When I drive, I tend to listen to conservative radio. I'm not sure why other than my CD player is broken and I find liberal talk radio a little more boring. I like to hear what's new in evangelical thought. Yesterday, I was tuned into pastor Greg Laurie, a popular Southern California evangelist who preaches at a huge annual evangelistic event called the Harvest Crusade.
In his sermon, Laurie mentioned Noah. Laurie said that the rain that caused the global deluge was actually the first rain that the earth experienced. He mentioned a water canopy. He was a crude literalist, IOW.
I was surprised that someone from the Southern California "Jesus movement" evangelistic tradition could really believe this. It reminded me that many Christian adults have a shallow faith and are vulnerable to doubt because they lack a sophisticated understanding of the real world and their own religion. I didn't see Laurie as a model of the Christian faith but, rather, someone to be pitied. I also felt a little bit of anger in contemplating the pedagogy of Laurie's crude evangelism at his Crusade. It occurred to me his ministry must hand out teleological resources to new believers that propagate bad ideas throughout the new Christian community. If Laurie's idea of teleology is taught to new believers, those believers are in danger of losing their newfound faith when they learn that YEC is false and biological evolution is true.
It's hard enough to believe without adding more burdens to it. If I was ever in the position to tell Laurie that, I would. I fear he'd be too entrenched in his literalism to understand what I meant.
I respectfully request that seer, shunyadragon, and Adrift not post in this thread.
In his sermon, Laurie mentioned Noah. Laurie said that the rain that caused the global deluge was actually the first rain that the earth experienced. He mentioned a water canopy. He was a crude literalist, IOW.
I was surprised that someone from the Southern California "Jesus movement" evangelistic tradition could really believe this. It reminded me that many Christian adults have a shallow faith and are vulnerable to doubt because they lack a sophisticated understanding of the real world and their own religion. I didn't see Laurie as a model of the Christian faith but, rather, someone to be pitied. I also felt a little bit of anger in contemplating the pedagogy of Laurie's crude evangelism at his Crusade. It occurred to me his ministry must hand out teleological resources to new believers that propagate bad ideas throughout the new Christian community. If Laurie's idea of teleology is taught to new believers, those believers are in danger of losing their newfound faith when they learn that YEC is false and biological evolution is true.
It's hard enough to believe without adding more burdens to it. If I was ever in the position to tell Laurie that, I would. I fear he'd be too entrenched in his literalism to understand what I meant.
I respectfully request that seer, shunyadragon, and Adrift not post in this thread.
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