Friends and family have often asked for an explanation of how I arrived at my current state in life, so rather than repeating the same story over and over, it became easier to put the story online. Below is a brief history of my life as a Christian, and why I chose to leave it.
I was raised in an independent Baptist church and was saved at the age of seven. My wife, Vanessa, was also raised in a Christian home, attended Eastland Baptist Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and was saved at the age of five. We attended college at Heartland Baptist Bible College and remained as members at Southwest Baptist Church in Oklahoma City after ending our studies at Heartland.
In April of 2008, the leadership of our church was forced to publicly admit to a series of poor decisions that put the children of the church in danger. With full knowledge of the pastor, a former child molester had been allowed to work in the nursery and bus ministries. When he again attacked a child in the church and the leadership was forced to reveal what they knew, Vanessa and I decided that the best way to protect our children was to look for another like-minded Baptist church.
In order to best select the church to attend, we needed to renew and expand our understanding of the core doctrines of the faith. We studied extensively for several months, examining the New Testament thoroughly to determine God’s priorities in our faith and church life. Slowly we came to the unexpected realization that, regarding the subject of salvation, the entire teaching of the New Testament (especially Jesus’ teaching) is very different from the way of salvation presented in the Baptist tradition. The dichotomy first became apparent while we re-read the Gospel of Matthew and examined everything that Jesus said about salvation and the way to gain eternal life. After understanding the gospel according to Jesus, we were better able to understand the teaching of Paul and the other New Testament writers. It was a time-consuming study, but an eye-opening one. Below are a number of scriptures that helped us to recognize the error of the Baptist way.
We know that Jesus’ purpose for coming was to save people from their sins, according to several passages including:
Matthew 1:21: And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call
his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Luke 19:10: For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
John 14:6: Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Since it was Jesus’ purpose to save sinners, it follows that he would speak about the way of salvation often and indeed he does. In the Gospel of Matthew alone, I counted more than 45 references to the way to be saved. The interested, and disconcerting, thing that I noted was that none of those passages say that salvation is gained by believing that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose again. This is the core of the “Romans Road” of salvation taught by Baptists, but is entirely unsupported by Jesus’ own words. Instead, the instructions that Jesus give are almost exclusively action-oriented. Here are some representative examples:
Matthew 10:22: And ye shall be hated of all [men] for my name’s
sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. Enduring
implies much more than a one-time belief; it requires a continual
action. (See also Matthew 24:13, Mark 13:13, and Revelation 2:10.)
Matthew 19:29: And every one that hath forsaken houses, or
brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or
lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall
inherit everlasting life. (See also Mark 10:30 and Luke 18:29-30.)
Matthew chapters 5,6, and 7: The Sermon on the Mount is very
works-oriented. There is no mention of believing in Jesus to save us
from our sins, but there is plenty to indicate how one must live in
order to be approved.
Matthew 19:16-23: In this passage, a person directly asks Jesus what
he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus directly answers:
“if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” (19:17b)
“sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come [and] follow me.” (19:21b)
This passage has often been reinterpreted to indicate that Jesus was answering pride with a touch of sarcasm, knowing that the person had no desire for true salvation. However, this is an interpretation that is not supported by text. (See also Mark 10:17-23 and Luke 18:18-24.)
I recently compiled a list of all of the ways that the New Testament puts forward as ways to be saved. In all, there are 41 ways presented in the text. (The list, along with a lengthy discussion, is also available as a note attached to my Facebook profile.) It has been argued that the list contains overlapping elements, which may be true. The dividing lines between one method and the next are not always clear. What is clear, however, is that the Bible teaches a salvation that is much more than believing and making a profession of faith. The Baptist method of salvation presents an easy way to gain converts, but is not supported by the entirety of the Bible itself.
After studying these issues at length I decided that independent Baptist churches, while well-meaning, were off the mark by teaching the “Romans Road” method of salvation. This realization forced me to compare my new-found understanding of the Bible with the beliefs and practices of other types of churches. While comparing churches against the “whole counsel of God” I determined that the Church of Christ most closely matches the New Testament description of how to be saved.
In May of 2008 my wife Vanessa, and my daughter Savannah and I were all baptized and joined the Church of Christ which meets at 1017 SW 84th Street in Oklahoma City. Their teachings were very different than those we had previously received. Church of Christ doctrine is based in a very literal understanding of the New Testament, with little interpretation. If the Bible says to believe and be baptized to be saved, you must believe and be baptized. Anything less means that you are are not saved. The Bible says that you must endure until the end; you must continue in good works or you will lose your salvation. Since the New Testament does not explicitly authorize the use of instrumental music in the worship of God, it is prohibited. The Church of Christ does not have a creed or statement of faith but claims to use only the Bible without elevating one set of verses or ideas above the rest.
We continued in this church for approximately nine months. During that time we continued to exhaustively study the scriptures “for in them ye think ye have eternal life.” It was during this time that I began to encounter certain problem areas in the Bible, internal contradictions that I had never noticed before. In fact, I had been told explicitly both by Baptist and Church of Christ preachers that no one could ever find such a thing, because the Bible (as written by God) is entirely free from such errors. The first problem that I noticed is in Matthew chapter one, the genealogies of Christ. The writer traces the generations from Abraham to Christ, and follows the list with this summary:
So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen
generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are
fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto
Christ are fourteen generations. (Matthew 1:17)
This seems to be strong evidence that Jesus is the Messiah, until you look closer. If you count the names in the list, you will see that there are fourteen generations in the first list, fourteen generations in the second list, and only thirteen generations in the third list! The summary, while attempting to show the miraculous nature of the birth of the Messiah, fails to notice the missing name. Do the genealogies in Matthew contain a contradiction? Apparently, they do. To attempt to resolve the problem, I consulted the parallel list of genealogies as given in the Kings and the Chronicles. However, doing so, however, just made the problem worse: if you compare the list of names to the genealogies provided in the books of the Kings and Chronicles you will see that the Gospel writer completely leaves out four names that are included in the older lists.
I studied this apparent problem for almost a month, trying to find an answer that would allow the Bible to be 100% accurate as I had been taught. The Bible, inspired by God, should contain no errors. I consulted preachers and other Christians, explanations from written and online sources, and many Biblical commentaries. However, until this day I have been unable to find a satisfactory answer to this problem.
Another issue I encountered involves Matthew 27:9-10, which begins: Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver… This verse states that the prophecy was given by Jeremy (Jeremiah). However, the book of Jeremiah contains no such prophecy. The book of Zechariah does contain the prophecy, verbatim, in chapter 11 verse 12. Was the wrong prophet quoted?
The writer of Matthew also apparently uses Old Testament quotes out of context to support the Messiahship of Jesus. For example, Matthew 2:14-15 says:
“When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.”
The phrase Out of Egypt have I called my son is a quote from Hosea 11:1, which says When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. The verse is not a prophecy of the Messiah at all, but is merely a reference to an event in Israel’s history. The writer of Matthew uses it out-of-context to support his argument.
Problems like these abound. There are several instances in the Old Testament where two related passages are flatly contradictory. There are many references in the New Testament to messianic prophecies which, if you read them in context, are not prophecies at all. Mark says that the crucifixion of Jesus occurred after the Passover; Luke clearly says it happened before the Passover. I will spare you an exhaustive list because this article is already quite long, but I will be happy to provide additional details upon request.
As with the Matthew genealogies, I have attempted at length to find a solution that would make these problems disappear, but have been unable to find answers that are both reasonable and supported by the text.
Finally, I have also been studying the historicity of the Bible account. We have always been taught that, while the Bible is not a history book, it is accurate at any time that it discusses history. I have also been taught that all archeological finds have served only to prove the accuracy of the Bible, and never contradict it. However, this does not appear to be true. I have referenced several sources on these subjects, but a few of the most interesting are:
- Biblical Archaeology Review, a bi-monthly magazine that presents the latest finds from excavations in Israel and the Middle East. I have been loaned a collection of the magazines dating back to 1982, and am reading each as time permits.
- How to Read the Bible, a book by James Kugel. The book discusses the way that the Bible has been interpreted over time and compares the interpretation to the actual evidence. This is a large book, but is very easy to read.
- What Did the Bible Writers Know, and When Did They Know It by William G. Dever. Dever is one of the foremost archaeologists in the field of Israel and related lands.
Through the study of these and many other materials, it has become evident that the Biblical account of history is not without error. Some of the findings of archaeology include:
- Joshua’s conquest of Canaan unlikely to have happened in the manner described in the Bible. Jericho and Ai, for example, were destroyed hundreds of years apart.
- The nation of Israel appears to have risen from among the people of Canaan. This is supported by archaeological, linguistic, and genetic evidence.
- The growth of Israel in Egypt and the subsequent exodus did not happen (at least on the scale reported by the Bible).
- The city of Jerusalem existed at the time attributed to David and Solomon, but was a relatively small village. Extensive excavations have completely failed to identify it as the glorious city described in the Bible during their reigns.
- Whole portions of the Old Testament law appear to be lifted verbatim from the Hammurabi code, written several hundred years before Moses.
- The temple of Solomon, rather than being ordered after the written plan of God as David said in I Chronicles 28, copied its architecture, structure, decorations, and furnishings from many of the existing pagan temples of the day.
Based on the above evidences and more like them, I am having trouble finding a reason to believe and follow the Bible. If the source of a belief is inaccurate, why should the belief be followed? I can understand accepting certain things on faith, for example, when one is having trouble understanding a certain passage or doctrine. However, in the face of factual errors in many of the passages of the Bible itself, how reliable can we consider the other passages to be? If Matthew is wrong, can you stand and firmly declare that Paul was right?
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, conservative Bible scholars began to see some of the same issues I listed above. In an attempt to reconcile the problems, they began a period of critical study of the Bible as a text to determine how it was written, how it was compiled, and how much of what we have today was actually divinely inspired. This started the “Biblical Criticism” movement, not as a way to destroy the Bible, but as a way to understand better what God really said. They hoped to be able to eventually present the world with the *real* Bible: the words that were actually inspired by God. The end result of the movement, however, was rather unexpected. The more areas of the Bible they explored, the more they found that it was the work of man and not God. The Bible as a text was discredited in a myriad of ways.
This led to a three-way split in the Christian community. The first group decided to ignore the conclusions of the scholars, and continue in a fundamentalist belief in the Bible. They decided that the scholars, even though they were also Christians, were actually the agents of Satan and that their conclusions were lies. (Many of my friends would align themselves with this group.) The second group recognized that the Bible has problems, but decided that there is still a core of truth in it. This group, which became what is currently called “liberal Christianity,” chose to follow the major or “obvious” doctrines, and leave the details out. The third group decided to abandon Christianity altogether. Since the source of Christianity (the Bible) was serious flawed at the core, what purpose could there be in continuing to believe in it?
I have found myself in the third group. No longer am I in a state of confusion about what I should and should not believe. As a result of this study, the Bible has been revealed to be the work of men, rather than of God. Therefore, it has no weight as a source of belief and information about God, the existance or destination of a soul, or how you or I should live our daily lives.
Some have suggested that I should refrain from discussing my findings because this information may tend to damage the faith of others. I do not fear damaging the faith of a weak Christian, because I am convinced that the faith does not have a basis in reality. My hope in posting such things as the 41 ways of salvation is to cause other Christians to deeply examine their faith in light of the facts and decide whether it is true or false. I would like to encourage every person in the world to leave the comfort of the “I just believe” mentality, and to be able to either defend their faith with facts or to stop using the faith. This may sound severe, but anything less would be dishonest. If, during the course of our discussions, evidence in support of a traditional belief in the Bible can be presented and defended, I will happily choose to follow it. If Christians can learn to answer such questions about the reliability of the Bible with fact and truth, it can only serve to enhance their faith. I don’t think that anyone is served by avoiding or ignoring such issues.
I apologize for the length of this article, but hope that it helped to answer your questions about me. If I can clarify any point, or if you feel that you can correct me on any point, please contact me via Facebook.