Have You Heard the One About the Religious Man Who Kept Being Religious in College?

Unlike Putty from Seinfeld, I never had it on my car.

Mallory Ortberg has written an interesting article in Gawker magazine about losing her religion.

Anyone who grew up born again can relate to some of her Christian pop references.

I thought I would respond with some thoughts on my own experience growing up evangelical, and why I came to a different conclusion from Mallory, as I grew up.

I was raised by conservative parents who felt that attending church was so important that we did it TWICE on Sundays - AM and PM. This resulted in the semi-traumatic weekly absence of the Wonderful World of Disney. Sometimes we were lucky enough to watch Tinker Bell fly around the castle, and then it would be into the station wagon headed for a hard wooden pew, trying to make sense of what was happening around us: singing, preaching, small talk.

We attended a smallish evangelical church in Saskatoon Saskatchewan. My parents had a good circle of friends in that church. They had kids - these kids became my Christian peers. My parents are still in touch with these old friends. I am friends with most of these now grown kids on facebook.

My memories of church were mainly that it was a requirement for my continued membership of my family. Since, I enjoyed eating food inside a warm house regularly and being clothed, I continued to attend our little church with my family.

I attended Sunday School, which consisted of sitting on wooden chairs in a darkened basement as earnest teachers went through a lesson. It certainly felt like school, but without recess.

Soon I joined the church youth group - this was a pretty big deal, as I had always admired people older than me. I enjoyed youth group because all of a sudden we were allowed to have fun!
In church!
With young people!

And it was fun. And my teen years were probably where the first stirrings of spirituality started to develop as I started to read my Bible and pray. I even made some clumsy attempts at evangelizing my school friends. Apologies to all the victims.

I also discovered something called "church youth conferences". These were large events held in neighboring Bible colleges. Several hundred young people would gather. We would hear a speaker who was combination motivational speaker and comedian, trying to convince us to commit ourselves to Jesus Christ. There was usually a Christian rock band at these events attempting to convince us we could rock out for Jesus. I liked the speakers , but preferred U2 and REM to Rick Cua or David Meece.

Unlike Mallory, as I went to a Christian college and then a Christian grad school, I maintained my faith. It was threatened at times when I encountered believers on the fringes who were weird. But, despite the nuttiness of the evangelical world, I decided to look past  its cultural trappings and look at the source and root of the faith which is Jesus Christ and the Bible. Indeed, if we base our reasons for faith, squarely on the church and other believers, I'm not sure how anyone can stay committed.

If you read Ortberg's article, she gives no theological or philosophical reasons for why she has abandoned God. Her objections are entirely sociological and cultural.

I am saddened that so many young people have thrown baby Jesus out with the bath water of the evangelical cutlural constructs.

Christianity is much bigger than what we in the West have built it up into - believe it or not.

We find life truth and reality in Jesus Christ himself, not in the cultural composition that humans create for themselves around him.