Anyone Need A Ride?

Anyone Need A Ride?

In the past few weeks, I’ve touched briefly on gay bashing, racial stereotyping, and several other things that just really rub me the wrong way. Now that I mention it, there aren’t may things out there today that rub me the right way…unless you count my lovely wife or my cat when he’s sitting on top of a blanket I happen to be under and he’s not too sure of his rubbing trajectory. This week, and I’ve been holding this one back, is going to be on the most famous subject that our tiny town has to offer. No, it’s not how to make methamphetamine…its religion. Just to give you a little bit of background on where I’m coming from with it…I was raised in a small local church that always had something bad to say about someone. According to this tiny congregation, the ones that possess their personal beliefs are the only ones going to have joy in the afterlife. The Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, Jews, Pagans, Taoists, Buddhists, Muslims etc (yeah, I failed to mention one particular belief which makes it easy to figure out the ones I’m speaking of) are all going to burn in hell…but they're not going to do it alone. The other people of this particular religion talk smack on the others within their religion that doesn’t belong to their particular building. So basically, 80 people in this world are going to heaven and they’re all from North Texas. Lovely. The rest of the world is destined to be pissed off when they find this little tidbit of information out! Anyway, back to the story at hand, I grew up in this church against my will, forced to go there every day the doors were open like Black Friday at Macy’s, where I was also baptized against my will…just because everyone else my age was doing it. I should’ve caught on to this quickly because I was given the whole ‘if everyone else is doing it’ explanation on several different occasions when it came to my friends doing stupid stuff growing up. Why was this situation any different? Regardless, I continued to attend on a regular basis throughout life…until I moved away to experience the world through innocent eyes. A military career and a move to Los Angeles later, my eyes were miraculously altered forever and I returned home to a rude awakening. My views and beliefs were no longer as narrow as those that congregated around me in worship. Enduring a divorce and rescuing a dear friend from a violent marriage, I figured the last thing I needed in my life was to be a hypocrite in a room full of people that were trying to do good by their beliefs. Why drag the rest of them down, right? That was right about the time that I received my invitation to oblivion in the mailbox. It reads as follows…
To: Chad Miller

From: Brethren of the ____________

Subject: Withdrawal of fellowship and delivery to the Devil

Brother Miller, we know that you understand that your manner of living is not in

accordance with the teachings of the New Testament. Several brethren have discussed

these things with you and you have refused to repent.

Adultery is condemned in Galatians 5 as a work of the flesh and those who

commit such will not inherit the kingdom of God. You need to understand this and

repent of your sinful and shameful life.

You are not a proper father to your children and refuse to provide for them. You

only seem interested in your own lust. You are commanded to bring them up in the

nurture and admonition of the Lord (Eph 6:4) and are an utter and total failure in this

area.
We have called on you to repent. You have not done so. We then are

commanded to withdraw from you (2 Thess 3:6), deliver you to Satan 1 Corr 5:5) and

mark you and have no fellowship with you (Rom 16:17-18).

We call on you to repent (Acts 8:22; 1 Jm 1:9; James 5:16) and admonish you to

return to the Lord and His church and right living.

The purpose of this withdrawal is to show our love for the Lord and His

commandments to us. Also, to show our love and concern for your soul. These things

have a two-fold purpose:

To cause you to realize the seriousness of your condition (please read 2 Pet 2:20-22);

To keep the church pure (read 1 Cor 5)

And to keep your ungodly influence from others who are members of this local church

(read 1 Cor 5:6)

As of this time the Church withdraws fellowship from you and

has delivered you unto Satan.

Translation: My meth addict ex wife dropped my children off at my parent’s house after she promised she was keeping our home. I had already moved out of the home and into my van…and then a small apartment shortly after. Greenville TX isn’t the money making Mecca that some people believe it is. My best friend was being beaten on a daily basis by her husband (I still have the wads of hair that had been yanked from her head to prove it) and I allowed her to move in with me for her protection. Granted, we’re now married and yes, the relationship began after she moved in…but no one ever bothered to ask…they just presumed that I was doing the horizontal mambo because she was of the female persuasion. She and I had been closer than close for 15 years and hadn’t been involved sexually all that time. Yes...it can be done. As if I didn’t doubt my beliefs before…this was indeed the final straw. Since those days that seem like an eternity ago…3 published novels later, a better job, a couple of successful non profit groups, a larger home with room for my children, and a wife that is addicted to me rather than illegal substances…I’ve finally came to the conclusion that I’m a Naturalist. I have friends and family members that have various different religious beliefs and we all live together harmoniously. I married a Catholic, have a father in law that is Jewish, and have several friends that are firm believers in Paganism, Taoism, Atheism, and more belief systems than you can shake a collection plate at! I also have a lot of Christian friends as well. How do we remain friends without starting a thousand year war? We keep it to ourselves and refuse to discuss it. In my opinion, and using the lessons I have learned from the various tragedies and wars we have been involved in for centuries, religion is something that is meant to be personal. Granted…I love it when people celebrate their religion for the entire world to see because they feel enlightened. Congratulations to you and yours that you believe in absolutely anything in this day and age of media horror being force fed down our throats along with our TV. dinners nightly. My problem is when people belonging to a certain faith bash and condemn others for theirs. Aren’t we all supposed to get along and not point fingers? If it is a sin to do so…then maybe there are only going to be 80 people in heaven when it’s all said and done…but I doubt it will be the ones I formerly worshipped with because they never have anything nice to say about anyone else’s beliefs either. Perhaps a few will make it. Who knows? Metaphorically, maybe they were right on the money. Perhaps the way our world has become as of late is the hell that they have condemned me to? I wish I could feel the power of absolute trust and belief in an all knowing entity but according to the local church I belonged to as a child, I am condemned to spend an eternity below now…all on speculation. Actually, they didn’t send it to my mailbox certified with a return receipt like the IRS so I might be alright. Time will tell. In the meantime, anyone that ever tells you to ‘go to hell’…have no fear. I have a letter in my possession proving that I am heading in that general direction and I’ll be more than happy to give you a ride…if indeed you were simply worried about the transportation issue. We’ll have to go in halfsies on gas though. That stuff is a hell all it's own.