As I contemplate my religious, theological, and intellectual journeys I have
found myself in different places in different stages of life. d When I was in
high school and early college, I was very conservative in my thinking. d
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). d 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. d He was called in to
a meeting to be told he was fired, during which the lock to his office had
been changed. d I quickly clarified my own terminology. d I was conservative,
but not fundamentalist. d But I was also being influenced by my best friend
was becoming increasingly liberal in his thoughts and theology. d I was
disturbed by the actions of those more conservative than me, but he was
hurt and angry. d I refused to “fall in line” in my theology, so I termed
myself as a “thinking conservative … maybe a moderate”. d 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. d Eventually, life pulled me into a diversified ministry in Army
Chaplaincy. d I found that I could be pulled in all directions, or I could
establish my ground and stand on it. d 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. d Nor would my
studies allow me to condone the choices of many of those around me. d
There were a couple of sins that I struggled with, and yet was disturbed by
how little I struggled with them. d I prayed that God would give me
conviction, and thus motivation to stop doing them. d God gave me my wife.
Her theology was still forming, but her convictions were solid. d The older I
get, the more conservative I get. d 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. d I have not struggled with the
integration of science into my theology, so long as science supported my
theology. d One of the biggest areas of contention was with the creation
story. d 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. d 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). d 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. d I assert again that God
is bigger, greater, more powerful, holier than I can fathom. d 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
