[long-rambling-excursion]
When I was a child, I was a member of the Churches of Christ. We had all the marks of fundamentalism except for the end-time beliefs - we were more of the "Jesus shows up, that's the end" type. There won't be many members of the CoC buying copies of "Left Behind," shall we say.
We had some other peculiar beliefs for Christians - we were what's called water regenerationalists. That means we believed the Bible taught that you had to be baptized (fully submerged under water) for the express purpose of God forgiving your sins at that moment, in order for God to actually remove your sins. Also, no instruments of music in worship except for voices, and communion every Sunday. Christmas and Easter were secular holidays only - we put the Santa into Christmas, but I only knew it was Easter because the preacher's sermon that day was invariably "Why We Don't Celebrate Easter." (it was the communion every Sunday thing, plus Jesus didn't tell us to, or Paul, same thing).
Yes, we thought we were the only ones going to heaven. That wasn't our fault - we were doing what the Bible said! People standing on the beach are not standing in the ocean. You know, typical Christian stuff.
We were also big on the door knocking thing. The best method I'd ever seen our community produce for getting people to understand our peculiar beliefs was a series of brightly colored four page pamphets. Each pamphlet had a series of questions connected to a passage of Scripture. We would turn to the passage in the willing person's own Bible and they would read the passage. Then we would ask the question. They were simple questions - where does Paul say to make melody? (in your heart).
It was a progressive thing. If a person had a problem with a question, you stopped and you talked out that question. You didn't let them bring up lots of other things, you dealt only with the question at hand. And at the end, the person could see completely that we were the only ones going to heaven!
"What does the Bible say, Eric? In your heart. Let me hear you say it."
I never could make it work well. I wasn't enough of a salesman. I expected the product to sell itself. And the reactions of people bothered me. Once they realized the nature of the study guide, they'd look at it like a knife. It was fundamentally unfair. Of course, we didn't look at it that way. We thought it was a clear way of showing people the Light, the Truth. How that little tract judged us without our knowing it. If somebody couldn't see the Truth after this clear exhibition of it, then where are their hearts?
It was more for our benefits than our converts-to-be. It gave us comfort in our exclusion of the world. Sure, people would bite - people who bite are always among us, and each conversion was celebrated like slot machine mavens crowing over three cherries. I realize that now. Perhaps I doubted even then that we had it oh, so right, and everyone else had it oh, so wrong. But no. I believed.
True believers don't just need an echo chamber to reinforce their own beliefs. They need to get out in the fray. The belief system that survives skeptical inquiry becomes the stronger for it. And belief systems have more weapons in their arsenal than the facts properly interpreted and emphasized.
Especially if the battle is more for the fighter's benefit than the victory's.
[/long-rambling-excursion]
