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Jim Rader's Web site www.rader.org |
A ChristianAs those of you who know me know, I thoroughly research things that interest me.
40 years ago I was challenged by Larry Jordan, a Wycliffe bible translator, to decide where I stood on God and use that decision to guide me in my life's endeavors'! After some consideration I concluded that ones belief in the Bible and it's accuracy was the fundamental decision one needed to make. That is because most religions that I considered acceptable claim that book as their basic guide. I then started my hobby of Biblical Archeology, what is the Bible, where did it come from, is the current Bible accurately conveying the teachings of the original ? What original manuscripts exist today, when were they written, does the currently available Bible convey the original's message ? The consistentency of the copies of those original Greek and Hebrew copies convinced me that what has been preserved is beyond man's capabilities, we make mistakes! The dead sea manuscripts are the latest proof that God wants that book preserved and is working to accomplish that goal himself ! So I came to believe in the document's accuracy. Now the problem is to learn what the Greek and Hebrew originals say in the only language I can read. Which translations convey the teachings of the original? After some study I came to understand the problems of translation, the words and concepts in the original language do not all exist in the English language. I became aware of the two ways the translations are done; word for word translation (Literal) or idea for idea (conceptual) translation. Once I was aware of the translation methods I came to understand that one translation is not enough, you need at least one of each type! Many years later I decided to join a church, The First Covenant Church in Rancho Cordova California. I became immersed in that organization because Ted Smith, the pastor, stated "The Bible is our guide, If we are not following the Bible please bring that to my attention" I became very involved tithing money and time. I became an employee locking up the church at night. I took the training in that program and they were not using the Bible as a source, they were taking parts of verses out of context to support their teachings. After a few years I became disenchanted with Ted because he was pushing a program which he stated is the "most biblical program he had ever seen". They promoted the youth pastor to men's minister. After several months he still was unaware that there was a Wednesday night bible study which had been meeting for over 20 years. He even scheduled other groups in our meeting room. He continued to play basketball with a few other friends of his which would not be a problem but he was a very aggressive angry player and played for over an hour after lockup time. That kept me sitting around for nearly 2 hours waiting for him to complete his games. I began to withdraw from that organization but decided to try to talk to the pastor as a final check. I asked his secretary if he had time to meet with me. She got back to me later and said that he did and we scheduled one. After Ted changed the appointment twice it got ugly, his music director decided that I had to meet with him, I refused and the music director. He called me on the phone 6 hours after I got home from locking the His Church and started demanding that I come to the church immediately. My Quad wife can not be left alone in bed but he seemed to be uncareing about her. We had been greeters in front of the church weekly and she greeted members in her wheel chair with a smile. I told him off, when he started demanding my immediate appearance at the church. He fired me and kicked me and my wife and my daughter out of their church! For many years I had believed the organized religion was in the way of God's work, I have now reinforced that belief |