Whether one accepts the opening verses of the book of Hebrews or not, it is obvious the escalating sex and violence on TV, in Hollywood films and in “games” desensitizes those that become immersed in such things leading to increasing violence and objectifying women. But while violence and treating women as objects has always been a fact throughout the history of humankind, so much so the Bible has it God determined to destroy the Adam he had created it cannot be denied harsh economic conditions promotes violence and I wonder just how the media in America may change in the face of increasing violence?

The pattern of glorifying sexual perversion and violence through the media does not offer much hope of a kinder and gentler media, any more than hope for kinder and gentler politicians. Well, we know much of TV is not suitable for civilized people but what about The History Channel? I have cause to wonder if the producers have some kind of agenda. Take the presentation A History of God for example.

Books have been written about the “progress of doctrine” in theology, and there is much to credit the concept. The Bible is filled with examples of God dealing with people in many different ways, and there is no “one way fits all” to be found. On the contrary, the Bible as a collection of the writings of men is often contradictory in its own “history of God.” Still, notwithstanding its weaknesses it remains the best source of information about God dealing with people we have at hand.

As to a progress of doctrine this follows the example of children having to learn along life’s path, and in God’s dealing with people it can easily be seen that humankind has been on a path of learning, that at different points in our history God has had to fit the lessons to the appropriate age group. And at one time in the past after thousands of years making no progress, civilization suddenly burst upon the screen of history. This is an event I attribute to the work of God, perhaps a decision made in a council of gods presuming there is a hierarchy of such beings as the opening chapters of Genesis lead me to believe.

    It is very much to our maternal grandparents and great-grandmother’s credit that my brother Ronnie and I were taught right from wrong, that we never used profanity and had a strict, moral code. That this required a great deal of adjustment as we grew older you can well imagine. Nevertheless, the lessons of childhood had been learned and not forgotten which is the reason I still cringe at crude and vulgar language, and I see nothing funny in sex “jokes” demeaning women especially.

There has never been a time in my life that I have felt I was out of the presence of God. This may be due to my grandparents and great-grandmother dedicating me to God at birth and giving me the prophet’s name and raised me “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord,” teaching me from earliest childhood “the Holy Scriptures which are able to make one wise unto salvation” as Paul wrote of Timothy.

But while God may have his “eye upon the sparrow,” parents (and grandparents) don’t always have their eyes upon their children. And some of the things my brother and I were learning from our church in Little Oklahoma would have been appalling to our grandparents. There was one kid in particular from whom I learned some things that definitely did not fit in a church.

This kid and his mother were both shouting fundies, raging warm on the need to live good Christian lives. But this kid held my brother and I spellbound on such lively topics as sodomy and descriptive female anatomy. While utterly lacking any experiential frame of reference, we did not wish to appear unappreciative in the presence of such a learned and enlightened one, and one that was so obviously willing to tell anyone who would listen of his exploits into that forbidden world of “It!” Such was the tender delicacy of our minds compared to this august personage. However, Ronnie and I were well acquainted with hell-fire and damnation and did not want to intrude too far into that dark and enticing world no matter how good its practitioner made it sound.

    But one night during the evening Sunday service it was Testimony Time and some in the congregation would stand and shout that they were glad they were saved and had the Holy Ghost! While this inspiring display of religious fervor was going on, this kid was putting his arm around me and trying to kiss me. Somehow this didn't strike me as the work of God, especially as his hand was feeling my leg. I moved away from him and suddenly he leaped up with an “I'm glad I'm saved and got the Holy Ghost and God's called me to be a preacher!” I was certainly surprised by this revelation under the circumstances, but the kid sat down amid shouted Hallelujah’s, Amen’s and the proud, beaming look of his mother. Then he said to me “Now it’s your turn; you gotta testify!”

    A rather peculiar thing happened. Not only did I refuse to get up and testify, but it suddenly occurred to me that no one had ever asked me if I was “saved.” I guess my grandparents just took it for granted that no boy could be loved and preached to with such fervor as I had been and not be a sure-fire contender for salvation.

    Later as a teenager a kindly old man was to ask me directly, for the first time, if I was saved. I will never forget, since grandad was present, saying I was just to satisfy him. I felt intense guilt for this deception. I still didn't know what saved meant. It wasn't that the Bible and Jesus weren't made prominent in our little church or that I lacked examples of real Christians. But the Gospel was so distorted by ignorance and, sometimes, terrible hypocrisy, that it was never really explained in its pure simplicity. It was not until I read the Bible for myself that I discovered this; and not only this, but also many things I discovered by reading the Bible for myself was that so much of what others had told me was Scriptural was nowhere contained in the Bible. Judy Garland once related a story about her father of this nature, and how disappointed she was to find the story her father had claimed to be Scriptural was not in the Bible. But this is a very good reason for everyone to read the Bible for themselves; don’t leave it to others to tell you what is Scriptural.

In my opinion, the Apostle Paul has it right in I Corinthians chapter thirteen, his marvelous treatise on love in which he declares “And now abides faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” But Paul precedes this by calling attention to the progress of doctrine, that there was a time for childhood but maturity demands one put aside the things of childhood as a natural progression in life. In just this manner I believe God has treated with his children, expecting them to “grow up.”

As to being saved I haven’t known a time in my life when I have ever felt lost from God. As a result, the doctrine of being “saved” has never had any relevance for me. I have often expressed anger at God, but that is part of being family. Repentance of sins comes with a tender conscience, and those with such a conscience will never, in my opinion, feel utterly alienated from God. If the spirit of God quickens a person making them spiritually alive we will know them by their works no matter whether they have “hit the sawdust trail” or not. Good people will do good no matter the religion or no religion, and I believe the progress of doctrine, instruction helps the children of God to not only learn from the past but along life’s path as well and also be able to discern between those who are lovers of the truth as opposed to those “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”