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I grew up in The Bible Belt and mainly Southern Baptist Country. As a young child, we went to church every single Sunday. Some of my earliest sermon memories are of the "fire and brimstone" style of preaching. Have you ever heard an old fashioned preacher use this style? I suppose the premise behind it was to scare the hell out of people in order to make them turn their lives over to God.
When I was five years old, I got in trouble for laughing at the preacher during a sermon. I just couldn't help it. His face was red and pouring sweat. He was screaming at the top of his lungs while jumping up and down and slapping his knees. You would think that this would have scared me, but I laughed out loud. My dad took me outside and gave me a spanking. Another incident happened when I was attending a different church. The preacher was preaching on the evils of believing in Santa Claus and the easter bunny. Many mothers covered their kids' ears when he belted out "There ain't no Santy Claus!"
I think that this old style of preaching has pretty much fizzled out even in the bible belt. What a relief! It was just so distracting to see someone acting in such a bizarre manner. Oh, and sometimes a preacher would have one of these types of sermons during a funeral!
I have a lot more to say on the topic of growing up Southern Baptist. I've been thinking about my beliefs alot lately. I can't blindly believe everything that I was taught as a child in the Southern Baptist Church. I am thankful that I was raised in church, even though I do question some things. I guess that's one reason I have trouble deciding what kind of church that I want to go to now. I found this interesting "what's your theology world view" quiz that actually helped me to think about what I really believe. http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=43870
4 comments:
Here are my results. I was not surprised...
You scored as a Roman Catholic
You are Roman Catholic. Church tradition and ecclesial authority are hugely important, and the most important part of worship for you is mass. As the Mother of God, Mary is important in your theology, and as the communion of saints includes the living and the dead, you can also ask the saints to intercede for you.
Roman Catholic 89%
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 75%
Classical Liberal 71%
Emergent/Postmodern 64%
Neo orthodox 54%
Modern Liberal 54%
Charismatic/Pentecostal 32%
Reformed Evangelical 21%
Fundamentalist 11%
There is another test that I took one time that also included other religions: Buddhist, Hindu, etc. That was interesting also.
I also went to church every week as a child. I was Baptisted a Lutheran, Confirmed a Methodist and am now a converted Catholic, so I have been around. We had a recovering alcoholic pastor growing up who had a bit of the "fire and brimstone" in him, so I understand what you mean.
One of my favorite stories about religion is "Salvation" by Langston Hughes. Give it a read. It always makes me smile.
http://www.spiritwatch.org/firelangsave.htm
Here's my results:
Roman Catholic 79%
Emergent/Postmodern 68%
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 57%
Classical Liberal 57%
Neo orthodox 57%
Modern Liberal 54%
Charismatic/Pentecostal 46%
Reformed Evangelical 29%
Fundamentalist 11%
It's funny that I'm apparently less Catholic than Linda even though I'm a cradle Catholic. I did however get away from the Church for around 15 years. I think going away and coming back gave me the opportunity to have a real conversion in my faith even though I returned to the church I grew up in. I returned to the Church when Linda was pregnant with our first child, because I wanted to raise my child with an understanding that there is such a thing as Truth and that it is not defined by our own whim. What I found out is that I was the one who needed to return and my new found faith has been a strength in both good times and bad.
I also believe that blind faith is for the faithless in a sense. It takes a great deal more faith to ask questions that could shake your beliefs to the core than it does to bury your head in the sand and accept blindly what you're taught.
Oh, I am going to take the test. I grew up Catholic then abandoned that at age 13 to follow "New Age" and now am back to being a Christian but NOT the kind that is judgmental, hypocritical and a total disgrace to what Jesus was actually like. He hung out with people like me - messed up!!!
Here I am:
You scored as Emergent/Postmodern, You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this.
Emergent/Postmodern 82%
Modern Liberal 57%
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 54%
Neo orthodox 46%
Fundamentalist 43%
Classical Liberal 43%
Charismatic/Pentecostal 25%
Roman Catholic 18%
Reformed Evangelical 14%
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