To the Principal's Office
I'm a Christian, raised in a Baptist household. As a kid, I went to church as much as three times a week: Sunday mornings and evenings, and Wednesday nights. From fourth grade through my freshmen year in high school, I went to Christian school, too. We had Bible class every day and chapel on Fridays. I accepted Christ and was baptized at an early age, and I honestly don't remember a time when I didn't believe in a loving God.
But as I grew from childhood to teen age, I started asking questions that weren't part of the accepted catechism. If the universe is only 6,000 years old, how can we see the light from stars that are 10,000 light years away? ("Well, God created the light in place, so we could see them"). And what about alien life? If the whole universe is just for us, why would God make it so big we could never see it all? ("Don't be ridiculous. If aliens existed, they'd be in the Bible.") Nuclear bombs and rockets on the moon aren't in the Bible. Those are a pretty big deal - clearly He didn't tell us about everything, right? ("Go to the principal's office"). And those dinosaur bones that seem to be millions of years old? ("He buried those to test our faith"). So He's trying to trick us into not believing in Him? ("Go to the principal's office").
You get the point. No one was ever willing to say, "look, son, none of us has all the answers, and that's okay. God's really big." Worse, when they couldn't answer, they assumed the questions themselves were the work of the devil. There was this pervasive attitude that they fully understood an Infinite God, that He could fit neatly into their finite minds, that anything that didn't fit wasn't God, and if you didn't agree with their take on reality, you were a Lost Soul to be written off. That eventually drove me from the Church.
My connection to God, my faith in His love for me never wavered once in my life - I never ceased to seek Him, to read and to pray - but the separation from His human community hurt me in ways that linger even today. As an adult, I look back on a hundred times when any of those good Christian leaders could have said to me in humility and love, "gosh, I don't know. Let's see what answers we can find, together." Or, "you know, there's an author you might like to read. He's a Christian, and he thinks a lot like you do." They could've pointed me to a book or a teacher rather than passing judgment or and incrimination. It would have saved me years of struggle. Any adult expressing delight that I was asking intelligent questions about God, digging for more, could have changed everything.
Find Your Way Back
I found my way back. Painstakingly. As an adult I've come to understand that I'm far from alone. There are so many people beaten down in their faith, who believe but don't share, who hunger but don't reach out, who are curious but don't ask, and it's often because they had similar experiences. They were treated as though their questions were sinful, that merely asking them could endanger their souls.
That isn't the God Christ taught us about. He taught us to call God "Abba," meaning "father," or more accurately, "daddy." No formality or guile. Comfortable. Familiar. Trusting. A name you use from your father's lap. Christ taught us a love that surpasses any wrong we might do, any mistake we might make. Our Heavenly Father is one who laughs in delight when we ask why the sky is blue. He doesn't judge us harshly for not already knowing the answer. And when we judge each other, we deny this God to our fellows.
For Us
If you relate to any of this, you're one of us, and UnScriptured is for you.
Or if you don't really know much about Christianity, and want an easy place to start, where you don't have to wear a tie (or even pants), or cover your tattoos or explain why your breath smells like beer or why you have an "I want to believe" poster behind your desk, UnScriptured is for you.
Heck, if you're an atheist or a Hindu or a Muslim or practicing Buddhism, and you earnestly wonder why Christians believe the way they do, pull up a chair.
I'll share the stories so you don't have to wade through the heady Biblical language, if you don't want to (although you're always welcome to). I'll share my opinions and I'll be clear that they are opinions. I won't judge you for having unconventional ideas or questions of your own. I'll do my best as a simple, imperfect human being to give you reasons to trust God, to rejoice in His love for you, and to let go of the things that have kept you from feeling that love.
Bless you, and welcome to UnScriptured,
Doug
2026.06.25