Nostalgic Today

Okay, here’s a personal post, for what it’s worth. I belonged to the Christian Church/Churches of Christ, known as the Restoration Movement. We were the conservatives who used the musical instruments in worship (i.e. “the centrists”).

I studied at Great Lakes Christian College (GLCC), and Lincoln Christian Seminary (LCC/LCS). I still know many of the faculty and administrators at these colleges, along with those at several other colleges, since several of my peers and former professors went on to teach at these colleges. The Presidents of two seminaries were close personal friends of mine when I was in school, including Dr. Keith Ray who is now the President at LCC/LCS. One of my former professors is the President of Kentucky Christian University . I considered many Christian college professors and a great many more ministers as my friends. Then there are the many Christian friends I knew in the churches I served as an associate minister, a minister, a senior minister, and as an interim minister for about 18 years.

Anyway, these colleges continue to send me their quarterlies. I just received GLCC’s KEY today. President Larry Carter and I were both instructors together at GLCC, and now he’s the President of GLCC. He was also my brother’s minister in Grand Rapids, MI.

In my Deconversion story link you’ll also read how the Kalkaska Church of Christ discovered I was an atheist and the creator of this Blog for the first time (see the comments down toward the end). The associate minister at Kalkaska credits me for inspiring him to enter the ministry, and there are two other men in the ministry who credit me in the same way. One of them is in a Ph.D. program.

Christ’s Church at Georgetown in Ft. Wayne, IN is my ordaining church. The former minister of this church is Jerry M. Paul, who baptised me and preached at my ordination. He became the President of Great Lakes Christian College for a few years, and was the President while I taught there. He now serves a church in Ft. Wayne, IN, again, last time I knew.

I’m feeling kind of nostalgic today, not for the faith I rejected, but for these people whom I considered my friends.

My problem is that I still feel a love for these folks. They were my friends. Some of them were close friends. And I’m troubled, because the closeness is all over now. I have no animosity toward any of them. I just disagree with them. As I’ve said, the arguments were just not there, period. They are deluded, like I was for too long. It’s a shame, really. But we must go on.

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As an edited afterthought to this....I had some successes while a Christian minister. Had I stayed in ministry I could've made even greater contributions to the Church. So, why didn't God protect me from the darts of the Devil? If I was a valued member of his people, why not protect me from my doubts? Why did he let me slip through his hands like he did? I am now a fairly effective advocate against the Christian faith. Did he not know this could/would happen? Does he not care whether I lead people toward him or away from him?

No doubt, Christians will respond that I rejected Christianity of my own free will. But does free will really solve this problem for the Christian? Then let them tell me exactly what God can do for us as free willed creatures. For example, if we pray for safety when we travel, then exactly how can God grant us safety from someone hell-bent on robbing us when we stop for food at a restaurant? If God cannot do something to prevent that robber from exercising his free will to rob us, then he is a useless God.

And if instead God sovereignly decreed that I should be an apostate, then he is his own worst enemy. With decrees like that there must be a great amount of internal conflict within the Trinity itself! ;) For such decrees are contrary to his stated desires (II Pet. 3:9). In fact, that means God decreed I should start this Blog too! Maybe God should just see a shrink, along with those who believe he can decree two contradictory things (and they are indeed contradictory things to decree, not merely unexplainable, unless one says God has a different logic than He's given us).