What started all this?

For as long as I can remember, being a Christian, one who knows Jesus is God, knowing I'm a sinner and knowing Jesus died & rose again for my sins, I never once doubted that and never once desired to live any other way. 
Yet for years,I'd just be treading water in a sea of inconsistencies, not really getting anywhere but not sinking either. During this time, I'd raise a family and make a so so, average existence of my life, one I wouldn't trade for anything, but it took a long time to be able to say that. 

So what does that make me? 

I guess one could classify me as a tired, middle aged, product of the 20th/21rst century Americanized church who, when finally got around to reading the Bible through, discovered little in common as to the way I was raised.


Briefly, my name is Dave.  I live in central Pa with my beautiful best friend N lover of 31 years and I'm a Trucker. I'm as average as average can be. 

I am not some angry,defeated,burned out Christian that has a problem with everything that comes down the pike. I don't have a beef with anyone nor do I have any gripes against any one thing out there in the Christian world.

I am not smarter than anyone else out there and I did not find anything new  nor did I find something that "works for me."

Saying things like "that works for me" is like saying my next breath works for me.

I don't have a bunch of letters behind my name (wish i did) I am just a guy who started paying attention to all that has been going into my brain these past few decades and became troubled as to how easily one can be fooled.

And that's the point to this blog. Believers just buying whatever there told while never having read the Bible in context, or church goers as I call em.  At some point, we need to study and read it, in context. That is so vital these days. 

Context is so very important , concerning any issue. Even my life has context. The reason for this blog is, I wanted to have a place to send family and friends and those I randomly meet , send them to a place where I could share a better context of who I am and what God means to me.
I figured , if my own family doesn't know me (nor I know them) how unfortunate is that? The trick here is, most people don't care. But for the ones who do, this blog thing could help.

Context doesn't need to be complicated. The context of my life isn't.
 From being raised in a good home.. , to blindly accepting much of what was given me (without really knowing)
 to a day where I started paying attention.
There, that's it. Context.


I was born at a very odd place in history. Born in 1962 , a time where much has been put in place , a stage set lets say , to take a person down a road , in any area of life and or thinking, that enters one into a world of virtual reality rather than reality itself and the church caught on to this and ran with it.

I can only imagine there to be lots of church raised men/women that provided ,they hang in there long enough, will eventually come to a place similar to my own. That's a place where they begin wondering. The might ask christian leaders what they mean by what they said.

When they can't answer, the next logical place to go is to ask "where did what the leader said, that he can't explain, which I've believed for so many years, come from?"

 If the person asking that question does some homework on that, look out. They will find much of what they believe is new to the world stage and if things go well, it won't be long till they are reading that Bible thru, cover to cover. 

And if that person thought they were dismayed before, they need to know, the "funs" just begun. Unfortunately, many never get to this point cause we cherish so much, the idea of being to busy to read the Bible.  Guess by getting rid of that excuse would make us accountable and we can't have that.

So many church goers never shed that subjective, abstract view of God's truth they've been fed and when life's calamities invade their world they often struggle fitting these problem areas into there trusted belief system. 

We either believe God or we don't. It's as simple as that. My ignorance of Gods Word was my problem and all it took was to read it, read it all.

It's been eight yrs since this all began and in that  time I've asked many questions and the funny thing about those who are sincere in asking questions regarding the condition of the church is, your questions, eventually get answered, that is, if they stay in God's Word .

Unfortunately, when they are answered, it makes one sorry they asked. 

I say "unfortunately" because when God's entire Word reveals the current church climate to anyone, the first thing to go is ones ability to communicate with many Christian friends & relatives.

The next thing to go is the ability to comprehend much of what the church has to offer or in other words, what you used to listen to or read. 

The period of time I spent seeking how God's Word became so twisted was rewarded with good council pertaining to everything from early church father's understanding, to the unfortunate  birth & nurturing of the Emergent church .

but it would take over five years to have the doors of total understanding swung wide open with being shown the proper uses of God's Law and the Gospel itself. Take my word on it, and you can take this to the bank, when a believer in Jesus understands that, hold on tight cause your world ain't gonna be the same, you can count on that. 

If I were to categorize this current church age under that light it would be in my saying - today's church gives the good news of the Gospel to those who don't want it, (the unsaved) & gives the Law to those who can't do it, (the believers.) This makes no sense, and we wonder why we have so many mixed up young people leaving the church.

Nearly everyone I know raised under this light, the light of confusing law & Gospel has went there predictable paths, that being either mysticism, atheism or legalism. 

As for me, I went down the legalism road for a time. I would sense, all those early years, something not right with the christian faith, in other words, it never made sense as it was portrayed. 

Knowingly or unknowingly, I've always kept an arms length from the modern church, but the little bit that got thru sure did mess me up good. But that keeping my distance would serve me well enough till the time i was ready to read the entire Bible cover to cover.

Actually, my first time thru was via audio on my first smart phone. Truth is, sadly,  for many years I was too busy (or so I thought) to sit down and read it and because I'm constantly on the road, it would take a device that was mobile to get me too this point, of which I call the lazy way of doing it but thankfully, my desire to get the entire Word never left me so however I did it, I'm thankful.

In today's world, no one has any excuse for not knowing God's Word thru. If they want it, and that's the key, wanting it, due to there love for God, they can read/hear it. 


I would come to the knowledge of my sin & need for a Savior at a very early age and that is all I would retain from my christian upbringing ,up until I was ready to hear from God thru His entire Word. Little did I know, I'd raise a family and live a full life , until I was ready to come to God's Word in a correct way.

But something happens when, in the time period I grew up in,  to one who would hear the gospel story at such an early age. I'm not sure what that "something" is but I think it's connected with getting bits & pieces of the story, over a period of time, all with no context, just happy endings.

I was fortunate enough having parents who just lived the faith daily but for many I know, that was not good enough.  Growing up in a selected passages teaching under the life application model, the only thing that is constant in this light is inconsistencies.

This only got worse as it came time for my wife & I to now raise our kids in the church. By that time, every animated figure from mice to vegetables was all prepared to guide our kids into this thing we call Christianity at the approval of mom & dad. 

As unfortunate as it may sound, it would not dawn on me till my mid 40's that the only thing missing from my Christian walk and my desire for the Bible  was in fact, the Bible itself.

All I had for decades was what others thought about selected Bible passages and that's the biggest problem when it comes to modern preaching, or building an hour sermon from one verse. Even the things preachers say that are accurate get obscured by not keeping verses where they belong, in context with the chapter and or book that the verse is in.

But even with all that mess, the things some would say to discredit Gods Word , made no sense. 
People who left the church for one reason or another , had no solid reason for doing so.
 It seemed as if those who object to Gods Word only traded one inconsistent thing for another and in most cases, the thing they traded it for was more far out than how the Bible was being portrayed.


 For many years, I knew something wasn't right, something didn't  click, something did not add up.  I went to church and read portions of my Bible and played along for a long time but deep down, much of it subconscious, I've always sensed something not right.

The "not right" was in the ignorance I had concerning God's Word. It's not any Church's fault for that but upon listening to the Bible that first time thru, I must confess, in my over 40 yrs, at the time, I've never heard anything like it from church. Verse after verse given clarity when put in context and old  thinking after thinking falling away to powerful truths of the Bible. 

The first time I ever heard that the Bible was not about me, I almost punched the guy who told me that.. How dare he say its not about me and finding my purpose. Why , I wore out my "life application" Bible and marked it up all over the place, with arrows and notes in the margins and colored verses.

How surprised was I to learn, its not about me, but that took a long time in reading it. 

( just for fun, find one of your old Bibles or even your current one, and look at the notes you've been taking. Count how many notes are about you. Might surprise ya, it did me.)

And it doesn't stop even after one reads it. In some ways it gets worse due to questioning brothers & sisters in Christ . Asking questions is never easy and finding those who can answer them is even harder.

I went thru that period and that gets weary as well. Yet, I guess I am tired of people saying things just to say them. I am tired of nice preachers who in their being nice put to the side much of scripture. I'm tired of Bible truths being conveyed in an abstract manner, never made clear by keeping it in context. I'm tired of leaders saying things in direct opposition to God's Word and getting away with it. 
I'm tired of being told I am no fun to be around because I object to much of church popular gimmicks. 

Maybe this blog thing is my way of challenging long time church goers to compare what they hear to God's total Word in context. That's a huge commitment Btw. Most folks can't even comprehend Jn 3:16 let alone anything anyone else says about it.

Jn 3:16 was not meant to be a stand alone vrs. 
Maybe this blog thing I'm trying won't change the world, as many preachers would have me do, but if it becomes an avenue to express an "enough is enough" attitude I see coming from the visible church, than it served it's purpose. Besides, isn't that what life's about? Finding a purpose to every little thing that occurs in life while never being told what to do after we find it, or how to know if it's even the right purpose. Guess that's another sermon series (dvd's sold separately) 

So take it from this middle aged ex church kid who undeservedly, only by God's grace alone, was rescued from almost being completely swept out to sea  by a huge wave from an ocean of visible  Church's confusion via subjective, abstract messages and all it took was seeing what God Himself thinks about that. Don't believe me? 

TryreadNit!