June 5, 2021

“Literally”

By Jim Culp

I was fishing this morning, and a man in his sixties came down to the water, and sat down. He didn’t have any gear, so I wondered if he was a bird watcher or something. Pretty soon we were commenting on the crazy weather we have had, and I kept comparing it to what the weather today and yesterday were like {PERFECT}.

After a while, he confided in me that he was a non-denominational minister, and liked to go out and speak with people about his faith, and ask about theirs.

After a while, I told him that I was from a religious family, and that for all of my childhood (and up to age 37) I was a Baptist. In those days, we were called “Fundamental Baptists” so that we were recognized separate from other Baptists. I told him of the problems that I had with religion in my childhood, and how I struggled with it as an adult. He then asked me what religion I observed now.

I replied that I don’t practice one at all. I consider myself Pagan, but I barely practice that. He said he was sorry, and that he sometimes struggled with religion as well. We talk on and on, and finally I asked him if he would take my genealogy exam. He said “Sure…what not?”

I carry around three or four index cards with me everywhere I go, because I could debate religion with the Pope. So I showed him my card (please see photo). He said “Ohhhh, the old Genesis debate!”

I said “yeah. What happened after that? Before you answer, I know the bible. I know that it says there were men and women after that, but who did who to make more people?”

He said emphatically that he did not know the answer. I told him about one Baptist preachers who told me that “incest wasn’t wrong in those days.”

“Really?” the guy asked.

“Yeah, really.”

Then he said what all the others said for all of my life. “Well, you just can’t take the Bible literally all the time.”

-Jim  

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