I have a dilemma and I don't really know how to solve it without hurting people. While I genuinely like the people I have met at this church, I feel that the longer I go the more I will feel like I am operating under false pretenses. I wish there were some way out.
I have been going about six months now and it is becoming clear that if I were to become one of them, I would have to take a big step backwards. I just got done reading "Paul, In Other Words: A Cultural Reading of His Letters" by Jerome H. Neyrey, and I am afraid I am one of those Westerners that Neyrey writes about who find it "difficult to take seriously not only belief in demon possession but also in witches that work evil." Yet that is the mindset of the New Testament, and also the mindset of this church. (I really recommend Neyrey's book if you want to understand where contemporary American evangelical/fundamentalist Protestantism is coming from. It's a real eye-opener. He writes from a sociological point of view, not a theological, and even though he is writing about first century culture, not twenty-first, his observations are still valid for today's situation.)
Paul's culture, Neyrey points out, is an example of a witchcraft culture. Christianity a witchcraft culture? Yes, shocking to say, it is. The heart of Christianity is that the entire cosmos is caught up in a battle between God and Satan and you are either on one side or another. By necessity there is no room for tolerance, no room for ambiguity, no gray areas. This sort of dualism is very common in witchcraft culture and so are the accusations: People are either agents of God or agents of Satan. If you read the New Testament, you will find that the favorite accusation of both sides is that the other is demon-possessed. Every so often I browse Rick Ross' Cult Information Network's forums to see what new wacky ideas are floating around out there, and I wonder how well our man Paul would stand up compared to all the other spiritual leaders that are constantly being warned against. I don't think he would do very well at all.
I used to buy into this worldview. I honestly thought that the reason I was having so many troubles socially was because I was cursed. It was not until I abandoned that worldview--an act that did not come easily--that I started making progress. I cannot go back to that way of thinking, no matter what anyone says.
I have been going about six months now and it is becoming clear that if I were to become one of them, I would have to take a big step backwards. I just got done reading "Paul, In Other Words: A Cultural Reading of His Letters" by Jerome H. Neyrey, and I am afraid I am one of those Westerners that Neyrey writes about who find it "difficult to take seriously not only belief in demon possession but also in witches that work evil." Yet that is the mindset of the New Testament, and also the mindset of this church. (I really recommend Neyrey's book if you want to understand where contemporary American evangelical/fundamentalist Protestantism is coming from. It's a real eye-opener. He writes from a sociological point of view, not a theological, and even though he is writing about first century culture, not twenty-first, his observations are still valid for today's situation.)
Paul's culture, Neyrey points out, is an example of a witchcraft culture. Christianity a witchcraft culture? Yes, shocking to say, it is. The heart of Christianity is that the entire cosmos is caught up in a battle between God and Satan and you are either on one side or another. By necessity there is no room for tolerance, no room for ambiguity, no gray areas. This sort of dualism is very common in witchcraft culture and so are the accusations: People are either agents of God or agents of Satan. If you read the New Testament, you will find that the favorite accusation of both sides is that the other is demon-possessed. Every so often I browse Rick Ross' Cult Information Network's forums to see what new wacky ideas are floating around out there, and I wonder how well our man Paul would stand up compared to all the other spiritual leaders that are constantly being warned against. I don't think he would do very well at all.
I used to buy into this worldview. I honestly thought that the reason I was having so many troubles socially was because I was cursed. It was not until I abandoned that worldview--an act that did not come easily--that I started making progress. I cannot go back to that way of thinking, no matter what anyone says.
