tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155786643905846734.post5068727847881305206..comments2023-06-26T14:18:14.491-07:00Comments on THE BAPTIST TALIBAN and beyond: SHEDDING THE BURQA--part 1Cindy Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17942963391717614449noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155786643905846734.post-56307348404303354712012-02-12T06:01:41.885-08:002012-02-12T06:01:41.885-08:00I am such a poor typist, so I wiped out my comment...I am such a poor typist, so I wiped out my comments by accident. So be patient with me, here I go again.<br /><br />I applaud what you are doing for your family. I am a survivor of 5 years of Christian school education, and used to be a right wing fundamentalist. I was raised with ACE for four years in Vancouver, BC, (actually I had 11 years of PACEs since I came as a non-English speaker and this school did not have an ESL program). I always have felt that I was in a ghetto and a second class citizen. The education of the first four years at this ACE school was a second class education, full of memorization of the KJV verses and right wing ideology, about the violent end times and the sudden coming of Christ, what a load of crap. I was also totally messed up about not going to a regular college training, and should and only fully devoted to that church and its missionary activity. Luckily, my folks are Jew'ish enough to point out the importance of having a good education and the importance of money. So I went on to a regular college, such as University of Toronto, and then instead of seminary, to Harvard to its dentistry program. <br /><br />Currently I am married and with 5 kids. My fundamentalist education taught me blind obedience, so I almost was forced to marry for money, since my folks are very Jew'ish about it. It was in the breaking out and starting to live a life with courage, not under fear and coercion, that I am here today. I no longer subscribed to this type of right wing theology, esp. after reading "Tempting Faith" by David Kuo. <br /><br />Your story has a ring of truth in it, that we are born free, but there are so many snares on the way to trap us into slavery. People such as Jim Jones who promised love and acceptance, and ultimately made everyone drink Koolaid and killed everyone. There is no accountability in this preacher of yours. I would also caution you that although Christian school materials are supposedly better in the preservation of faith, but think about it, if your faith cannot survive in a regular main stream culture, or having a rigorous college education, perhaps it is already a thing of the past. It is like prolonging the life of Terri Schivo. Perhaps she is already dead, but this way of trying to keep things alive as it were in the 18th century or like your Muslin analogy, to keep the submission of women, abused and bullied, these ideas are dying, and this type of preaching will not survive beyond the truth and light of the day.<br /><br />Good luck and may your Lord help and guide you, I have found a way of of this extremist Protestant Christianity. I continue to be a deist, by default, but I do not belittle those whose faith that I used to be enslaved to, people know truth from falsehood, freedom from abuse/slavery. May you keep up the good walk, listen to your neighbours and those who share their stories, and trust that you still find this country a beauty and worthy of your aspiration. <br /><br />(and excuse my typing and grammar,)bchungdmdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00196917817175607404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155786643905846734.post-4002388850269792582012-01-25T21:38:57.692-08:002012-01-25T21:38:57.692-08:00Then you, herewegokids, inspire me.
I have at l...Then you, herewegokids, inspire me. <br /><br /> I have at least had the openness and support of my husband on this wilderness journey! I can't imagine having to deal with a resistant husband too! Oh my! I am heartsick for you! <br /><br />My husband has resisted some of my urgent need for truth and change, but only as a means to insure we are not knee-jerking. He just acknowledged to me tonight that the many changes we have made in our church practices, educational philosophies, child-rearing practices and marriage are because of my influence on him. He is not too proud to admit that. We are even learning that we can be happy together even in disagreeing on some long-held beliefs about certain biblical doctrines and even politics! Boy is THAT ever a paradigm shift!<br /><br />One thing, though, is it DOES take time even under the best of marriages. It has taken us 12 years to finally get to the place where I can be honest with him about how I truly believe and feel since all the years in the Baptist Taliban, I just rubber-stamped everything he believed. We both realize now that THAT is not really an honest relationship. We have grown together in growing apart in some ways. So there is hope for you too!<br /><br />Egalitarian-that's the truly biblical way!Cindy Fosterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17942963391717614449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155786643905846734.post-52274712560046677672010-08-04T16:56:18.352-07:002010-08-04T16:56:18.352-07:00Sooooo glad you are out of there!Sooooo glad you are out of there!Tootsiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02969728135902876163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155786643905846734.post-89608973398126508302010-08-04T10:31:29.672-07:002010-08-04T10:31:29.672-07:00Wow! That is all I can say.Wow! That is all I can say.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155786643905846734.post-19662307903317032010-08-04T08:21:58.577-07:002010-08-04T08:21:58.577-07:00I would ask if this guy had totally lost his mind ...I would ask if this guy had totally lost his mind but that would assume he ever had it. I have been in the ministry almost 20 years and involved in the Church all my life. In that time I have heard some really good sermons and some really bad ones (probably preached a few that would fit one of those categories or the other) but I have never heard anything like that. Where is the grace? Where is the love? It sounds like the world of banging gongs and clanging cymbals (1 Corinthians 13:1). I could go on, but I will not. You have my respect for enduring this as long as you did to try to bring some love into that church. I have known you all my life, we are family and I know our family is far from perfect, but I also know, this is not you. This man and his misguided congregation should be in all our prayers.<br /><br />Grace and Peace,<br />KeithAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com