As I contemplate my religious, theological, and intellectual journeys I have found
myself in different places in different stages of life. When I was in high school and
early college, I was very conservative in my thinking. aa While in college I was taught
of the harmful pettiness of some of the leaders in the fundamentalist camps (whether
referred to as the New Christian Right (Ammerran, 1991). I became disgusted by
“sky-box takeover” (McBeth, 1982) and as the way that the former president of my
seminary (Dr. Russell Dilday) found out that he had been fired. aa He was called in to
a meeting to be told he was fired, during which the lock to his office had been
changed. I quickly clarified my own terminology. I was conservative, but not
fundamentalist. But I was also being influenced by my best friend was becoming
increasingly liberal in his thoughts and theology. I was disturbed by the actions of
those more conservative than me, but he was hurt and angry. I refused to “fall in
line” in my theology, so I termed myself as a “thinking conservative … maybe a
moderate”. Clinical Pastoral Education also challenged my conservativism, but I was
able to easily work through some of those battles due to the biblical ignorance of our
site director. Eventually, life pulled me into a diversified ministry in Army
Chaplaincy. I found that I could be pulled in all directions, or I could establish my
ground and stand on it. My biblical and language studies would not allow me to go
with the strictly literal interpretation of passages that was clearly written as an
allegorical word picture. Nor would my studies allow me to condone the choices of
many of those around me. a There were a couple of sins that I struggled with, and yet
was disturbed by how little I struggled with them. aa I prayed that God would give me
conviction, and thus motivation to stop doing them. God gave me my wife. Her
theology was still forming, but her convictions were solid. aa The older I get, the more
conservative I get. I also hold that the Bible is filled with allegory, word pictures,
and sarcasm that must be interpreted in the translation.
My mind has always functioned logically. I have not struggled with the integration of
science into my theology, so long as science supported my theology. One of the
biggest areas of contention was with the creation story. Whereas I believe and hold
to a six-day creation, I also believe that God is great enough, powerful enough,
expansive enough to have created however He chose. aa I do see the issue that without
Adam, Eve, and the serpent there must be another explanation for the entrance of evil
in the world (Entwistle, 2015). I recognize that this issue as well as the crossing of
the Red Sea, the feeding of 5000, and multiple other fantastic stories seem just that to
many people … fantastic stories. I assert again that God is bigger, greater, more
powerful, holier than I can fathom. aa I am completely okay with that.
Resources
Ammerran, N. (1991). Southern Baptists and the New Christian Right. Review of
Religious Research, 32(3), 213-236. doi:10.2307/3511207
Entwistle, D. N. (2015). Integrative approaches to psychology and Christianity: An
introduction to worldview issues, philosophical foundations, and models of integration.
Cascade Books.
McBeth, L. (1982). Fundamentalism in the Southern Baptist Convention in recent
years. Review & Expositor, 79(1), 85–103
