Sometimes I follow a thought into the weeds, a cul-de-sac with no easy way out without allowing for misunderstandings that I’m just venting personal grievances. At that point, I have only one choice: reboot and start again.

As I’ve shared many times, the thing that keeps me awake at night is people, just like me in 1990, who find Christianity no longer plausible or helpful to our own journeys in life. I have no desire to fight with anybody, only to help make sense of what seems like mere foolishness for those leaving the Christian religion.

To do this, I must write with honesty and frankness, things that are taboo to discuss within the walls of a church. Such as why the Christian culture, warts and all, is the way it is. Can someone enjoy life as a believer in a personal God and in Jesus as his messiah, without the cultural trappings of the Christian religion, and if so, how much of those trappings can be jettisoned? How do we know there is a God and Jesus is the Messiah?

I understand that most people who love the organized church as it is, adore Sunday morning worship services, and value the church’s cultural attitudes may be offended by what I write. If that is true, then this is not the right blog for you, is it? If you don’t understand what I’m writing and take offense, it is easy for you to wrongly think I’m a player in that infamous game of competitive piety, and therefore you must put me in my place. I never want to play that game again.

Because I have about fifty new readers per day, I often have to explain myself over and over. I spent thirty years (at least) in hard-core evangelicalism. Following Jesus’ example, my wife and I gave away all our material possessions and went to the mission field to reach Muslims. There, I finally recognized that our group was abusive (competitive piety) and deeply dishonest with each other and ourselves. I reasoned then that if God really existed, God would live in factual truth, not in a land of smoke and mirrors and sleight of hand. I left the mission field, Christianity, and a belief in God. I turned my attention to studying factual information, history, science, etc.

Eventually, my study of science brought me to a dead end in atheism, but with continued study, atheism no longer seemed plausible. To make a long story short, I came back to Christianity, but one based on facts, not lies and conspiracy theories. Through my study of science, my relationship with God has been profoundly strengthened, and I’ve found more factual mystery than my imagination could ever muster before. Twenty years ago, I began this blog to encourage and help those for whom the Christian religion no longer makes sense.

What I’ve found through my honest study of history, philosophy, and scripture is that the Christian religion is artificial, created by humans for a human purpose. This doesn’t make it necessarily evil, just extraneous. That said, I have profound respect for those who love the Christian religion and the organized church just as it is. However, the real essence of Christianity is believing in a personal God and the historical Jesus of Galilee, with the simple command to love God and others, and Paul’s added advice not to forsake meeting but to encourage one another. Encouragement is the only purpose of Christian meetings.

It became clear to me, as it did to Augustine and Aquinas, that human reason is not “of the flesh” or the enemy of God, but a gift of God and our primary way to find factual truth. Therefore, I believe the essence of true Christianity can be summed up as a Secular (without traditional religion) and rational. If you like Sunday morning church, go and enjoy it to the max. If you don’t like it, there is no reason to be part of it unless it is very encouraging to you (the essential purpose of Christian meetings).

Furthermore, I cannot say all of religion can be described with a broad brush, as motives of people being involved with the Christian religion can be diverse. However, I sense that two “Ps” (unlike the Colonial Penn life insurance commercial that talks about the three Ps) make up the psychological impetus for many people’s involvement with the organized church. These are penitence and piety. When I was an evangelical, like most of my peers, we were overcome with guilt and sought penitence constantly. We tried to go a year without missing church. Praying three, four, or five times a day, including before each meal. We never said a word anyone would consider profane or rude. Never getting near to alcohol. In piety, it was very competitive; we each tried to win the piety battle over who was most spiritual, who God loved most.

And speaking of that game of piety, I certainly do not write to try and say my ideas are superior to others, and I have a great deal of respect for even those who think I’m nuts, or of the devil. This is about making room for those who think differently and already have one foot outside the church.

Respectfully, Mike