Our Old Sins

Westover Plantation still stands along the James River in Virginia. It was built by William Byrd in 1730.

My ancestor, Capt. Daniel Lewellen, lived across the river.

Mr. Byrd is famous for having kept a diary, one of our best sources for colonial life in Virginia.

I found one passage very interesting. Byrd said that after dinner one evening his wife and her sister were arguing over the inerrancy of scripture.

It’s an old argument.

My ancestor and Mr. Byrd went to the same church, also still standing.

And both owned—bought and sold—enslaved human beings.

Another ancestor, Jessee Lewellen, was a Baptist preacher. He started a church in North Carolina around 1830.

It is still there.

And although a preacher, Jessee owned three people.

As a biblical inerrantist, he could justify that sin.

One of his sons, Jessee Jr., just like Abraham in the Bible, had a child by a woman he owned.

Which leads us to Beverly, our black cousin in California. She is planning a big family reunion next summer in Mississippi.

Our black and white family–all together.

Except for cousin Sam.

He appeared on a family zoom call with a Confederate flag behind him and he used the “N-word.”

Like the old buildings in this narrative, the evil of racism still stands, with its sister sin of homophobia.

And if you are a biblical inerrantist like my ancestors, you can justify any sin you want.

But if you listen to Jesus above all, the old sins must go. His love is our hope.

Someone said to me recently, “I am a staunch conservative.”

I told them their secret was safe with me. I would not embarrass them by telling anyone.

It’s not something to brag about. The Gospel does not lean to the right. Unconditional love and forgiveness are not conservative concepts.

But I do sympathize with folks who claim the name “conservative.”

They may not can help it.

A study from New York University suggests that the conservative brain is wired to resist change.

Researchers say there is a “spike” in brain activity when we make an error.

We respond by doing things differently. But not so for “conservatives.” The “error spike” is lower.

Conservatives have a more rigid cognitive system, one more resistant to seeing error and more drawn to the status quo.

And the conservative mind is less responsive to evidence.

“So,” say the authors of the study, “conservatives are not likely to be convinced by logical persuasion.” Conservatives have a mental comfort zone from which they will not move.

Tell conservatives that the image of Christ in the book of Revelations does not agree with the teachings of Jesus, they cannot hear you.

Tell them gay people are just people who happen to be gay, they cannot understand.

So, homophobia and racism live on—because “we have always done it that way.”

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If you have been thinking about giving us a visit—do it this Sunday. Give witness to what you believe. Worship at 11:00.

Rev. Max, you go from one extreme to the other.
You reject the claim of conservative Christians for the
inerrancy of scripture and reject things like the miracle
of the Flood, then you push an outlandish miracle like a
healing at Lourdes. I am mystified as to your purpose in
this.
Tom—

Well, Tom, my purpose is to provoke people to think.

Scripture is glorious. It is a window to God. But it is not inerrant.

The image of God in the Flood Story as a loser who goofs up, destroys his creation, and then regrets it is not consistent with the teachings of Jesus about the nature of God.

But the healing of a young girl, Marie Le Marchand, at Lourdes in 1882, is supported by considerable evidence.

The girl had advanced lupus, TB, and huge sores covering her legs.

She was “oozing blood.”

The great novelist (and atheist) Emil Zola, wanted to debunk Lourdes and healing.

Instead, he witnessed the healing of the young girl.

A doctor also stood by and followed the girl to the hospital. Her lungs were clear. The sores were gone.

She was still healthy 16 years later.

I told the story two weeks ago to push you to decide: To what extent will you accept evidence that challenges your own ideas about how life works?

Do you have to run from the evidence to maintain your theology?

My faith is rooted in evidence.

I don’t have to run.

I don’t have to pretend.

I am secure in the understanding that God works in our world. +++

Concert—tomorrow—Sat. the 14th —6:00 p.m.

And Rev. Beverly Tye preaches this Sunday.