I'm too lazy to be a fundamentalist.
I've tried, several times in my life, to follow a more-- drastic version of Christianity.
I'm just too lazy to be a fundamentalist (either liberal or conservative), and I'm reminded of that fact when I read articles like this one. There are just so many *rules* to follow, and too many things to worry about all day (OMG, is my chest covered enough that I'm not a temptation to others, and exposed enough to show I'm not ashamed of being female? Was that television show blasphemous for showing demons, or misogynistic 'cause the demon was totally going to sacrifice a woman? Is my desire for a doughnut shaped like a voodoo doll a sin of gluttony, a sin of overcomsumption of the earth's resources, encouragement of witchcraft, insensitive to Vauduan practitioners, or just plain coveting my cubicle-neighbor's breakfast?)
[Dangit. Now I really want a doughnut.]
Sometimes, though, it would be very, very nice to have All The Answers™. Although, as I read more and more on what draws people into fundamentalist groups on both sides of the fence, the most common thing that draws people into these groups is the people are nice to them. They invite them to meetings. They share food. They invite them to come back.
They listen to their hopes, fears, and dreams, and then give people a goal greater than their individual selves to strive for.
Is that what's missing in these big, empty churches?
Random keystrokes are © Mary Sue @ 10:11 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Hello Sister. I saw a comment of yours over at verbum ipsum. I like the blog. I'll be back.
On a few occasions I have visited a very conservative, more-or-less fundamentalist Lutheran congregation. The teachings of this church are well to the Right of standard, mainstream evangelical Christianity. And so I asked a woman who was working in the nursery (where I had taken my 2 year old) why she was drawn to that church. "Because we were invited," she said. "I was Baptist and my husband was Roman Catholic, so this seemed like a good in-between place for us. And we liked the pastor and had neighbors who attended." Our conversation continued for a few more minutes, but she never said, "I like the radical, mysoginist theology and the pastor's rants about how the rest of the church is wrong but he is right and the narrow approach to biblical interpretation is just wonderful." No. All she talked about was her friends, feeling welcome, and the nice pastor. Not everyone who attends those fundamentalist churches are fundamentalists . . .
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