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Nice post, by the way. It sounds like an interesting transition and I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that I'd like to read more.
The Baptist Atheist
One Saint's Exodus From Christianity
Psalms 12:7
As the title of my blog would suggest, I am a former Baptist, making my “exodus” from Christianity toward Atheism. I would love to tell you all about myself but I have to be careful. I am currently a closet atheist. I’m not so much afraid to tell others but would rather hold off for a while till a time comes that it wouldn’t cause such a headache in my life. I thought my first post would be an explanation of who I am; to tell you about me. I think, however, that I will spend some time explaining to you the catalyst that brought me thus far.
It started about six or so months ago with a few verses of the bible. Psalm 12:6-7 reads, “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thus shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.” (KJV) For the Christian those are some pretty amazing words, a promise if you will, that help cement your understanding about the “Word of God.” These two verses have been used to teach a fundamental dogma of the Christian faith; the preservation of Scripture. I come from a particularly dogmatic group of churches known as Independent Fundamental Baptists (IFB). For IFBers the preservation of the scripture is as equally important as inspiration. The idea being; what would be the point in inspiring the scripture if God didn’t intend to preserve it perfectly. For IFBers that perfect preservation comes in the form of the King James Bible.
My curiosity was aroused one day and I studied these verses. Better yet, I studied the verses around it as well. A clearer picture is painted when you read the whole story. It begins in verse 1 and runs through 8. It reads, “Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men. They speak vanity every one with his neighbor: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things: Who have said, With our tongue we will prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us? For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him. The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever. The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.”
When you read the entire chapter of Psalms 12, a problem begins to glare at you; what or who are them from verse 7? Many King James Only advocates will tell you that it means the words of the Lord. They will even criticize other Bible translations because they translate this word as him. Who is him you ask? The oppressed one from the previous verses. If a Christian would stick with the perfect, infallible, inspired, and preserved Word of God that is the King James Bible, that Christian wouldn’t run into such confusion, they say. I could have believed this but I ran into a problem. In 2011, a 400 year anniversary edition of the 1611 Authorized King James Bible was released. Being the good IFBer I was, I went and bought this edition. The day that I started studying Psalms 12 I went to my shelf and pulled my 1611 KJV down, turned to Psalm 12, and was in dismay at what I saw. The original King James Bible listed him in the margin as an alternative to them. Why would this be here if they believed it was in reference to God’s Word instead of the oppressed one? What I began to realize was that those translators had a lot more integrity than most preachers today.
One thing that preachers today spit and complain about is true. If you destroy the credibility of the bible, your faith will follow. When I made this decision that the King James Bible wasn’t the be all end all of bible versions, I had no idea that within a year I would be a closet atheist. This was the first chink in the armor of Christianity for me. Many other problems slowly became evident to me. The preservation of the scripture had been diminished in my mind, if but a little, and I was set on a path that I couldn’t logically deviate from.
If anyone finds this blog helpful I will continue to post more about my journey and my background. Here is a little teaser. I was/am a preacher and have a theology degree from an accredited college. Adios.
As the title of my blog would suggest, I am a former Baptist, making my “exodus” from Christianity toward Atheism. I would love to tell you all about myself but I have to be careful. I am currently a closet atheist. I’m not so much afraid to tell others but would rather hold off for a while till a time comes that it wouldn’t cause such a headache in my life. I thought my first post would be an explanation of who I am; to tell you about me. I think, however, that I will spend some time explaining to you the catalyst that brought me thus far.
It started about six or so months ago with a few verses of the bible. Psalm 12:6-7 reads, “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thus shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.” (KJV) For the Christian those are some pretty amazing words, a promise if you will, that help cement your understanding about the “Word of God.” These two verses have been used to teach a fundamental dogma of the Christian faith; the preservation of Scripture. I come from a particularly dogmatic group of churches known as Independent Fundamental Baptists (IFB). For IFBers the preservation of the scripture is as equally important as inspiration. The idea being; what would be the point in inspiring the scripture if God didn’t intend to preserve it perfectly. For IFBers that perfect preservation comes in the form of the King James Bible.
My curiosity was aroused one day and I studied these verses. Better yet, I studied the verses around it as well. A clearer picture is painted when you read the whole story. It begins in verse 1 and runs through 8. It reads, “Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men. They speak vanity every one with his neighbor: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things: Who have said, With our tongue we will prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us? For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him. The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever. The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.”
When you read the entire chapter of Psalms 12, a problem begins to glare at you; what or who are them from verse 7? Many King James Only advocates will tell you that it means the words of the Lord. They will even criticize other Bible translations because they translate this word as him. Who is him you ask? The oppressed one from the previous verses. If a Christian would stick with the perfect, infallible, inspired, and preserved Word of God that is the King James Bible, that Christian wouldn’t run into such confusion, they say. I could have believed this but I ran into a problem. In 2011, a 400 year anniversary edition of the 1611 Authorized King James Bible was released. Being the good IFBer I was, I went and bought this edition. The day that I started studying Psalms 12 I went to my shelf and pulled my 1611 KJV down, turned to Psalm 12, and was in dismay at what I saw. The original King James Bible listed him in the margin as an alternative to them. Why would this be here if they believed it was in reference to God’s Word instead of the oppressed one? What I began to realize was that those translators had a lot more integrity than most preachers today.
One thing that preachers today spit and complain about is true. If you destroy the credibility of the bible, your faith will follow. When I made this decision that the King James Bible wasn’t the be all end all of bible versions, I had no idea that within a year I would be a closet atheist. This was the first chink in the armor of Christianity for me. Many other problems slowly became evident to me. The preservation of the scripture had been diminished in my mind, if but a little, and I was set on a path that I couldn’t logically deviate from.
If anyone finds this blog helpful I will continue to post more about my journey and my background. Here is a little teaser. I was/am a preacher and have a theology degree from an accredited college. Adios.