Autobio 1 - Early Days and College
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What's my religious history?
Early Days (1985-1991):
I remember little of religion before 8th grade. I recall seeing Robert Schueller's Hour of Power from the Crystal Cathedral on TV. I think a neighbor took me to VBS when I was in kindergarten. I guess she was trying to help the little heathen from down the street.
When I was 13 my father decided the family needed some churching up. We went to a Presbyterian church for a year. The rest of the family would often play sick in order to stay in bed on Sunday. One particular Sunday I pleaded illness in order to miss the service. My dad got back from church and I was watching TV. I noticed he was preparing to leave again and I asked where he was going. "To the finals of the ACC basketball tournament" was the reply. I made a move to go get dressed. "Oh, you're sick. You can't go." Busted.
My parents gave me my first Bible when I was 13. It was Easter. I was used to getting toys and candy. I was highly agitated by this change in the proceedings. I tried to read it a few times and struggled a bit with the KJV language A more compelling reason for me to desist was that the narrative seemed fanciful and weird. I made it as far as Genesis 4 on my second attempt.
My best friend's mother intervened when I was 16. She had written my name in her Bible and begun to pray for my salvation. I used to spend the weekend with them consistently. I would get up before they did on Sunday mornings and go home. Mrs. Cooper put a stop to that. An ultimatum was delivered. "Please feel free to spend the night here. If you do then you have to go to church with us on Sunday morning."
Doraville Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church had just gotten a new youth minister when I arrived. For some reason known only to he and the angels, Jeff took a special interest in me. I liked him, and going to church allowed me to spend the entire weekend with my best friend. I was now an ARPresbyterian.
I was a pretty average youth group member: not particularly attentive, annoying to adults, self-absorbed, you know the drill. As I approached graduation Jeff told me I needed to be baptized. I assented. My sister and I showed up early on the appointed Sunday. The elders met with us. The minister asked us some questions about the faith. We indicated our embrace of these ideas. My parents were there as visitors to witness the sacrament as Jeff the youth minister baptized us in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
I am disturbed when I hear testimonies that downplay or denigrate the sacrament of baptism. While I certainly did not comprehend clearly what happened to me when I was baptized, something was VERY different about me. I was determined to follow Christ. I had a new awareness of my own anger and pride and a desire to be delivered from all my sins. I do hold to the very Scriptural idea of baptismal regeneration.
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College Days (1991-1994):
I went to the U of Richmond determined to be faithful to the Lord whether or not there was one other Christian on the entire campus. I did not know any vocal Christians at my high school, so I reasoned that there were not many of us. I tried to prepare myself for the worst.
There were some identifiable Christians on campus. Some were pretty vanilla. Some others were quite enthusiastic. The vanillas seemed almost apologetic about being Christians. The enthusiasts were very vocal about their commitments to Jesus. Predictably there were Charismatic elements afoot.
While skeptical at first, I fell in with the Charismatics during my freshman year. I had a close group of friends who regularly met to pray together. I began reading my Bible daily. I sought to allow Christianity to infuse every area of my life. This effort brought a mild degree of ridicule and alienation from some friends and dorm-mates. Par for the course, right?
My intensity increased as my college days progressed. I was exposed to an increasing body of literature that focused on revival, prayer, 18th and 19th century missionary history, and persecution. I began to be increasingly attracted to the spectacular, the extreme, the obviously self-sacrificial, not all of which was bad.
About this time I was introduced to the practice of public evangelism, or street preaching. This activity is often rightly considered to be off-center. From my experience most of the people engaged in street preaching have no business teaching Christianity to anyone. Nevertheless, going into a public place and declaring the Gospel of Jesus Christ is certainly defensible and can be done to great profit.
posted by axegrinder @ 10:50 PM
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