Sermon Series Rewind: All Grown Up part 2

The gods of the No Testament

In this message we took a look at one of the main reasons people walk away from faith.  We said that everyone who de-converts steps away from a version of Christianity.  It might be super-liberal, super charismatic, super fundamental, super Baptist, whatever the case may be, people who step away from Christianity step away from a version of Christianity.

There are two main characteristics of these versions of Christianity that people walk away from:

1. A Somebody-told-me-so-god: Here's how God is present, here's what they said God is like

2. A Bible-tells-me-so-Jesus: Everytime I asked a question the answer was, here's what the Bible says.

Whatever version of God we are presented with when we are young carries weight for how we think about God when we enter our adult lives.  Karen Armstrong says this in her book The Case for God:

"Many of us have been left stranded with an incoherent concept of God. We learned about God at about the same time as we were told about Santa Clause. But while our understanding of the Santa Clause phenomenon evolved and matured, our theology remained somewhat infantile. Not surprisingly, when we attained intellectual maturity, many of us rejected the God we had inherited and denied that he existed."

To some degree this is all our experiences. Because most of us were presented with a concept of God when we were very young. So I want to share some of these "gods" that we grew up with. Ideas, images, understandings of "god" that are popularly taught, or that we got into our heads when we were young, but that are wrong.  That we need to let go of.

1. Bodyguard god
-This is the god that never allows anything bad to happen to us.

2. On Demand god
-This is the god that does at least what we would do if we were god.

3. Boyfriend god
-This is the god whose  presence is always felt.

4. Guilt god
-this is the god who enjoys making you feel guilt and shame about your life.

5. Anti-science god
-This god forces you to choose between science and religion.

6. Holodeck god
-This is the god that becomes whatever or whoever you want god to be.

I'm sure there's more, but these are six wrong versions of God.  The somebody-told-me-so-god that many of us were presented with when we were children.  If you or someone you know walked away from faith or struggle with faith because of one of the versions of god there's good news, none of these are an accurate portrayal of the God of the library of books found in the Bible.

This series is based on Andy Stanley's series titled Who Needs God?

For the full message video click here.

Sermon Series Rewind: All Grown Up

Atheism 2.0

We just finished the sermon series All Grown Up at Covenant which was based on Andy Stanley's sermon series Who Needs God.  

This series was received so well at Covenant I thought I would offer a summary of each message over the course of several blog entries.  

The idea of the series is that we need a "grown up" faith to go along with living in a "grown up" world.  We need "grown up" answers to our "grown up" questions.  In an adult world we need adult answers to our adult questions.  The answers we have carried with us from childhood don't always withstand the rigor and experience of adult life.    

The first week was called Atheism 2.0.  We referenced several books by modern atheists that have shaped the nature of atheism in our world today.  Books like A Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam  Harris, The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins and God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens.  

By discussing what we don't believe it can help clarify what we do believe and why.  So we shared six belief's shared by atheists and discussed them:

1. The Illusion of the Mind
2. The Illusion of Freewill
3. The Illusion of Value
4. Something Came from Nothing
5. First Life Emerged from no Life with no Help
6. Natural Selection is Responsible for All Life after First Life

1 Peter 3:15 reminds us: Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.

I don't know about you, but for me, thinking through what atheists believe in a respectful way helps bring clarity to what I believe and why.

For the full message video click here.