Food for thought

Heretic. That is the name of an episode of "This American Life" about a preacher from Oklahoma City who attended Oral Roberts University and was a major force in the Pentecostal and Charismatic Evengelical Movement until a few years ago when other evangelicals branded him a heretic because he stopped believing in and preaching hell.

He is a scholarly pastor, and he has studied the books of the Bible in their original Greek and Hebrew. In fact, he has spent a good deal of time trying to trace his understanding of Biblical scripture to their oldest extant versions because he wanted to be sure that his understanding was as accurate as possible. This episode told the story of how that led him to what he calls a revelation from God that a truly loving God would not send anyone to Hell, that there is no Hell. Everyone is saved. And it changed his life. It nearly destroyed his 5,000 people a Sunday church, and he went from being one of the most influential pastors in the United States to one of the least influential pastors in Oklahoma City all because he preached a Gospel of Inclusion.

Hellfire and demons, to God loves everyone. I reccomend you go to the "This American Life" website and find their archive page for the year 2006. In Novemeber (I think) the episode "Heretic" aired, and it is an amazing revelatory story that made me understand a lot more about people of strong faith in my life, and it actually gave me a new and refreshing perspective on faith (No I am not going to go all crazy Bible thumping on you or even on me). Go the page, stream the episode, come on back and talk about it in the comments.

Back at work, sigh

So, here I am back in Chicago. Anna and I went out for dinner last night, and I filled her in on all that happened away. Drama at the wedding, gossip gleaned from the wedding, drama that happened here while I was gone to the wedding. Basically people I know are pretty ridiculous, and it turns out I may have to include myself in that number.

Johnny B and I rehashed the HP7 on the phone, and I heard from he and SJ how the honeymoon was. I remembered that Courtney reads this blog (or has in the past), and it turns out she is a little intrigued by the me and David-ness that has been written about here.

Speaking of the me and David-ness, we have gotten into two long and borderline heated discussions about both politics and religion (one each) in the less than a week since I last saw him in person. Heated because we don't really agree on anything in those veins. He's a Republican, and I am a dyed-in-the-wool idealist of a Democrat. I admire people of faith but really feel it hasn't worked for me in a long, long time, and I am easily turned off by the partisanship of most religions (and the I'm right, you're wrong mentality it engenders). He has been attending Christ Church in Moscow. I only discovered that last night. Yeah, Christ Church (Sally you read that right, it is who you think)--their pastor has come under fire from many, many people and groups including the Southern Poverty Law Center. I am not a fan of their views. Yeah, so that was quite a shock. Churches are one thing, but I didn't imagine that people I knew would attend that church of all churches (and my own prejudice rears its head).

Now I am beginning to question what it is I find attractive in the kind of guys who initially seem like me, but are strongly persuaded by right-wing Christian Fundamentalist Evenagelicals? Really, what the heck? This is not the first time for me--many of you know the story of the ex-boyfriend who came to be known as Jesus Boy. It is kind of freaking me out. I am probably beginning to blow it all out of proportion. But it was shocking to me.