I don’t like arguing Theology

I don’t mind philosophy and discuss other religions. However, I don’t like arguing it. Religion, like politics, choice of bf/gf, are very personal choices. Disagreements about these topics can really damage a relationship and cause very hurt feelings. I, therefore, try to avoid these kind of situations — especially since at any type of confrontation leads me to blubbering and crying.

I’m not a quick thinker, I tend to mull things over, and then come up with a solution/answer to the question or problem. That’s one reason why I don’t argue or debate, because I’m never quick enough… unless its a fight with my husband, but that’s not anything like debating psychology, doctrine, or the application of a certain line of logic.

SO – today at church was awful, a huge mess. Normally at church every week I teach a young adult Sabbath School. I try to have a discussion class, because I don’t like to preach, and I’m not qualified to. Besides, I like people to share their opinions and point of views. However, there is a huge obstacle in my way. We have a man who visits our church every other week, on average. We’ll call him DAR. He has a PhD in Statistics and his JD – very learned, very knowledgeable. However, with that kind of background, he his very logic-oriented and this gets in the way of how he relates to people – or the absurd things that come out of his mouth.

This man says things that are almost always off-topic and they have such shock-value that everyone is diverted to what he said. It’s so outrageous, so contrary to any Christian doctrine, that you can’t help but argue against him. To make matters worse, when he claims to be a member and believer in the church, and has vast amounts of Bible knowledge, and then says that you are all mislead and part of the problem with the world — well, there’s no way to keep class on track. Everything becomes 1 vs the rest, him vs us.

I don’t like feeling like we need to argue. We’ve asked him to keep his comments that are not connected with the topic to after-class or after-church discussions so we can stay on topic. We’ve asked him not to encourage arguing in class. And he knows he does this — and smiles about it! He acknowledges how he eggs us all on, and keeps saying stuff like, “but you need to know!”

What do you do with this kind of person? I don’t want to kick him out of my class — I don’t think that’s necessarily right. However, if he are there to intentionally divert everyone, and he says stuff that is against any Christian teaching, what can I do? He stirs up anger and confusion – he makes you doubt yourself or everything you know to be truth, because he uses only logic, and not faith.

Today was the breaking point. We were discussing creation and Genesis 1. Now, I know that Christians, and some say that the 6 days of creation are literal, some say it was milennia or millions of years. Well, the arguments I heard today were all new to me. DAR said the following:

1. The creation account was not at all true. It’s written out of order.
2. It doesn’t make any sense.
3. It’s only a picture of what Moses could figure out, and its not about the earth or the universe.
4.It’s just a story that we need to explain that God is creator, not how He created.

Oh man, where do you being refuting/arguing that? All through church I was distracted, trying to think about how to act. Then after church, DAR cornered me and we argued one-on-one. Then he brought up the following:

1. The Bible is full of errors and mistakes, we shouldn’t believe a lot of it.
2. Anything written or spoken by humans are “divinely inspired.”
3. You can’t say there are any fals gods or lesser gods, because the gods of the ancient Egyptians, current Muslims, or current/past Hindu’s is all the same god, just people looking at god in a different way.

Well, I lasted just long enough for my pastor to come and rescue me. I half-walked, half-rushed into the pastor’s office before I burst into tears. We talked briefly, and we agreed that DAR should not be in my class anymore. As an adult he should really stay in the class that is taught by the head elder and has people who are used to this man and how he debates.

I’m not happy about the decision, but I wasn’t happy about how the entire day went. Church is supposed to be happy, pleasant, cheerful, supportive. Instead, it was depressing, confusing, frustrating, heart-breaking.

But I think its for the best.