Calvary Chapel - Olympia, Washington - March 2nd 2011

     Today I visited the Calvary Chapel of Olympia for the first time. It was something I've been meaning to do for a while. The Campus Minister Greg who you've read about in some of the early entries one of which was on Greeners 4 Christ and the Problem of Evil. If you read the post you saw that I felt the question wasn't completely answered, and it may be one that never is. I better learned today why I am not a Christian though and why I never took that step of conversion.

     The premise of Christianity is that man was once perfect and fell from the grace of God. Since then God's been punishing the world for not worshiping him and living righteously, leading up Jesus, God becoming a man to reconcile humanity's imperfection and receiving grace again (though same rules of righteousness still apply and old laws of reconciliation carry over to confession of sins to Jesus rather then sacrifice of animals on the altar).

   Why am I bringing this up? Because the service I heard was about what the Bible says...not the spirit of the Law, but the actual events, the letter...God's reaction and living of "love" for man. Pastor Chuck talked about Kings, giving a history of the 2 Kingdoms of Israel that had came about after Solomon's United Kingdom of Israel, one King still followed God's laws in Leviticus, the other King was back to worshiping fertility Gods and the Earth. A prophet visited the King of the Kingdom that was not worshiping God and said it would be destroyed, he then left because God told him not to stay. On his way back to his home another prophet told him to come and eat with him, lying and saying that "Angels had told him it was okay." The prophet went back and the other prophet's son condemned the prophet coming back and as the Prophet tried returning home to make amends he was mauled on the road by a lion.

     Because he didn't make God's statement fully by leaving and not going back the way he had come, God punished him with death.

     Is that love?  Does a King who claims to love his messenger execute him if he messes up in sending his message a little bit? and if the messenger does mess up, is it Good and Righteous to kill said messenger? God should be held to a higher standard then Kings who we know that it would be evil if they killed their messenger if he slightly messed up their message, or messed up their message. The King can speak for himself, and should speak for himself. 

   The Pastor brought up how God is specific about what he wants from us. That we must be righteous and that Good does not come from society. I agree with this statement, but also think that it does not come from the Bible either. The Bible like many books of quality stories not all the time speak of Good and Righteousness, but God does not always act with either...especially in the Old Testament.

   False prophets were spoken about. Wolves in sheep's clothing. Similar to the Blue Sky Sermon I heard and it reminded of Mars Hill. He said the Devil could quote scripture and water it down to lead people to Hell so he could devour them. Why such evil is allowed to exist by something that is supposed to be all Good in the Bible...I do not know.  

   Love was also brought up too. He mentioned that "Men love men," and "Women love women," and that it is love, but it's not what God intended and that Jesus can transform them (Gays, Lesbians, Transgender, Queer, Bisexual people) by working in their hearts when they accept him. This I felt was evil because of what this philosophy has brought about for GLBTQ people. It's this "love" that brings about the camps that try and "fix" gay people through of use of Christ. That leads many Gay people to kill themselves because in the darkness that comes with personal faith in any religion, it's seen as rejection by God...and if God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, what are they supposed to think? The fruits that come out of this philosophy that doesn't recognize Gay relationships as valid love in God's eyes leads to such much repression and harm. Abstinence works for some, but not all people, and if God is love and the love from which all love flows out, then all consensual love that has possibility of raising children or not (adopting, straight couples who choose not to procreate), then it would embrace that relationship as the most loving people do.

     He used the slippery slope argument saying that we have already seen the consequences of getting rid of the Sodomy Law in Texas with an Incestuous Father using the court case that overturned that law to support his relationship with his daughter who was of consenting age (24, it been going on for 3 years, so she was 21 when it started). Which also was ignoring the evils of neighbor reporting on neighbor and the fact that Gays, Lesbians, Transgender, Queer and Bisexual people were and could have continued to be imprisoned for the love they share for one another that the Sodomy Law criminalized.

   He also quoted the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip who said that, "The American Empire will fall because of it's 'immorality,' 'open sexuality' and 'injustice," and agreed with him. He said the pagan worshiping, immorality and the worship of excess was the reason the Kingdom of Israel fell because it no longer followed God and the same would be for America as it was for other nations. He then told the congregation they were the salt of the Earth and could start by keeping evil from their own homes, even if they couldn't change the country.This would be done by choosing what video-games kids are allowed to play, and what they watch on television and in movies. Which I think parents should do...but should be smart about. Now on the subject of Empires falling because of "sexual immorality."

    Greed is a big reason a country would fall, but what he described as sexual immorality was not the reason that Rome, the Han Dynasty, the Mongol Empire, the Inca, British, French, Safavid, Russian, Soviet, Ottoman Empires and others fell. There were factors such as not caring for those whom they were occupying, allowing of personal rights (the slave societies with slave revolts), not having a strong military or strong leaders, oppression, inability to please all classes, not enough taxes, over-taxation of the poor, famines, diseases and attacks from the outside from other Empires were what brought them down. Who is sleeping with whom only has to do with it in regards to court politics among the Nobles when the Nobles existed in regards to destabilization.

      I wish I'd stayed after to talk and not worried about what time to catch the bus back up to Evergreen. I need to speak up for what is true and right. The only way I can see the Good that God is in the Old Testament being true, is if these stories are metaphors and not events that actually happened. Take any story, whether it's Noah's Ark, the Prophets, or Genesis. Look at God's acts and then put a human in God's place and see if a human did those acts, if it would still be love? Would the acts be good if they contradict his own Laws of the 10 Commandments? If the Judge is not following his own laws then what does that mean?

      There is much more to say and I wish I hadn't been waiting to catch the bus so I could stick around longer. Have the discussions that I hope this blog can provide. The people were kind, but in the words about Gays, history of Nations and Empires, and God as described was poison. It was poison because it was not true. It contradicted itself and it's aim of love and justice it claimed to speak for. The truth is there and should be sought...but I could not find it in Kings or the Bible that day...and there is enough of these contradictions and acts of jealousy, and petty punishments of believers of said God by God, that I cannot believe that this is that God described who believed in the Golden Rule and whom is supposed to be the Good from which all Good and Virtue flows from.