17 Comments
Feb 8, 2023Liked by Kevin Young

I taught adult SS for years at a prominent SBC church in Nashville. They had a particular evangelist that would preach at the church every year and his sure-fire trick to fill the alter was to ask if everyone if they could remember the date and time of their conversion. That led to some "lively" discussions the following week in Sunday School. So I raised the following question: Can you tell me from your reading of scripture when and where the apostle Paul was converted? All hands went up as everyone knew of the Damascus Road experience. Then I asked when Peter was converted and there were plenty of plausible answers, but no one could really say. When he was called to discipleship? When he saw the empty tomb? When did Thomas become a convert? No one can say for sure. I'm certain that salvation is instantaneous for some but for me I will "work out my own salvation with fear and trembling" - which is the way I would describe any dangerous journey.

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Feb 9, 2023Liked by Kevin Young

I’m just taking my first few steps in my deconstruction/reconstruction journey. Finding your Twitter and this blog is helping me immensely. I’m a trans/non-binary person, so I have a lot of guilt and trauma associated with my identity as a Christian. Thank you for sharing this.

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Feb 9, 2023Liked by Kevin Young

Nice list. You may also want to add verses about the resurrection, a central tenant to our faith.

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Feb 8, 2023Liked by Kevin Young

I greatly appreciate this story and your response. Sounds all to familiar as the way I grew up. Enjoying your work! Thanks!

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Awesome! Totally resonated with the old icky conversion tactics... EMPATHY!

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Feb 8, 2023Liked by Kevin Young

Awesome.

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I discovered you yesterday after Charlie Sykes quoted part of your article "I Voted for Trump" and provided a link in the Bulwark to your complete article. Your article provided the hope I so much need right now. I was raised in a Southern Baptist Church. My mother made sure we never missed a Sunday, Wednesday night or revival. We were forced to attend every single Baptist Vacation Bible School in town in the summers. We read the Bible every night - you get the picture. I decided very early if God existed he was cruel & I wanted nothing whatsoever to do with religion, faith, God or Jesus. Why bother? We are all doomed to hell anyway and the people shoving that dogma down my throat were miserable human beings. I wanted some happiness & joy in life. It took me many years to come around to faith. I love Jesus & I love to focus on what he came here to teach us. I have felt so demoralized since Donald tRump managed to get himself placed in the White House. I will never understand how anyone looks at him and sees anything remotely acceptable about him. I have watched the hate, ignorance & vicious violence by so many claiming to be 'Christian.' grow & grow. This weekend I heard on Christian radio network a very long defense & praise of the mighty tRump. The speaker hit all the propaganda points about him - none of which are rooted in reality. I got very depressed wondering how many in my red state listen to and embrace those lies. I hope your message is spread far & wide. If everyone claiming to be Christian would focus on & practice the teachings of Jesus we could heal this country. I want this country to heal - I want to heal. My heart is broken over what we have become. I look forward to your writings - I need them. Thank you.

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Apr 29, 2023·edited May 9, 2023

I wish you'd included Matthew 22: 37-39 or Mark 12:30-31. To me these verses sum up the teachings of Jesus and why I'm a Christian more than anything else. Also, holding these two verses up to any community usually tells me all I need to know. I'm appreciating your blog because I wasn't raised evangelical and you are helping me understand the "why's" of evangelicals' behavior over the last 6 years, which I find baffling.

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I think you did great.

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Kevin, I'm new here, on Substack, and I love this post - the content and the transparency in your thought processes. Thanks for sharing, for encouraging one with a similar past and quest, & for inspiring a new writer.

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I hadn't been aware of "soul-winning" as practiced by evangelicals. I only knew about Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses doing that kind of thing. It gives me some insight into the thinking behind a lot of Christianity that otherwise leaves me scratching my head.

Salvation as a journey, I feel, is exactly the best way to understand the concept of salvation itself. The Greek word for salvation meant something more along the lines of "wholeness, complete, fully alive/healed", which lends itself well to the idea of a process or journey. I don't know why we now seem to think of salvation as a one-and-done moment. You can't eat for the week on Sunday... How are you supposed to survive years and years on one glorious watershed moment? We aren't supposed to.

I do have one question, though. In the story of the lost or prodigal son, it says at least twice that it's the younger son who asks for his inheritance and then squanders it. How did you come to think it's the older son?

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oops. I missed that. Sharp as a tack!

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Good job, thank you for sharing and taking the time

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