Saturday, February 17, 2007
Being Bathodist
Growing up in a tiny town in the southwest corner of my panhandle state provided an interesting mixture of religion for me.
My Dad's family was Baptist and my Mom's family was Methodist. In my very early years I attended the Baptist church with my Granny. Sometime during grade school my Mom returned to church and I attended the Methodist church with her. In junior high I went back to the Baptist church - attending where most of my friends attended and where the "good" youth group was.
I once stated that paragraph to my pastor. He looked at me and immediately said, "Wow, you must have really dealt with a lot of guilt!" I had never thought about it in those terms, but he was so right.
My Methodist roots and family practices allowed me much more freedom than my Baptist church taught. I could never get my mind around why dancing and drinking were going to condemn me to hell, but I can assure you that I was taught to believe that way.
The conflicts of my two religious bases were many. Confirmation vs. Salvation Experience. Sprinkling vs. Dunking. Open Thinking vs. Rules, Rules, and more Rules. It put me on a religious and emotional roller coaster and it took me years to get off.
And I have journeyed to where I am today. Bathodist. No, you won't find that in any official listing of world religions, but you will find it if you sit in a pew next to me some Sunday morning at my little church in my small city on the plains of my panhandle state.
Seriously. Some people say we are too Baptist. Other people say we are too Methodist. And yet others say we are just right. Definitely not for everyone, but definitely best for me.
I share this with you to give you a backdrop for the coming weeks. Tomorrow is officially "The Last Sunday after the Epiphany" at our church. (Stay tuned for further explaination, because if you grew up like I did you have no earthly idea what I am talking about!!)
Journey on my series of discoveries - perhaps you can enlighten me!
simple faith
Growing up in a tiny town in the southwest corner of my panhandle state provided an interesting mixture of religion for me.
My Dad's family was Baptist and my Mom's family was Methodist. In my very early years I attended the Baptist church with my Granny. Sometime during grade school my Mom returned to church and I attended the Methodist church with her. In junior high I went back to the Baptist church - attending where most of my friends attended and where the "good" youth group was.
I once stated that paragraph to my pastor. He looked at me and immediately said, "Wow, you must have really dealt with a lot of guilt!" I had never thought about it in those terms, but he was so right.
My Methodist roots and family practices allowed me much more freedom than my Baptist church taught. I could never get my mind around why dancing and drinking were going to condemn me to hell, but I can assure you that I was taught to believe that way.
The conflicts of my two religious bases were many. Confirmation vs. Salvation Experience. Sprinkling vs. Dunking. Open Thinking vs. Rules, Rules, and more Rules. It put me on a religious and emotional roller coaster and it took me years to get off.
And I have journeyed to where I am today. Bathodist. No, you won't find that in any official listing of world religions, but you will find it if you sit in a pew next to me some Sunday morning at my little church in my small city on the plains of my panhandle state.
Seriously. Some people say we are too Baptist. Other people say we are too Methodist. And yet others say we are just right. Definitely not for everyone, but definitely best for me.
I share this with you to give you a backdrop for the coming weeks. Tomorrow is officially "The Last Sunday after the Epiphany" at our church. (Stay tuned for further explaination, because if you grew up like I did you have no earthly idea what I am talking about!!)
Journey on my series of discoveries - perhaps you can enlighten me!
simple faith
Labels: Spiritual Journey
# posted by simple faith : 9:55 PM
