|
Deeper and Deeper
Things really hit home when Cathy's parents called one weekend. They hadn't heard from her in weeks and were worried. Cathy is the sort who calls her parents every week and spends time with them on the weekends. I told them about this new church she was involved with and that I didn't get "a good vibe" from the whole thing. Their attempts to talk to Cathy were as unsuccessful as mine, with the added effect that she and her parents got into a big fight that would keep them apart for years. I would try time and again to reach Cathy, but the conversation would ways end with her inviting me to the church. She claimed I hated "the Kingdom" because of my experience with "misguided" religions and that I needed to keep an open mind. Repeatedly I would tell her religion had nothing to do with it. I was us � she and I � that I was worried about, but she would always twist my words. I was also getting very tired to having my religion slandered as 'misguided.' My religious upbringing was far from simple. Having so many Episcopals and Roman Catholics in the same family is bound to lead to a few disputes about religion. But in no way do I consider my upbringing to be misguided. If anything, I learned a lot more from the situation. One Sunday Monica and three others came over to pick Cathy up, and the four of them put me on the spot by inviting me to the church. Initially, this was presented by Monica as her way of apologizing for the driveway incident a few days back. All of three of these 'friends' of Cathy's seemed to know the personal details the conversations Cathy and I had in private and used them against me. "We know you have had a lot of bad experiences with religion," they would say. "You need to put your confusion aside." Then one of the other women, who I had never seen before in my life, started asking me if my dealing drugs had anything to do with my confusion. I was startled but kept it in. Was there anything Cathy did not these people about me? Was I all they talked about? These people knew things that were told to Cathy in strictest confidence! This was obviously a move to shame me into going. If it had been someone else, this might have worked. I dealt drugs many years ago. Heck, I dealt in stolen car parts for a while too. There are many things I did in my youth I wasn�t too proud of. Everyone has a skeleton in their closet and I have mine, the difference with me being I confessed my sins, made my peace with God long ago and moved on with my life. I was never arrested and nothing shocking ever happened to bring about my repentance. I just felt it was time to clean myself up and move on. It was all my own idea. This, I was later to find, was anathema to the ICC doctrine of throwing your sins in your face for the rest of your life. I don�t brag about what I did, but I don�t hide it either. So these members were rather surprised when I mentioned openly and calmly that yes, I dealt drugs [in the past] and that they forgot [to mention] the stolen auto parts thing, too. They looked at one another, not sure what to do next now that their guilt card had been played and elicited no reaction from me. Just then, my friend Bill walked in the door. He was a little put off by the whole circus that was my apartment at that moment, but he knew what was going on with Cathy and me. I agreed to go only if Bill went with me, which kind of put Bill on the spot but he was always one for a dare, so we went. I wanted to drive, saying I'd just follow them, but Monica insisted on driving. So we all packed into her little Honda Prelude � all six of us � for the cramped ride over there.
Into the Nest
The service was held at some meeting hall, American Legion I think. It was very high energy, with all kinds of shouting, singing, confessions, speakers and other things I expected to see at a televangelist broadcast. Bill and I remained the calm observers through the whole ordeal, watching. Cathy, for her part, was just as excited as the rest of the congregation. Whipped into a frenzy was more like it She tried many times to get me "into it" but I wasn't moved. After the service, it was like some big group hug. Cathy and Monica would take us around and introduce us to people. At first we were together, but I noticed Monica led Bill away from me at the first opportunity. They seemed to know everyone. I got more hugs in that time that at any other single time in my life, and I've been to New Years in Las Vegas! I'd reach out to shake some guys hand and he'd grab me and hug me. I was a little unsettled by all this attention. People kept asking "Who brought these two? Or "Who's with these guys?" The only other thing they seemed to ask was what I thought of the service. They seemed very concerned about that. It was like someone was keeping score or something. How right I was on that one. As the meeting progressed, I was eventually paired off with Cathy's discipler, Jan, who led me to the Bible Talk leader, a guy named Leonard. Leonard was the epitome of a yuppie. He was clean cut, well-dressed and seemed to be the center of attention. It was clear he knew a great deal about me from the onset. Apparently he thought he could either intimidate and/or impress me with his bible knowledge, because he began asking me if I knew what it was to be a disciple and began quoting passages. Normally, as I understand it, the ICOC does not do this until their Bible studies, but I had apparently been the subject of some discussion among their ranks and was a special case. That, and Leonard might have wanted to show off in front of his followers. I suspect a bit of both, since Leonard struck me as being very pleased with himself and all the attention he received. I didn't know it at the time, but Leonard really liked Cathy (something that would come back to haunt her many times during her stint with the ICOC) and wanted to put me down. I did not remember the exact passages he used to support his argument at the time, but I was not familiar with them. I would bring up another passage altogether and Leonard would try to steer the conversation back to his original point. I surmised (correctly as it turned out) that Leonard knew only a few select portions of the Bible and was totally ignorant of the rest. It was been some time and I can't remember all the exact details. I inserted passages where I thought they might have gone, based on my research of the ICOC, but I am not sure (bear with me). The conversation went something like this: "Are you a Christian?" "I believe I am, yes." "How do you know you are?" "I chose to be a member of my church. I chose to be confirmed as its member. I was not forced. It was my own free will to do so. I embraced God willingly as well as Jesus." Leonard then began reading a passage from his Bible which I cannot remember. "Did you know that by the Bible's definition you are not a Christian?" "Maybe that is one way to interpret it, I can't say since I have never looked at that passage before." "Then how do you know you are not wrong if you haven't read it?" "I can't say until I read it." "If you don't read the Bible you can't interpret it." "If I haven't read it I haven't misinterpreted it either." "Well it's right there! Look!" "I would need more time than that to study it." "I think it's pretty obvious." "If it's that easy why do you have Bible studies, then?" The argument went round and round like that for a while, then I switched gears. I decided to call up a random section of the Bible. I didn�t even know about the section I called out. I was trying out a theory that Leonard � or the whole group for that matter � didn�t really know much about the Bible except for the over-used and highlighted parts. I just picked a crisp, clean section towards the back. I forget what it was exactly, and I knew if they knew anything about it then I was going to be fried right then and there by Leonard. Of course, if he didn�t know it as I suspected, I�d have him on the defensive. The conversation went something like this: "Okay, I've had enough of this section. I cannot argue your point until I read the Bible and think it over for myself. Let's look at this section. There are quite a few references to what Jesus said in there." "Well, I'm not concerned about that section right now. I want to address the most fundamental question, which is are you a Christian?" "Is the Bible important?" "The Bible is all important!" "The whole Bible?" "Of course!" "Then how can you say one section of it is more important than another?"
"I didn't say it was more important." "You are acting like it. I want to discuss another section and you keep bringing up the same section all the time. That shows me you value it more than the other sections. One part of the Bible is not more important than another." "I agree, but I said I thought one section was more fundamental to you right now!" "How do you know what is more fundamental to me right now? You don�t even know me." "Okay, then why don�t you come to our Bible study? You can read the entire passage and tell me what you think." I don�t think so." (Speaking to his friend, loudly enough for me to hear) "This is arrogance and pride!" (Turning to me) "I see you have a problem with priorities." "No, my priorities are just fine the way they are." "Do you recall when Jesus asked the fishermen to follow him? They just threw down their nets and left what ever they were doing and followed him." "Well I�m no fisherman and you sure as heck aren�t Jesus Christ!" "That�s just an example!" "Yeah, an example which compares you to Jesus Christ! I think you�re the one with the ego problem here, not me!" It was really comical. Bill said that he was busting up inside as Leonard and I went at it. I was really frustrating him at times. Finally, I called it off and told him I did not want to argue anymore. I felt that it was best since, before I knew it, two other leaders were starting to back Leonard up and Bill was somewhat prevented from coming to my aid. A shame too, since Bill can argue better than practically anyone I know and he knows the Bible really well. I realized then what I was dealing with. Bill and I seemed to be the only ones who did, but I later found out I impressed some of the other newcomers as well. So I decided to throw him a fast ball from something that is a hobby of mine. "What do you think about UFOs?" "The Bible doesn�t say anything about UFOs." "I didn�t ask you what the Bible says about UFOs. I asked what YOU think about UFOs." "What does that have to do with your salvation?" "Nothing, I just wanted to know what you thought about UFOs. Do you have an opinion?" "I don�t concern myself with that." That pretty well established the programmed mentality I was dealing with here. Old Leonard was great at reciting a few said verses from the Bible and coming across as knowledgeable and together, but throw him a few curve balls and it all fell apart.
|