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      "body": "Congratulations @jwcarlson! You received a personal award!\n\n<table><tr><td>https://steemitimages.com/70x70/http://steemitboard.com/@jwcarlson/birthday2.png</td><td>Happy Birthday! - You are on the Steem blockchain for 2 years!</td></tr></table>\n\n<sub>_You can view [your badges on your Steem Board](https://steemitboard.com/@jwcarlson) and compare to others on the [Steem Ranking](https://steemitboard.com/ranking/index.php?name=jwcarlson)_</sub>\n\n\n**Do not miss the last post from @steemitboard:**\n<table><tr><td><a href=\"https://steemit.com/steemitboard/@steemitboard/the-steem-community-has-lost-an-epic-member-farewell-woflhart\"><img src=\"https://steemitimages.com/64x128/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmQWnM36SWCPGn98nY83M1ArgweMz5fnovQEp2E4FiDdug/Wolfhart_header.png\"></a></td><td><a href=\"https://steemit.com/steemitboard/@steemitboard/the-steem-community-has-lost-an-epic-member-farewell-woflhart\">The Steem community has lost an epic member! Farewell @woflhart!</a></td></tr></table>\n\n###### [Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness](https://v2.steemconnect.com/sign/account-witness-vote?witness=steemitboard&approve=1) to get one more award and increased upvotes!",
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      "author": "jwcarlson",
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      "title": "Examining the Creation Stories in Genesis",
      "body": "Examining the Creation Stories in Genesis\n\nIt may strike a number of people as strange to see a reference to more than one creation story in Genesis.  I would have sworn up and down about a dozen years ago that you were nuts to have even suggested such a thing.  But a professor, named Dr. Getz, that I had the privilege of taking a freshman level civilization course with helped to open my mind.  More on that here:\nhttps://steemit.com/religion/@jwcarlson/bv23h-my-religious-journey\n\nI originally started writing this post weeks ago, but realized that without some back story there wasn't much point.  While there's certainly more background that may seep in, I'll try to focus on the actual intent of the post.\n\nSo while coming out of belief and now into disbelief, if you will, I decided that before making what could be a very important decision I should really try to examine the one God that I didn't dismiss out of hand.  This particular god is the Biblical God who calls himself, among many other names, Yahweh (hereafter YHWH).  \n\nThe Bible is a book that I attempted to read many times in the course of my life, without much success.  I have been told by many people that when you read the Bible that you should read beginning with Matthew, which is the New Testament.  To me that would be like suggesting that you start reading Stephen King's The Dark Tower Series with the fourth of seven books.  Or that George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire is best read by skipping the first couple of books.  It's just the kind of person I am.  I personally believe that this suggestion of starting in the New Testament is because of the myriad issues with contradictions and immoral behavior both by YHWH's chosen people and the deity himself (itself?).\n\nAs a young person, my attempts certainly did start in Genesis often.  And then probably a smattering of suggested starting points by others.  But there's no doubt in my mind that I plowed through Genesis in my teenage years.  There is also absolutely no doubt in my mind that I did not comprehend it whatsoever.  With that I'll dive in.  Any quoted scripture will be from the New American Standard Bible unless otherwise noted.  As an optional, deeper dive I'd suggest also reading two other Mesopotamian creation stories that I am sure we can agree are myths.  The two myths are the Babylonian epic called Enûma Eliš (meaning 'when on high', available here: http://engl697-mueller.wikispaces.umb.edu/file/view/Enuma+Elish.pdf) and, more well known, the Epic of Gilgamesh (available here: http://www.aina.org/books/eog/eog.pdf).  I think that reading these two help put you in the right mindset for what you see in Genesis if you allow your mind to analyze it.  I'll try to quote the pertinent passages from these two as they come up.  What Dr. Getz helped plant the seed all those years ago was to look at ancient stories through the eyes of the people who would write them as best I could.  And to compare how similar stories may have been built on top of each other over the course of time, especially during periods pre-dating written records.  For your reference it is believed that Enûma Eliš (hereafter EE) was written around 1200 BCE, The Epic of Gilgamesh (hereafter EoG) written around 2000 BCE, and the Primeval history in Genesis 1-11 written sometime around 1000 BCE.  And so we're all on the same page, EoG is the oldest and Genesis the most recent of the three.\n\nNow the meat...\n\nMany (most?) of those reading this are probably pretty familiar with the creation account in Genesis 1.  Genesis 1:1-5:\n“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.”\n\nEE is divided most often in tablet form, the text was found on seven tablets.  It begins as follows:\n“When skies above were not yet named\n Nor earth below pronounced by name,\nApsu, the first one, their begetter \nAnd maker Tiamat, who bore them all, \nHad mixed their waters together, \nBut had not formed pastures, nor discovered reed-beds;\n When yet no gods were manifest,\n Nor names pronounced, nor destinies decreed,\n Then gods were born within them.”\n\nNow, I will admit at first blush that these two texts are not identical, but we're talking about very early written accounts of what would have been oral traditions passed on generation to generation.  However, the elements are there, and a full read of EE and Genesis 1 'side-by-side' is really needed to see the similarities.  Light and dark.  Firmament.  Land.  Vegetation.  Humans.  Birds.  Fish.  Mammals.  “The Deep”.  An interesting note is that the Hebrew word for deep is tehom, with Tiamat (in EE) being etymologically the same, but in feminine form. \n\nNow, order is relatively important in Genesis 1.  The order, after creating all of the land and water and whatnot is: plants (verse 12), fish/birds (verse 21), land animals (verse 25), and finally man/woman (verse 27).  The first creation story in Genesis ends at the beginning of Genesis 2:1-3:\n“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”\n\nAnd that kind of puts a nice cap on it, doesn't it?  Everything is 'done'.  Created.  Ready to roll.  And a tidy ending.  But then Genesis 2:4-9 stirs mud in the deep:\n“This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven. Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. “\n\nWhat the...?!?  We just get the account of creation wrapped up and then ANOTHER, separate account is dropped upon us.  This one being entirely different than one one mere verses before.  The order in Genesis 2 is: man (verse 7), plants (verses 8-9), animals, but not mention of fish (verse 19), and finally woman (verse 22).  \n\nTo find a decent parallel we can hop into EoG's section about the taming of Enkidu:\n“So the goddess conceived an image in her mind, and it was of the stuff of Anu of the firmament. She dipped her hands in water and pinched off clay, she let it fall in the wilderness, and noble Enkidu was created. There was virtue in him of the god of war, of Ninurta himself. His body was rough, he had long hair like a woman's; it waved like the hair of Nisaba, the goddess of corn. His body was covered with matted hair like Samugan's, the god of cattle. He was innocent of mankind; he knew nothing of the cultivated land. Enkidu ate grass in the hills with the gazelle and lurked with wild beasts at the water-holes; he had joy of the water with the herds of wild game. But there was a trapper who met him one day face to face at the drinking-hole, for the wild game had entered his territory. On three days he met him face to face, and the trapper was frozen with fear. He went back to his house with the game that he had caught, and he was dumb, benumbed with terror. His face was altered like that of one who has made a long journey. With awe in his heart he spoke to his father: ‘Father, there is a man, unlike any other, who comes down from the hills. He is the strongest in the world, he is like an immortal from heaven. He ranges over the hills with wild beasts and eats grass; the ranges through your land and comes down to the wells. I am afraid and dare not go near him. He fills in the pits which I dig and tears up-my traps set for the game; he helps the beasts to escape and now they slip through my fingers.'”\n\nThe second story in Genesis is extremely similar in theme to the taming of Enkidu.  We have a god or goddess who makes a human from dirt or clay and gives the being life who interacts entirely with wildlife before being introduced to women.  \n\nI'll cut this post off here after one more thought that will, I believe, echo in commandments later in the Bible.  The Hebrew word for this clay creature is the adam.  Not “Adam” as in a proper name.  The root of the word is adamah which means ground or earth.  Essentially, “earthling” or “groundling”.  God then breathes life into this clay corpse.  Not to jump into a later book of the Bible right now, but the belief that this is possible shakes all the way down (I believe) to the commandment to not make any graven images of anything on earth.  The idea being that someone may be able to form animals or humans out of clay and breathe life into them.  \n\nWith that I'll leave this for now.  Thanks for reading!\n\nJacob",
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      "title": "My Religious Journey",
      "body": "Examining the Creation Stories in Genesis\n\nIt may strike a number of people as strange to see a reference to more than one creation story in Genesis.  I would have sworn up and down about a dozen years ago that you were nuts to have even suggested such a thing.  But a professor, named Dr. Getz, that I had the privilege of taking a freshman level civilization course with helped to open my mind.  More on that here:\nhttps://steemit.com/religion/@jwcarlson/bv23h-my-religious-journey\n\nI originally started writing this post weeks ago, but realized that without some back story there wasn't much point.  While there's certainly more background that may seep in, I'll try to focus on the actual intent of the post.\n\nSo while coming out of belief and now into disbelief, if you will, I decided that before making what could be a very important decision I should really try to examine the one God that I didn't dismiss out of hand.  This particular god is the Biblical God who calls himself, among many other names, Yahweh (hereafter YHWH).  \n\nThe Bible is a book that I attempted to read many times in the course of my life, without much success.  I have been told by many people that when you read the Bible that you should read beginning with Matthew, which is the New Testament.  To me that would be like suggesting that you start reading Stephen King's The Dark Tower Series with the fourth of seven books.  Or that George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire is best read by skipping the first couple of books.  It's just the kind of person I am.  I personally believe that this suggestion of starting in the New Testament is because of the myriad issues with contradictions and immoral behavior both by YHWH's chosen people and the deity himself (itself?).\n\nAs a young person, my attempts certainly did start in Genesis often.  And then probably a smattering of suggested starting points by others.  But there's no doubt in my mind that I plowed through Genesis in my teenage years.  There is also absolutely no doubt in my mind that I did not comprehend it whatsoever.  With that I'll dive in.  Any quoted scripture will be from the New American Standard Bible unless otherwise noted.  As an optional, deeper dive I'd suggest also reading two other Mesopotamian creation stories that I am sure we can agree are myths.  The two myths are the Babylonian epic called Enûma Eliš (meaning 'when on high', available here: http://engl697-mueller.wikispaces.umb.edu/file/view/Enuma+Elish.pdf) and, more well known, the Epic of Gilgamesh (available here: http://www.aina.org/books/eog/eog.pdf).  I think that reading these two help put you in the right mindset for what you see in Genesis if you allow your mind to analyze it.  I'll try to quote the pertinent passages from these two as they come up.  What Dr. Getz helped plant the seed all those years ago was to look at ancient stories through the eyes of the people who would write them as best I could.  And to compare how similar stories may have been built on top of each other over the course of time, especially during periods pre-dating written records.  For your reference it is believed that Enûma Eliš (hereafter EE) was written around 1200 BCE, The Epic of Gilgamesh (hereafter EoG) written around 2000 BCE, and the Primeval history in Genesis 1-11 written sometime around 1000 BCE.  And so we're all on the same page, EoG is the oldest and Genesis the most recent of the three.\n\nNow the meat...\n\nMany (most?) of those reading this are probably pretty familiar with the creation account in Genesis 1.  Genesis 1:1-5:\n“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.”\n\nEE is divided most often in tablet form, the text was found on seven tablets.  It begins as follows:\n“When skies above were not yet named\n Nor earth below pronounced by name,\nApsu, the first one, their begetter \nAnd maker Tiamat, who bore them all, \nHad mixed their waters together, \nBut had not formed pastures, nor discovered reed-beds;\n When yet no gods were manifest,\n Nor names pronounced, nor destinies decreed,\n Then gods were born within them.”\n\nNow, I will admit at first blush that these two texts are not identical, but we're talking about very early written accounts of what would have been oral traditions passed on generation to generation.  However, the elements are there, and a full read of EE and Genesis 1 'side-by-side' is really needed to see the similarities.  Light and dark.  Firmament.  Land.  Vegetation.  Humans.  Birds.  Fish.  Mammals.  “The Deep”.  An interesting note is that the Hebrew word for deep is tehom, with Tiamat (in EE) being etymologically the same, but in feminine form. \n\nNow, order is relatively important in Genesis 1.  The order, after creating all of the land and water and whatnot is: plants (verse 12), fish/birds (verse 21), land animals (verse 25), and finally man/woman (verse 27).  The first creation story in Genesis ends at the beginning of Genesis 2:1-3:\n“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”\n\nAnd that kind of puts a nice cap on it, doesn't it?  Everything is 'done'.  Created.  Ready to roll.  And a tidy ending.  But then Genesis 2:4-9 stirs mud in the deep:\n“This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven. Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. “\n\nWhat the...?!?  We just get the account of creation wrapped up and then ANOTHER, separate account is dropped upon us.  This one being entirely different than one one mere verses before.  The order in Genesis 2 is: man (verse 7), plants (verses 8-9), animals, but not mention of fish (verse 19), and finally woman (verse 22).  \n\nTo find a decent parallel we can hop into EoG's section about the taming of Enkidu:\n“So the goddess conceived an image in her mind, and it was of the stuff of Anu of the firmament. She dipped her hands in water and pinched off clay, she let it fall in the wilderness, and noble Enkidu was created. There was virtue in him of the god of war, of Ninurta himself. His body was rough, he had long hair like a woman's; it waved like the hair of Nisaba, the goddess of corn. His body was covered with matted hair like Samugan's, the god of cattle. He was innocent of mankind; he knew nothing of the cultivated land. Enkidu ate grass in the hills with the gazelle and lurked with wild beasts at the water-holes; he had joy of the water with the herds of wild game. But there was a trapper who met him one day face to face at the drinking-hole, for the wild game had entered his territory. On three days he met him face to face, and the trapper was frozen with fear. He went back to his house with the game that he had caught, and he was dumb, benumbed with terror. His face was altered like that of one who has made a long journey. With awe in his heart he spoke to his father: ‘Father, there is a man, unlike any other, who comes down from the hills. He is the strongest in the world, he is like an immortal from heaven. He ranges over the hills with wild beasts and eats grass; the ranges through your land and comes down to the wells. I am afraid and dare not go near him. He fills in the pits which I dig and tears up-my traps set for the game; he helps the beasts to escape and now they slip through my fingers.'”\n\nThe second story in Genesis is extremely similar in theme to the taming of Enkidu.  We have a god or goddess who makes a human from dirt or clay and gives the being life who interacts entirely with wildlife before being introduced to women.  \n\nI'll cut this post off here after one more thought that will, I believe, echo in commandments later in the Bible.  The Hebrew word for this clay creature is the adam.  Not “Adam” as in a proper name.  The root of the word is adamah which means ground or earth.  Essentially, “earthling” or “groundling”.  God then breathes life into this clay corpse.  Not to jump into a later book of the Bible right now, but the belief that this is possible shakes all the way down (I believe) to the commandment to not make any graven images of anything on earth.  The idea being that someone may be able to form animals or humans out of clay and breathe life into them.  \n\nWith that I'll leave this for now.  Thanks for reading!\n\nJacob",
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      "author": "jwcarlson",
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      "title": "My Religious Journey",
      "body": "Before diving too deep, let me first give a quick background of who I am and where I'm coming from.  I'm in my early-30s.  I work as an electrical engineer.  I was born and baptized as a Catholic.  My first memories of religion and church are of the Catholic church.  I cannot tell you exactly when my family left the Catholic church, but I was not confirmed.  I did have my first communion, which I  believe happens in the 2nd grade.  Of course, as at child, I do not remember what we were actually told about the first communion or any of the rituals associated with the Catholic church.  My longest standing memory of my time as a Catholic is being told that if we missed church after our First Communion that is was a sin.\n\n![10498213_747155688677237_6321336164496236515_o.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmRcapEMToJ2rp4f8UQ6TqQycRgQt9G3vEAfV1M1PY7nn3/10498213_747155688677237_6321336164496236515_o.jpg)\n\nSometime after that my family bounced to what I will call the non-denominational, Pentecostal church circuit in the area.  We went to three of them for sure before settling in a Foursquare Gospel church in my hometown.  Perhaps non-denominational is not the correct classification.  It's Evangelical with peppy praise/worship music, hand-waving, and speaking in tongues.  If you've been part of the circuit, you know exactly what kind of churches they were.  I cannot say that I had any particularly negative experiences in church.  I was baptized at the Foursquare church at some point, I met many great people.  I had fun at summer church camps (except the church services, where I felt intense pressure to become \"Baptized in the Holy Spirit\"... aka speak in tongues).   I believe that particular idea is from the book of Acts.  In addition, I was \"born again\" or \"saved\" at one of these summer camps.  Years before I could even make sense of what I was truly saying, let alone fully comprehend faith, God, and salvation. \n\nNeedless to say, I never spoke in tongues.  I recall feeling a bit guilty... like I didn't get it.  Or maybe I wasn't good enough.  I still went to church with my family more-or-less weekly.  My dad did not go particularly often and my brother and I were excused during October and November annually so that we could go bowhunting for deer with dad.  Here's an interesting aside... during our church hopping days I remember at one point talking to a Sunday School teacher about deer hunting.  She looked my brother and I straight in the face and told us something to the effect of... \"You know, God gives man command over all the animals of the Earth.\"  Wow... that's cool, I thought.  I'll let you guess how many unfulfilled prayers for big bucks and copious deer that I made as a young, impressionable Christian.  \n\n![10981355_10100446613245585_8646492610678050814_n.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmak6m9qn3sVgLNuk3rG4wYL1sgwkTUt8u7bRQBgvdRMtp/10981355_10100446613245585_8646492610678050814_n.jpg)\n\nI still went to summer camps.  And when I became old enough, went back to summer camp as a \"teen helper\".  We basically messed around, helped out in the kitchen, and otherwise had a pretty good time with other kids our age.  I cannot say that I ever felt particularly spiritual, as a teen helper I still felt uncomfortable during the services, but did enjoy the social aspect at the time.  Occasionally, I would get feelings that I took as God.  An odd chill, maybe goosebumps.  Some other 'off' feeling at a moment that I was paying attention.  The all powerful God of the universe was making himself known to me conspicuously timed as HVAC units kicked on and off during church.  \n\nI would say my \"faith\" ended roughly at the beginning of high school.  As Christian after Christian I knew broke about every \"rule\" the church was making... I think I just kind of slipped away.  In contrast... I was, by all accounts, a really good kid.  I didn't drink, smoke, or do drugs.  I was never in trouble.  I didn't skip classes or cause any disturbances.  I was in \"advanced placement\" courses.  I got really good grades, but school was fantastically easy for me.  I graduated and got a two year scholarship to the community college in town.  That was easier than high school for me and I worked 38 hours a week at a grocery store bagging groceries and stocking shelves, a job I'd started part-way through high school.  After those two years I decided... why not be an electrical engineer?  My uncle was an engineer and he seemed better off than my dad.  And I was good at computer programming in high school.  So it seemed like a good fit.\n\nSo off I went to Bradley University in Peoria, IL.  It is a smallish (~5,000 students between undergrad and graduate level) private university known mostly for its engineering programs and astronomical cost.  I got some scholarships and pissed them away in short order because I was in no way, shape, or form prepared for real school.  I have never studied a day in my life.  Never done any sort of homework that wasn't required.  I simply knocked high school out of the part without any effort on my part.  And I was, frankly, FAILING at big boy school.  I had always made sure I did well in school because my parents expected it of me, and without them really being there... I was struggling at finding motivation.  \n\n![10398726_514909505375_7335_n.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmXbUP3RfctNDSMSkFzTWojoyFhd6RzTQhnTqSW1D99PEc/10398726_514909505375_7335_n.jpg)\n\nI'll spare the nitty gritty of my turning it around.  I had to drop some classes and take summer and winter classes.  But I righted the ship.  I completed almost the entire Electrical Engineering program in three years.  I had taken some gen-ed classes that transferred, but none of the engineering courses transferred.  So while most of my friends had their senior project and a few blow-off classes their last semester at school, I had 16 engineering hours.  I don't remember my overall GPA at graduation, but I want to say my last semester at school came in at somewhere in the 3.4-3.5/4.0 range.  \n\n![4615_558206028795_1164339_n.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmaHydSAYuQsffGMFjN4Rths8W7Y9txeX6tUfzFLQV25o3/4615_558206028795_1164339_n.jpg)\n\nSo... back to faith.  The first semester I was at Bradley I took a Western Civilization class taught by a man by the name of Dr. Daniel Getz.  I won't say that I never dozed off during the 6-10PM class twice a week.  But, Dr. Getz made it interesting.  At some point we were discussing other flood myths from Mesopotamia.  I'll be damned if I didn't have a SINGLE clue that there were GOBS of flood stories that were shockingly similar to the one contained in Genesis.  During this discussion Dr. Getz made a really simple statement that has stuck with me until this day.  And it has eaten at me over the years (it has been twelve already!).  Dr. Getz never told us what he believed about the flood stories.  But he flipped a switch that I have not be able to turn off despite my digging for it... he taught me HOW to think.\n\n\"To them it WOULD have looked like the whole world had flooded.\"\n\nAt the time would have told you that I was a Bible-believing Christian.  But, through the prism of time, Dr. Getz drove a pick into the face of my brain mountain.  And it's slowly been fracturing away since.  With that simple statement he basically gave me permission to think, something that certainly isn't encouraged in most fundamentalist Christian churches.\n\n![831a7e3efdfafe8b4da7539e9342d087.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmNkf9uL4AFZq8KCt1qiaCxQwXEKdYPWeh8N71a6xL4tAB/831a7e3efdfafe8b4da7539e9342d087.jpg)\n\nThis, in my experience, is the type of attitude towards using your supposedly God-given faculties in most churches I've been involved with during the course of my life.  Setting aside the dangerous attitude towards depression, what kind of parents doesn't want their kid to reason?  Substitute mindless obedience to an unknown entity for critical thought?\n\nI originally started this post to talk about the two creation stories in Genesis (yes, there are two), but when I started writing about my background it became a rambling post of its own.  Thanks for reading!  Genesis discussion is going to have to wait for a few days.\n\nJacob",
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      "body": "Before diving too deep, let me first give a quick background of who I am and where I'm coming from.  I'm in my early-30s.  I work as an electrical engineer.  I was born and baptized as a Catholic.  My first memories of religion and church are of the Catholic church.  I cannot tell you exactly when my family left the Catholic church, but I was not confirmed.  I did have my first communion, which I  believe happens in the 2nd grade.  Of course, as at child, I do not remember what we were actually told about the first communion or any of the rituals associated with the Catholic church.  My longest standing memory of my time as a Catholic is being told that if we missed church after our First Communion that is was a sin.\n\n![10498213_747155688677237_6321336164496236515_o.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmRcapEMToJ2rp4f8UQ6TqQycRgQt9G3vEAfV1M1PY7nn3/10498213_747155688677237_6321336164496236515_o.jpg)\n\nSometime after that my family bounced to what I will call the non-denominational, Pentecostal church circuit in the area.  We went to three of them for sure before settling in a Foursquare Gospel church in my hometown.  Perhaps non-denominational is not the correct classification.  It's Evangelical with peppy praise/worship music, hand-waving, and speaking in tongues.  If you've been part of the circuit, you know exactly what kind of churches they were.  I cannot say that I had any particularly negative experiences in church.  I was baptized at the Foursquare church at some point, I met many great people.  I had fun at summer church camps (except the church services, where I felt intense pressure to become \"Baptized in the Holy Spirit\"... aka speak in tongues).   I believe that particular idea is from the book of Acts.  In addition, I was \"born again\" or \"saved\" at one of these summer camps.  Years before I could even make sense of what I was truly saying, let alone fully comprehend faith, God, and salvation. \n\nNeedless to say, I never spoke in tongues.  I recall feeling a bit guilty... like I didn't get it.  Or maybe I wasn't good enough.  I still went to church with my family more-or-less weekly.  My dad did not go particularly often and my brother and I were excused during October and November annually so that we could go bowhunting for deer with dad.  Here's an interesting aside... during our church hopping days I remember at one point talking to a Sunday School teacher about deer hunting.  She looked my brother and I straight in the face and told us something to the effect of... \"You know, God gives man command over all the animals of the Earth.\"  Wow... that's cool, I thought.  I'll let you guess how many unfulfilled prayers for big bucks and copious deer that I made as a young, impressionable Christian.  \n\n![10981355_10100446613245585_8646492610678050814_n.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmak6m9qn3sVgLNuk3rG4wYL1sgwkTUt8u7bRQBgvdRMtp/10981355_10100446613245585_8646492610678050814_n.jpg)\n\nI still went to summer camps.  And when I became old enough, went back to summer camp as a \"teen helper\".  We basically messed around, helped out in the kitchen, and otherwise had a pretty good time with other kids our age.  I cannot say that I ever felt particularly spiritual, as a teen helper I still felt uncomfortable during the services, but did enjoy the social aspect at the time.  Occasionally, I would get feelings that I took as God.  An odd chill, maybe goosebumps.  Some other 'off' feeling at a moment that I was paying attention.  The all powerful God of the universe was making himself known to me conspicuously timed as HVAC units kicked on and off during church.  \n\nI would say my \"faith\" ended roughly at the beginning of high school.  As Christian after Christian I knew broke about every \"rule\" the church was making... I think I just kind of slipped away.  In contrast... I was, by all accounts, a really good kid.  I didn't drink, smoke, or do drugs.  I was never in trouble.  I didn't skip classes or cause any disturbances.  I was in \"advanced placement\" courses.  I got really good grades, but school was fantastically easy for me.  I graduated and got a two year scholarship to the community college in town.  That was easier than high school for me and I worked 38 hours a week at a grocery store bagging groceries and stocking shelves, a job I'd started part-way through high school.  After those two years I decided... why not be an electrical engineer?  My uncle was an engineer and he seemed better off than my dad.  And I was good at computer programming in high school.  So it seemed like a good fit.\n\nSo off I went to Bradley University in Peoria, IL.  It is a smallish (~5,000 students between undergrad and graduate level) private university known mostly for its engineering programs and astronomical cost.  I got some scholarships and pissed them away in short order because I was in no way, shape, or form prepared for real school.  I have never studied a day in my life.  Never done any sort of homework that wasn't required.  I simply knocked high school out of the part without any effort on my part.  And I was, frankly, FAILING at big boy school.  I had always made sure I did well in school because my parents expected it of me, and without them really being there... I was struggling at finding motivation.  \n\n![10398726_514909505375_7335_n.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmXbUP3RfctNDSMSkFzTWojoyFhd6RzTQhnTqSW1D99PEc/10398726_514909505375_7335_n.jpg)\n\nI'll spare the nitty gritty of my turning it around.  I had to drop some classes and take summer and winter classes.  But I righted the ship.  I completed almost the entire Electrical Engineering program in three years.  I had taken some gen-ed classes that transferred, but none of the engineering courses transferred.  So while most of my friends had their senior project and a few blow-off classes their last semester at school, I had 16 engineering hours.  I don't remember my overall GPA at graduation, but I want to say my last semester at school came in at somewhere in the 3.4-3.5/4.0 range.  \n\n![4615_558206028795_1164339_n.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmaHydSAYuQsffGMFjN4Rths8W7Y9txeX6tUfzFLQV25o3/4615_558206028795_1164339_n.jpg)\n\nSo... back to faith.  The first semester I was at Bradley I took a Western Civilization class taught by a man by the name of Dr. Daniel Getz.  I won't say that I never dozed off during the 6-10PM class twice a week.  But, Dr. Getz made it interesting.  At some point we were discussing other flood myths from Mesopotamia.  I'll be damned if I didn't have a SINGLE clue that there were GOBS of flood stories that were shockingly similar to the one contained in Genesis.  During this discussion Dr. Getz made a really simple statement that has stuck with me until this day.  And it has eaten at me over the years (it has been twelve already!).  Dr. Getz never told us what he believed about the flood stories.  But he flipped a switch that I have not be able to turn off despite my digging for it... he taught me HOW to think.\n\n\"To them it WOULD have looked like the whole world had flooded.\"\n\nAt the time would have told you that I was a Bible-believing Christian.  But, through the prism of time, Dr. Getz drove a pick into the face of my brain mountain.  And it's slowly been fracturing away since.  With that simple statement he basically gave me permission to think, something that certainly isn't encouraged in most fundamentalist Christian churches.\n\n![831a7e3efdfafe8b4da7539e9342d087.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmNkf9uL4AFZq8KCt1qiaCxQwXEKdYPWeh8N71a6xL4tAB/831a7e3efdfafe8b4da7539e9342d087.jpg)\n\nThis, in my experience, is the type of attitude towards using your supposedly God-given faculties in most churches I've been involved with during the course of my life.  Setting aside the dangerous attitude towards depression, what kind of parents doesn't want their kid to reason?  Substitute mindless obedience to an unknown entity for critical thought?\n\nI originally started this post to talk about the two creation stories in Genesis (yes, there are two), but when I started writing about my background it became a rambling post of its own.  Thanks for reading!  Genesis discussion is going to have to wait for a few days.\n\nJacob",
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