I Used To Teach Sunday School

I am cleaning out my hard drives and I came across a letter I had written to my church leadership back in 2008.  I was a Sunday School teacher at the time and the Sunday School staff was going through a morning of training by a para-church organization that was dedicated to child evangelism.  I was taken aback at how aggressive the training was to get children to make professions of faith.

Reading the letter, I am struck by how obvious it is that my perspectives were going to eventually lead me out of the faith.  One simply does not find a home in conservative evangelicalism if you believe that questions and choice should be part of one's path.

It is also plain in the letter that indoctrination and, dare I say, grooming are a set component of children's ministry in such churches... which is why they are forever accusing others of the behavior.  Projection, projection, projection.

Anyway, if you are interested, here is the letter.

Dear Friends,

Let me first say that I am excited about everything we are doing with the kids in Adventure Canyon.  Mary Lee and I are grateful to be teaching the kindergarten munchkins! 

I have some concerns about what was presented this morning by the Children’s Evangelism group.  I am reluctant to bring up anything because I know, being in leadership, you are juggling enough items without me adding to them.  I know the decisions made by the leadership at Adventure Canyon are done in the best interests of our children.

As followers of Jesus, we would like to see everyone become followers of Jesus.  I believe the circumstances in which one begins that journey can be crucial to the direction it takes after the event.  When it comes to children, we have to be careful with our practices.  

This morning we heard about how one would lead a child to Christ and what that might look like.  The presentation made me uneasy.  I know, for myself, that I have no intention of leading Kathryn and Jacob down that path anytime soon.  I feel they are too young to make such a decision.  In the same way, I would not expect my 9 or 6 year old to make a decision about which career they would choose or whom they shall marry.  They could “make” such a decision, but I do not feel it would be a competent or cognizant one. I want my children to fall in love with Jesus, and as tempting as it might be for me to put them on that road, I must let them make the decision.

I know that others would hold to a different view in that regard, but that is my point.  There will be many views amongst parents about the how, why, where, and when such a thing as a decision for Christ would happen with a child.  I choose to model my Christian practices and discuss with my children why I feel the way I do concerning God.  I want them to use that as one of many perspectives when they begin to make independent steps toward God.  It would be more than a little troubling to me if an enthusiastic Sunday school teacher overstepped my intentions.  

It was brought up this morning that a teacher might feel led to lead an entire class in a sinner’s prayer.  Consider that event from an outsider’s perspective.  My family has visited our local ward on a number of occasions.  I know that my kids may hear stories from the BoM or about Joseph Smith while there in Sunday school.  I accept that.  However, I would feel completely violated if my children were to come back from Sunday school having been baptized into the Mormon faith!

I feel that we did not get a chance to process or talk about what was said this morning.  There were a dozen or so folks present and there may have been many varied interpretations of what was presented.  The spectrum could be from someone like me who would be reluctant to walk a child through a sinner’s prayer, to someone who may have intentions of a ten for ten conversion ratio by next week.

I am asking that, perhaps, we need more time as a teaching staff to talk about this before we jump in.

Happily serving the children in Adventure Canyon,

Andrew Hackman

Thanksgiving

Been thinking a lot about what I have to be thankful for as Thanksgiving approaches.

There is this scene in a Dracula mini-series that comes to mind. It is the year 2015 and Dracula has been asleep for centuries.  Upon waking, the first home he encounters is a small bungalow.  Inside he finds a woman very unhappy with her lot in life.  She has let her home fall into disrepair in her depression.  Where she sees nothing of worth, he walks through her home in fascination.  Clean water flows from the tap. A refrigerator to store food.  A shower that produces hot water in an instant.  A toilet... in the home!

She miserably shrugs off his wonderment.  He finally looks at her and says, "In my time, princes in palaces could not have imagined the luxuries afforded to you."

I was listening to a podcast yesterday where the guest was talking about how our discontent as a society stems from the comparisons that are forever presented to us on social media.  We are always being reminded of what we do not have.

So, this week I am going to remind myself to focus on the laundry list of "luxuries afforded" to me.  I'll take some time to acknowledge the wonder of a hot shower.

Belief Is Not A Virtue

Belief is tricky.  I don't think it is as simple as "letting go".  I don't think a believer can make a decision to not believe in their deity any more than I could make a decision to believe in one.

I think one can decide to protect a belief.  You can make efforts to safeguard it from difficult questions.

I think the best anyone can do is to try to bring all of your thoughts and ideas into the examination process.  One can choose to do that.

I recall, as I was entering the deconstruction process, deciding that I was going to put all of my beliefs on the table.  I didn't do this lightly.  I FEARED unbelief.

I remember a discussion I had with a believing friend after I left the faith.  He was frustrated with my lack of belief in his god and seemed to take it as a personal insult.  In a moment of frustration, he declared, "Well, at LEAST I BELIEVE in something!"  He was protecting his belief by defining the state of belief itself as a virtue.

But holding to an idea isn't a virtue.  And it is problematic when we give ideas a permanent place in our identity.

No Options

I have been listening to some Vance speeches and catching interviews with the Maga crowds attending the rallies.  Their words and attitudes remind me of a kerfuffle Cracker Barrel had a few years ago.

The homestyle restaurant had decided to offer Impossible Sausage (non-meat) on its breakfast menu.  For reasons I will never understand, this caused some outrage and triggered a boycott.  Here are some reactions -

"Congratulations!  Be woke, go broke!"

"Stop forcing fake meat!"

"Won't be eating there anymore!"

 "I just want a restaurant that is normal, with normal food on the menu!"

Of course, Impossible Meat didn't REPLACE their morning sausage, it was merely an option.  Nevertheless, the choice was interpreted by many as woke, forced, and abnormal.

This is the attitude I hear from JD Vance and the Maga crowd.  At their core is an irritation and frustration when their fellow Americans have options on life's menu.  They dream of a day when THEY can control what choices are available to YOU.

Soulless

I didn't vote for McCain or Romney, but I never thought they were bad men. In fact, one can peruse my blog articles from those years and there were multiple times I defended them and found areas of agreement.

However, I have always had disdain for Trump... going back decades. From the first time I heard him interviewed on Stern when I was in college. This meme encapsulates why.

Trump has no interior life.

No reflection.

No contemplation.

He is nothing more than an exposed nerve, desiring no other stimulus than adulation. The real joys of living escape his awareness.

He isn't evil.

He is soulless.

When I can rein in my disdain, all I feel for him is pity.

If you have read CS Lewis's The Great Divorce, he brings to mind the Tragedian - pulling on the chain of what little remains of his humanity.

Vance is Lying

I grew up in fundamentalist Christianity which today has morphed into Christian Nationalism.  Vance is trying to reframe his "cat lady" comment but it reveals his attitude and the attitude of that slice of religious politician and voter.  They simply cannot understand or accept choice and freedom.  Those things are antithetical to their worldview.  

There is only one right way to live... theirs.  Anything else is wrong and must be rooted out.  They believe people can only be happy when living life their way.  They can never be happy until YOU live life their way.  They take other perspectives as an insult.  They are offended by things that have nothing to do with them because everything must be about them.

I have often said that trying to get the Left on the same page is like herding cats.  That's a good thing.  I am a moderate, centrist, liberal and I argue with those within my political sphere.  I disagree with members of my own "team" on various things.  But at the end of the day, the Left end of the political spectrum allows a tent for those arguments.

On the contrary, the Right, over the past 10 years, has sidelined and primaried every voice that does not fall into lockstep.  Liz Cheney, the conservatives conservative, has no place in their vision for America.  Republicans like Bill Kristol no longer have a political home.  Mitt Romney, who ran for president under their banner, is sidelined and despised (in Utah he was booed at our convention).

So, when Vance declares that he was just being sarcastic, he is lying.  He does not believe in freedom... other than the freedom to think his thoughts and live life his way.

Just People

I was a big fan of Lewis when I was a believer. When I became an atheist, I went back over his writings and found so many of his arguments I revered as a believer to be too simplistic.

Having been a non-believer for over a decade now, I have come to once again enjoy his insights. Sure, I think he got a lot of stuff wrong... but he got a lot of stuff right too.

I think the balance comes when we quit thinking of authors, priests, parents, and other authority figures as demi-gods - imparting wisdom from on high. Instead, he was just a guy living through his experiences and sharing them. Find the nuggets and shrug at the rest. We are all just people trying "to get through this thing called life."

No Fear

One of the retorts I often get from a fundamentalist/nationalistic believer when they learn that I am an atheist is, "What if you are wrong? What if when you die, you meet God?"

They expect that I would dread such a moment. But that isn't the case at all. I think it would be cool.

See, they have imagined a petulant and capricious god. One who needs its ego stroked and surrounds itself with sycophants. They expect their god to be just like them.

I would expect to meet a deity who is better than the best humans I have known and read about.

I take their scriptures more seriously than they do. Within those pages we read that God is Love.

There is no fear in Love.

Life

In the play, Shadowlands, CS Lewis asks one of his friends if he is content.  He responds, "I am as I am.  The world is as it is.  Whether I am content with that has very little to do with it."

His friend is a bit of a cynic, so it comes off that way in the play but I find myself hearing a certain amount of Zen in that statement.  I never want to become a cynic, but I find accepting that life is going to do what it is going to do helpful.

Question Your Script

 

I started watching Game of Thrones again with my brothers down in Florida. Like every incredible piece of art, you get something different on each visit. This round Arya Stark has stood out to me. Walter Brueggemann says that we all live by a script that is imparted to us as we grow up and that script is based on the narrative of our culture.

Arya examined the script she had been given and decided to question it. She began to discard and free herself from the parts she didn't accept.

Wisdom.