From Then to 1) Religion

OK, clearly this is going to be all about religion, but there needs to be a brief background first.  My religious journey started as a kid, watching my dad, the Preacher, from the pulpit, but that was an exercise in observation at best.  My personal journey started strangely and a young age.  Time for the backstory.

When I was very young, my parents took me to a few doctors.  These doctors performed specific tests, trying to see my rate of growth, how my brain worked, my motor skills, etc.  From what I understand, not all children went through this poke and prod?  News to me..anyways...  I was diagnosed with one or two interesting "ailments" but was medicated for ADHD.  It's like standard ADD if the kid is addicted to crack.    This was pretty successful at making me vegetative in the classroom, preventing me from accosting my teachers.  The danger came up when my medication was discontinued, forcibly introducing me to my first adversary - depression - in the form of a tiny yellow pill with tiny writing on it reading "alza 18" known commonly as Concerta.

Check out this website for Concerta Side Effects.  You may notice in the severe side effects mood changes and whatnot.  It also says to contact the doctor IMMEDIATELY if this should occur.  For some reason, we waited a few weeks, maybe a month or so.  I found myself in the deepest depression I have ever entered to this day.  I lost a lot of weight, found no enjoyment in things I used to love - you usually see symptoms like this plaguing adults in a midlife crisis; this is me prior to puberty - this should have never happened.  I found myself thinking on death daily..  "what happens when I die?" ..  "will I be able to think or feel anything?" ..  I started having dreams in which I died and went to a blanket of darkness so thick, I could feel it on my skin.  What made this worse was my birthday.

My birthday would in any other case make all things better at that age, but this year, it was on Easter weekend. And nothing helps a kid with meds induced depression more than watching a guy die in agony on a cross.  When he screamed out 'why have you forsaken me', I ran to the lockers outside.  My mom found me shaking and yeah..there ends the sob story.

I can't seem to forget that day, so when I became older, with the means to read different scriptures, I pursued every direction I could.  Because of that day, I had to know what is real.

More to come...

From Then

Ok folks.  It is time for me to start this blog off fresh and right.  What I will do is list a series of things I am and/or believe.  Many of these things will most likely be blog topics in the near future.  I am Andrew Harrison - I will be the topic of this one. 

1. I am a Christian because after searching religions, I chose this one.  My dad is a pastor, and in a lot of ways, that made it easier to hate Christianity. 
2. I do not take the Bible completely literally nor do I think anyone else should. 
3. I believe evolution seems quite plausible.  In fact, if certain Christians would stop the prejudice, read an article or two on the subject, and be willing to open their minds to the possibility, they might see evolution as a way to point towards God and His splendor. 
4. Anyone who believes in a young Earth is furthering the stigma of Christianity being a prime example of antiprogress; it hurts our people and would be more beneficial if these people kept their mouths shut during intellectual exchanges.  ..I am pretty sure that is blunt enough.
5. I believe that the sin of homosexuality is not one of desire or attraction but one of action.  In fact, I believe a "Sodomite" is as sinful as the straight protestant male who checks out girl's butts in the gym (or elsewhere).
6. I believe that maybe 2/5 points of the Calvinist TULIP are correct with maybe 4/5 points of Arminian philosophy correct.  With a short trip through interdimensional theoretical physics, one can easily explain how God knows all and YOU CHOOSE.  Crazy right?
7. I believe Hell is for Satan and His Angels - unfortunately, a few others will tag along too
8. That being said, I do believe in angels and demons..by whatever name you wish to call them.
9. I believe the screaming evangelist on college campuses who tells people they are going to Hell should be jacked on the face..by a real Christian..and I am pretty sure that would be biblical.
10. I believe that a Christian should see little to no quarrel with any religious group, sect, political movement or whatever accept for Christians who are misrepresnting. 
11. I believe that Christains should be the hardest working people there are on this Earth
12. I believe that faith is a choice
13. I believe God loves me and my tattoos
14. I believe that Ala, Yahweh, Brahman, and Ra are all one in the same. I just think one book got the best look at the being and is thus, holy...or the best we have.
15. I believe God has shown me 8 major revelations in my life that led me to Him

• fear
• love
• doubt
• grace
• faith
• proof
• wisdom
• holiness
• self-love

Hm...Well that's about it.  These will probably be topics in the near future.  Based on response..if any response..I will make these topics.  I will also do my best to make those of importance the most scholarly as possible.

  

Muhammed The Warlord

As a reasonable human being, I never saw any religion as set in stone.  And especialy so with Christianity.  With so many arguments against the faith (prejudice, war, ignorance, hate, hypocracy, etc.) it seemed reasonable to me to venture elsewhere.  At the beginning of my "treck with blasphemy", I started with other godly possibilities like Hinduism, Judaism, and Islam.  Out of the three, Islam made the most sense.  And you would not believe the ruckus this revelation spewed forth.  Here I am, 16 in the south, in love with theatre, dates black girls, and now..ok with "them towel heads"???  Apparently, I performed the Hell-bound hat trick.  You would not believe the ignorant bias towards Islam in Southeast United States.  And to be frank, it pissed me off.  This came to a head thanks to my Junior year english professor Miss White.  She was hopped up on some Jesus and ready to convert the masses (since that is what we, as Christians, are supposed to do..right?).

You should have seen this woman.  If a blue-collared protestant televangelist would have made whoopie with her "pretty cousin", the two headed abomination offspring would have resembled Jan Crouch (http://brandonarkell.com/tag/cinema/) and my teacher, Miss White.  She regularly lectured the class, while taking snack breaks from our rivetting curriculum, to inform us on the Muslim, Catholic, and Mormon threat.  And if you have yet to gather, I have difficulty keeping my opinions to myself..hence the blog.  The war began.

It was a daily battle of reason versus uninformed word vomit; the class sitting there half thanking me and half rolling their eyes at this verbal tennis match.  But it came to blows (well..not literally) when she pulled out this book...  Mormonism and Other Cults.  You would not believe the stuff listed in this book.  The section I found most informative was on Islam.  And I quote:

• Muslims go to Heaven for killing Christians
• The Muslim goal is to destroy the Christian and American way of life
• Muslims are responsible for the Crusades
• Muhammed was a Warlord - this is why Muslims want to kill us (Christians) today
• It is a Cult sent by Satan

This list goes on in topic.

My eyes bled and steam came from my ears.  I had to laugh to keep from throwing stuff.  I just chose to toss her book in the trash.  But I digress. 

Is this really the popular opinion of Muslims?  I know "Islamaphobia" is a problem, but really?  Where do these opions come from besides backwoods preachers that can hardly read at all, much less from their KJV (cause that's the Bible the Apostles carried)?

This whole disussion is pretty close to my heart..  I love my Muslims, and they carry certain weight with me (probably because I considered joining them in their faith).  So, that being said, I am emotionally compromised.  The only way I can think to easily progress at this point is to put the debate topics Miss White and myself tended to frequent.  This can all be summed up into one argument.  Through this standard claim, we can all come to resolution on this topic - whether Muslims should be feared and hated or if they should be loved as fellow Theists and upstanding human beings.
Here we go...

"MuslimS are brainwashed into wanting to destroy Christians and America.  That's why they blew up the twin towers!"

Let's break this down.  There are a lot of brash claims here:

1. Muslims are brainwashed (adversely, this claims the party's faith is not brainwashed)
2. Muslims want to kill Christians
3. Muslims want to destroy America
4. The Twin Towers were destroyed by this hatred for Muslim benefit, probably for Allah.

1.  Muslims are Brainwashed






2.  Muslims want to Kill Christians






3.  Muslims want to Destroy America






4.  The Twin Towers Destroyed in Hatred for Allah

About Me and About You

Welcome everyone to my first blog.  This will be about my personal life, experience, and intellectual encounters along the way.  I am, as the name so aptly puts, a preacher's son.  And due to the blatant honesty towards religion and family, I will not mention my name nor any name of any family member.  This will make free thought a safe expression.  So what now....

I greatly dislike my father.  That's probably a good start. Any reference you see from hereon out to "The Preacher" will be a reference to him.  He was a greatly contributing reason to my ventures into Christendom, Atheism, and every step in between.  More about my relationship with him will be revealed throughout our journey on this blog.  But don't misunderstand - this is not an outlet for angst.  My journey with The Preacher is a wonderfully metaphorical expression of many folks personal issues with God, religion, and religious folk.  Hopefully this blog can be therapy for some to discuss their issues with religion.

I am ThePreachersSon, I'm not fond of The Preacher, and yet I am a Christian.  I am here not to defend the preachers of the world, but the faith for which they speak.  Bring your A Game, folks.  This should be a fun journey.

First thing is first...  What are you?  How do you see the world through the scopes of church..race.. religion..politics..war..spirituality..God?  It's your turn to set the tone.  Have fun.

The beginning

First post of the blog is mainly just a welcome message. I just want to let everyone know that I will be writing down thoughts and issues that I may have come up with, been inspired to come up with, or simply heard through the grave vine.