge the gap between what someone says
happened, or is said to have happened, and what really happened or did never
happen which we can never know. We simply weren't there. Faith is all too
often what we cruise on until the facts present themselves. Most of the
facts may not present themselves in our lifetime which is annoying to me.
God created skeptics to keep the clergy
honest and the laity on their toes, though it doesn't work all that well
from what I can tell.
"God said it. I believe it. That does it for
me," just doesn't work for me and many others who filter such things the
same way. I wasn't there. It is mere hearsay.
Maybe it's just me. Amen for
now...
