Monthly Archives: July 2019

//July
19 July

Denying the moon landing and dinosaurs

By |2019-07-19T22:07:31-06:00July 19th, 2019|Uncategorized|0 Comments

On the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 — which my father in law contributed to as an electrical engineer — I thought I'd write about a couple of the anti-science positions of Stanton. Stanton came from the old-guard of Biblical exposition: If your understanding of the Bible contradicts science, throw out the science. Don't even question that maybe your exegesis of scripture might be wrong. Don't get me wrong. I'm not here to say that the scientific establishment speaks the truth all the time. It has become very politicized as government funding has taken over what I like to call Big Science. Scientific schools of inquiry are incentivized by their funding biases to produce conclusions that I don't always agree with (think Big Pharma, for [...]

12 July

For Immediate Release: Stanton COC Source Says Teachers Are Actually Rabbis

By |2019-07-15T08:40:07-06:00July 12th, 2019|Satire, Uncategorized|8 Comments

Stanton, Calif. - In a surprising move, an anonymous source in the Stanton Church of Christ said the Teachers and Main Teachers of Stanton affiliated congregations nationwide are planning to start referring to themselves as "Rabbis," the Pharisaic teachers in Jesus's day. The source says this change took decades to come about. "We started off referring to members who taught classes as 'teachers,' she said. "But we gradually elevated them from a position of honor to a position of authority. We then decided that every last decision in a member's life be made with the counsel of teachers. Underwear choices, vacation plans, whom you can marry, whether you can relocate your family...everything." She says because every congregation has a teacher, it also became necessary to distinguish [...]

6 July

Sacrificing on altars of Stanton’s own making

By |2019-07-06T14:16:59-06:00July 6th, 2019|Uncategorized|1 Comment

The essence of idolatry is the creation of one's own rules for religion. If you make the rules, those who can be convinced to follow them are like clay in your hands. Nearly 3,000 years before Karl Marx and Hitler discovered that, and put the state in charge of religion, Jeroboam had already beat him to it. His rebellion against Rehoboam's despotism ended up splitting the Kingdom of Israel into the divided northern and southern kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Having lost access to Jewish religious life in Jerusalem, Jereboam made a calculation. He decided to build his own altars and appoint his own priests so his subjects wouldn't have to cross into Judah's territory to worship in Jerusalem. Why not just give the people [...]

4 July

“Curious Chris’s” Story

By |2019-09-29T17:38:17-06:00July 4th, 2019|Uncategorized|56 Comments

A reader asked if I would post this account of his withdrawal under the pen name "Curious Chris." As some readers probably know, the two of us do not see eye to eye on everything.  However, I think there's value in hearing his account of the events. To that end, here is his story, in his own words. --Kevin The 2016 May Trip, had a topic that had been scheduled for years.  It was a study of Romans 16:17 'Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them'. The May Trip question was to ascertain if this was talking about withdrawal or excommunication.  It was expressly chosen to address my excommunication, [...]

2 July

Does God cause bad things to happen to good people?

By |2019-07-02T19:08:45-06:00July 2nd, 2019|Uncategorized|6 Comments

I think it's fair to say that anyone raised in Stanton, or who attended there for any length of time, came away with some distorted views of God's nature. Is he wrathful? Vengeful? Loving? Is everything bad thing that happens to me because I sinned and didn't confess it in the proper sequence (privately, then publicly, prior to the Lord's supper, standing up, and with the right formulation of words)? It all depends on how you read the Bible—or didn't, as the case may be. Perhaps a teacher in Stanton warned you that if you were to leave (what they disparagingly call "falling away"), God may punish you with car accidents, cancer, miscarriages, the loss of a child, and more. Maybe you've even had one [...]