When I tell people that I grew up in a very conservative Evangelical fundamentalist Christian home, I don't think people really understand what that means. "Imagine the Duggers," I say, "but without the clothing restrictions." Which isn't entirely true, because my mother had long hair and only wore dresses for a good decade. Yesterday, during Easter my dad reminded me of something that I should start telling people instead.
My parents believe that Adam & Eve were real people who fathered an entire race of people. Because young earth creationism does not have enough time to allow for adaptation or evolution within our species, my dad believes that Eve was popping out babies that were of different ethnicities. "Don't you think Eve was a bit surprised by that?" he asked yesterday while sitting on the porch. "I mean, first she has an Asian baby and then she has a black baby. And none of them looked anything like their parents because God gave them all extremely unique genetic codes in order to not have inbreeding." He knows that I don't believe this. My response was simply, "That's an interesting way of looking at it." It's not like I haven't heard this before folks. I used to believe it too. Additionally, my parents also believe that animals used to be able to talk. The evidence? Well, Adam & Eve weren't surprised that the snake talked to them, which means it must have been normal...therefore animals used to talk. Yeah. It's crazy. There is absolutely no evidence of either of these things being true. The only reason these things are even considered is because, if you believe in a literalist interpretation of the Bible, you have to do these mental gymnastics in order to make everything line up to the world as we know it. My dad thinks that in the times of Noah the people were actually an advanced civilization, which is how Noah was able to build that giant ark. He had power tools. Seriously. And you think that you can reason with these people? You think that by putting out evidence they will change their minds? These people live in a world that uses science only when necessary and explains the world only through the narrow lens of a literalist interpretation of the Bible. And some of you wonder why I don't tell them I am an atheist.
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AuthorThis is a personal, but secret, blog archiving my deconversion from a Christian to a non-believer. Archives
December 2020
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