Apologetics is a Full time job!

Look how beautiful. All an evolutionary accident? Sure.

A year ago, I never thought that I would be where I am mentally.  I was still wrestling with the idea of Christianity. I was turned off by the apparent inconsistencies that arose after speaking with MANY different Christians in my lifetime. What’s funny, is that even when I considered myself to be agnostic, I still would have little “Christian” teachings that were implanted at a young age arise in my mind. For example, I would hear of a suicide and immediately think that it was certain they went to hell. Whether this is practical or not isn’t the issue. I found it humourous that after a small conversation with my grandmother about a cult suicide as a child, I would continue to impulsively believe her view that she shared with me: That people who commit suicide go to hell.

I guess that was the only real experience with Christianity that had really affected my thinking until I started attending church with a friend. I was confused even more when I listened to this pastor. Apparently, he was a Calvinist. I suggest you google this. This confused and frustrated me even more. I would listen to this pastor and be thinking “Well, I don’t know if I agree with that.” or “How does he interpret that from this passage?!” After I finally found where I wanted to be, I am very content, spiritually and I want to share this with people. My chance came last week when we were assigned a persuasive essay in my honors English Class. Our professor gave us a list of topics. I did not find any of them particularly interesting. At least, not interesting enough to write 3-4 pages about. So I took the next option: getting a topic, that I find important, approved. I decided that something that I think, talk, and write about constantly would be a logical choice for my topic. I chose: “How is a Lack of God Contributing to Gang Violence.”

My topic was approved, but it was not exactly the reaction I expected. My professor wrote back in an email claiming I had no basis for my position. She continued to attack my beliefs and called the Nazis, the Spanish Inquisitors, and the Crusaders “all very good christians.” I must admit, I was shocked. I really did not peg my Professor as being an atheist for several reasons: (1) I like her a lot. (2) She would use the word “blessed” instead of “lucky.” I found that to be a dead give away. I may have also been shocked because, as a liberal, I was never really debated. With one exception: Mr. Dudley. He was my favourite teacher, and one of the most influential people I have had in my life. But he deserves his own post another time.

I proceeded to conference with Daniel about this and he agreed, she was very rude in her argument. I decided, no matter how much I wanted to call her a “pinhead” (to quote O’Reilly), I had to be very polite. For several reasons: (1) I want to portray a true Christian as we should be portrayed. (2) She grades my papers (3) I will need her recommendation letters for admission into the honors program. But mostly the being a good Christian thing. 🙂

We went back and forth for several emails. I even decided to end the discussion by writing “Thank you very much for all your material you have given me to consider. I think I will save the rest of my argument for my essay. Have a great weekend!” I was met with an extra long rant about how Hitler was a Christian and how we were all hypocrites. All this over a student wanting to show a cause and effect of taking God (i.e. Values, morals, and love) out of our inner cities?

After many sleepless nights I decided to consult with my very intelligent and experienced Uncle Steve. I finally felt ready to start this essay. I finished about 4 pages in about 40 minutes. The hard part was MLA format (High School students… pay attention in class now). I am now considering adding a “what we could end up like if we don’t change our ways” element. I want to include a comparison to the Collapse of the Roman Empire. The loss of their family values and morality greatly contributed to their decline way before they were attacked and taken out.

One idea that I think my professor and I differ on is the idea of what it means for God to be present. I think she interprets that to mean that people are going to church and call themselves Christian. She stated that there isn’t gang violence in rich “white” areas because they have power and money; not because they go to church any more than the poorer people. I would agree with this. But she is assuming that there is no crime in these areas. What about white collar crime? The wealth, the greed, and the lack of God contribute to white collar crime. I think I have my next essay topic! 🙂

I do not think that the presence of God has much to do with Church. I think that if you are a non-believer you can still act in a Godly way. Given that God is love, if your actions are loving–they are Godly. If the last 6 Commandments were followed by all, our world would be a much nicer place to live. But the morals instilled by God are not being taught anymore because it is not “politically correct.”

I do not want you to think that my English teacher is indoctrinating all of her students. She has a strong (if misguided) opinion and this was only discussed outside of class over email. She did not treat me any differently the following class (which has always been pleasant). I was actually nervous to ask about how to cite the Holy Bible in our papers, and expected a retort similar to “We only can cite credible sources.” She did, however, answer my question politely. I did notice something that may contribute to her unfortunate naïveté of the scriptures. When she told me how to cite the Bible, she explained that I should record the version. She tried to give an example of a “version” of the Bible, but could not. She grasped for the all-too  “>famliar “King James Version”, but couldn’t think of it. I think this is evident of her not having ever read the Bible. This may explain our difference in opinion. I may be younger, but I have somethings to contribute the argument that she cannot: (1) I have read the Bible and frequently attend Church to become MORE educated. (2) I have lived both sides of the “God argument”. I know her argument before she really expresses it.

Anyway, I mainly just want to make sure I do as best of a job as I can. As my Uncle Steve said, If I produce a good essay that meets all of the requirements and I am still downgraded… I think I can assume why. I would like to think that my professor wouldn’t let a contrary biased opinion affect her grading process… but I don’t know her very well.

Well, I am going to start reading the History of The Roman Empire. My hands are hurting but I really am glad that I can write (so far) 1194 words for a relaxing activity. I think that this is really beneficial to developing my writing ability; also to show parts of my family that I am different from my mother in political ideologies!

Goodnight All and God Bless,

 Tess

 

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~ by defionsbride on Saturday 10th October, 2009.