A Secular Notion

To whom it may concern:

                Greetings, I’m Michael Colby, and today, I received brochures and pamphlets containing information on the First Christian Church of Fredericksburg, VA. Normally I don’t respond to unsolicited items left on my front door, but today I decided to make a leap of faith and take a look at the literature.

                The first thing I took a look at was the “Statement of Faith” in the blue and white pamphlet. I have some questions regarding the primary statements included. “We believe in God…” “We believe in Jesus Christ…” and “We believe in the Holy Spirit” are the first three statements included therein. I understand that this is a statement of faith, but faith is derived from trust, which is a conclusion reached through evidence and repeated instances of reliability. I find no reason to trust or have faith in God, Jesus Christ, or the Holy Spirit based on what was presented in the pamphlet.

                The second think I looked at was the “Statement of Theological Understanding” which seemed fairly straightforward, except for the statements “Our absolute and final authority in matters of faith is Holy Scripture, the 66 books of the Old and Now Testaments. Because the Bible is fully and verbally inspired by the Holy Spirit working in and through the human authors, it is without error, and thus stands alone as the supreme and final authority for the church and individual Christian.” I find this statement rather alarming for several reasons, the following of which I’ll list below.

·         Slavery: The Bible condones and regulates slavery in several of its books, starting in Exodus 21 and Leviticus 25 and continuing all through the Old Testament.

·         War Crimes: The Bible encourages the killing of women and young boys in wartime, and the taking of virgin girls as spoils of war in Numbers 31.

·         Murder: The Bible dictates that people must be put to death for gathering sticks on the Sabbath, (Numbers 15) children for defying their parents (Deuteronomy 21) and for being homosexual (Leviticus 20)

These abhorrent dictums astound me, particularly when claimed to be put forth by deity that is equivocated directly to love (1 John 4:8) It seems possible to me that the author(s) of these pamphlets either did not read the Bible, or failed to comprehend the verses I’ve cited, along with many, many more that cause my modern sense of morality to blanche in distaste.

If I am incorrect in this notion, I have no choice to conclude that the First Christian Church is a hate group, dedicated to an ancient set of doctrine and the abhorrent extermination of all non-Christians (Deuteronomy 17) or this group does not follow its “Statement of Theological Understanding” where the Bible is referred to as “…without error.”

I please urge this group to reconsider its stance on either A: The inerrancy of the Bible or B: It’s stance on following the Bible as a “supreme and final authority.”

Sincere regards,
                ~M. Colby