Website owner: James Miller
Things from which I have received intellectual and spiritual benefit
I have been reflecting over those things in my life from which I have received intellectual and spiritual benefit. There are some things that religious people do that supposedly give intellectual or spiritual benefit. Like listening to sermons, attending Sunday school, attending Bible studies, etc. What do I think about some of these things?
Sermons. Our family started attending a small Baptist church when I was around seven. In the first several years of attending that church the sermons had a big impact on me. I was just learning about the teachings of the Bible and the Christian message of salvation through repentance and faith in Jesus and my knowledge was coming from the sermons. The preacher emphasized the evangelical message of salvation through repentance and faith. By the time I was around ten I was reading the Bible myself and soon my knowledge of the Bible and spiritual understanding was coming more from my reading of the Bible than from sermons. Then the preacher was replaced by another whose sermons were highly doctrinal, abstruse, and boring. I just sat there bored, enduring them, profiting nothing. And as the years followed there were other preachers and all seemed to be equally boring. When I left home for college I tried different churches and found all the preachers equally boring and unsatisfying. I went to church because I felt I should, not because I felt I was profiting. Now I don’t have a good opinion of preachers and don’t go to any church.
Sunday School. I never did feel like I benefitted much from Sunday School. I felt it was pretty much a waste of time.
Bible studies. I attended a Bible study for a period when I was in college. I felt it was a waste of time and stopped attending. Later, after college, I attended a Bible study for a short time. Again I didn’t like it and stopped attending. I didn’t think I was profiting.
Where I have profited intellectually and spiritually is through reading of the Bible and some other highly selective reading and my own reflective thought.
I am a loner and not a social type person who enjoys group activities and being around other people. I am happiest when I am alone reading or working on something that I think is worthwhile (like my website). My wife is the only company I need. Mostly, she is the only person I ever talk to. I don’t watch television and don’t have a good opinion of the world I live in.
21 Sept 2021
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