Why Spiritcurve?
Posted on | November 10, 2008 | No Comments
Why Understand?
A lot of Christians are Christian “by default” or “by habit.” We were taken to church as children. Some of us fell away during young adulthood. Some returned to church after a while for various reasons. Many refused to participate again due to core questions of doctrine or lack of understanding. Many of us secretly practice our own spirituality in the context of the church community/tradition that has the fewest “turn-offs”, secretly hoping that one day our internal heresies will be embraced by like-minded believers. I hope this book will help.
I was raised in the “Gravity Christian Church” in Gravity, Iowa. Yes, “Gravity.” Yes, it’s a very down-to-earth place. I’ve come to realize that it was very “Baptist” My father was an “Elder.” We sang Amazing Grace, Old Rugged Cross, and occasionally we could actually support a round of Little Church in the Vale (with pride because that song is about a church in Iowa – at least that’s what I was told…).
We didn’t baptize babies. When there were baptisms, they were full-emersion in a special “baptistery” pool behind the pulpit – the floor actually a set of very heavy trap doors that opened to allow both the minister and the person “accepting the invitation” to wade into a pool of chest-deep water for the actual baptism.
We went to Sunday-school, then worship service on Sunday morning. Youth-group and “Bible-study” were on Sunday evenings. We had a Wednesday night service every week. Once a month there was a pot-luck lunch after Sunday Worship. There was a “special” service at least every couple of months with a “linger-longer” (pot-luck dinner) after the event. Week-long “revivals” were held every August before the kids went back to school (there is no air-conditioning in our church). And of course there was a week of daily “Vacation Bible School” for the children every summer.
We weren’t encouraged to question our faith, in fact, questioning anything in the Bible was the same as questioning God and that was very sinful of course. We were taught to take the bible as a literal historic document. I remember speakers at bible camp and high-school retreats trying their best to reconcile a literal creation story to the science of evolution. No drinking – but we were allowed to dance to a select, rather tame, selection of popular music.
Personally, I didn’t buy it – especially as a teen-ager and a President of my undergraduate fraternity chapter. Why couldn’t I have a beer when Jesus’ first miracle was making booze – like he didn’t have a glass of that wine at the wedding. I questioned. I questioned secretly for a decade before I decide to get to the bottom of questions like:
- Who decided these books would be in the bible?
- How did they make those decisions?
- Why are there so many different types of “Christians” when there was only one Jesus?
- How can I sincerely take my children to church and teach them about the real meanings of Christmas and Easter when I still have questions myself?
- Which church will I take them to in the first place?
To me, it was important to embrace the questions and find the answers – at least for me. Those questions and answers probably will be (maybe even should be) different for you. One of my core beliefs is whenever anyone stand up and says “I’m right – you should believe this” or “this is what happened” is the time you should be scared. That person is probably the one person who is wrong.
I’ve been in so many churches and seen too many people following blindly – being spoon-fed their spirit. I believe that faith can only be as deep as the understanding the faith rests upon. I don’t believe in a large number of “sins,” but I do believe it’s a sin to exploit a person’s longing for God by feeding dogma without understanding – discouraging questioning and true understanding of personal faith and the potential “Christ” within each of us.
The goal of the book is not to tell you WHAT to believe, but rather to help you explore and understand the beliefs you hold. Granted, some of those beliefs may change before you are done with the book, but how those beliefs change is up to YOU. My only goal is that whatever spirituality you embrace by the end of this journey is embraced KNOWINGLY rather than by default.
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About Kevin
Kevin E. Houchin is an attorney, artist, teacher, author, and principal of
Houchin Consulting, PLLC, a copyright, trademark, arts & entertainment,
business development, and branding firm located in Scottsdale, Arizona.
To schedule Kevin for keynote speeches, workshops, or seminars, call 970.231.2426
or email
kevin@kevinhouchin.com.