Magical thinking

Recently I became aware of a therapist saying that my generation indulges in "magical thinking" too much. I've been mulling that over since hearing it wondering how that could have started. As I reviewed the entertainment of my childhood (Disney movies, Bewitched, etc) I could see where magical thinking could come from, in part. Then I started thinking beyond the "world's" influence and looked at the religious teaching I grew up with. Wow! Talk about magical thinking!!

I grew up Pentecostal. I have talked to enough people who grew up in non-Pentecostal (OMG I *hate* Pentecostals churches included) to have realize that they were taught some, though not all, of what I was taught as a kid.

While people like to quote the phrase "God helps those who help themselves" it is NOT a Bible verse. It would be nice if it *were* a Bible verse given the way some people are so God-dependent that they can't dress without Divine Intervention.

The stories I heard growing up were about how God miraculously healed people, gave people money in just the nick of time to keep them from foreclosure, provided groceries when they had nothing to eat, etc, etc, etc. I believe God is perfectly able to supply one's needs and heal people but is this something we should depend on?

I can remember being told that God would do whatever we asked if we just "believed" enough. It didn't seem to matter what it was, God would do it if we just said the right words and did the right things. The "name it and claim it" folks were alive, well, and preaching when I was young long before the newest batch of them started preaching.

There were times I'd go to bed at night, lay in bed and pray God would make me magically lose weight until I was Twiggy thin so I could be more popular. Forget genetics. God could change my genes to make it work. Forget looking at the reality of me and realize I wasn't fat, just built larger than others. (Now is a different story.)

Being told over and over that God would supply our needs sounded lovely until I grew up some and started looking at history. Did all of the Christians murdered in the Nazi camps sin so badly that God wanted to punish them? If God supplied all our needs, wouldn't a loving Lord have rescued those people from the death camps? Whatever happened to the God who saved the 3 Hebrew children and Daniel from the fiery furnace?

If God can heal us, then why isn't everyone alive and well? It seems like no church worth it's salt should have any members who get sick and stay sick. If you want to be healed of MS or diabetes or cancer, just go to church, live the life God wants you to, get prayed for, and you should be able to quit all your meds and go on about your life as though you were never sick because, obviously, God should heal you!

But life isn't like that. People get sick and die no matter how much the people here don't want them to and pray that God will intervene. People work hard to do the right thing yet their jobs disappear, their mortgage becomes too much and they default (or are foreclosed on), medical bills mount up and they can't pay them, feeding their kids becomes nearly impossible, life gets too hard to continue. Does God care about those situations?

I know what I believe about it. I think it's time for churches to stop promising things they cannot deliver. Part of those sermons and Sunday School classes from my childhood stick like they do because I hear the same messages coming from various preachers even today. Be honest people! Tell people the truth about what God *might* do for them but don't promise that the Lord absolutely will.

10 Commandments

I really like the 10 Commandments. They're pretty simple and straightforward. Can't really quibble with them because they make a lot of sense for inter-personal interactions. I like the logic.

So, why is there a question about homosexuality? I get that there are other passages that teach against it but those passages aren't as clear-cut for me as they seem to be for many other people. I don't see anything in the 10 Commandments about homosexuality. Not saying it's right just wondering about it. Anyone want to give me good, clear-cut Bible reasons to be anti-gay? It doesn't have to be join the Phelps campaign reasoning (I don't think they reason anything) but it would be nice to see something truly clear-cut about it.

See? Slippery Slope Speculating is a good title.

Church

What is church? Is it a building? I was taught that the building isn't important, yet I've gone into church buildings that had a holy feel to them. Somehow the building itself seemed very, very 'church' like.

Is church a particular set of rituals and words said in a particular sequence? I know people who don't feel they've been to church without specific things happening.

Is it a group of people who meet together and call themselves a church? Maybe. What does their church consist of?

What makes something church?

As I was reminded yesterday, the Bible says that we are not to "forsake the gathering together". I'm just not clear on what that means. I know that I miss being with others in a "church" but I'm having trouble figuring out what that means to me.

Odd questions

I tend to have these very odd theological questions tumbling around in my head. I figure I can't be the only one with these questions so this place is where I am going to post them and see what kinds of answers I get.