5 Tips for Thriving in a Church with a Different View of Creation Than You

Yep, its hard. I was a scientist when I became a Christian and I didn’t realise it would be an issue. When I realised I was so out of step with what most of the churches I visited believed I tried to become a YEC and bought lots of their videos and books to try and convince myself. It didn’t work. So then I thought we could agree to disagree but that hasn’t worked out well for me. At one church I was asked to sign a document stating I rejected evolution before I could become a member. Another church prayed for the spirit of intellectualism to be cast out of me. Mostly now I just keep my mouth shut and my head down to avoid conflict, and then read the articles on here to remind myself I’m not as alone as I feel.

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So sorry about your experience, @DarrenG. I grew up as a YEC in a Southern Baptist church, so knew the prejudices I would face when I “evolved” to an EC position. At my previous church(also Southern Baptist), I knew to keep my head down, for the most part. I’m hopeful that my new church (mom-denominational) will be more receptive to an EC viewpoint.

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I’m dying to find out what a mom denominational service is like… Lol. Typos. What can you do?

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It’s pretty similar to non-denominational, just not as particular about letters :slight_smile:

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I tried this Darren and it slowly ate away at my faith. You need a new church that will value you as you are.

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Perhaps a mom denominational service has lots of hugs.

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That would be really bad for those people that dislike being forced to shake hands with everyone in their vicinity!

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I think that would be dad-denominational.

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You guys are killin me… haha

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Everyone wears unflattering jeans.

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I know what you mean Loren, but I get the feeling that people like me are in a tiny minority in every church I’ve visited. Or maybe they’ve all got their heads down too! I sometimes wonder about forming a group outside of the churches for mutual support. Kind of like AA (“Hi, I’m Darren and I don’t have a problem with common descent” lol). Call it Scientific Christians or something (I think Christian Scientists is already taken.)

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I know what you mean.
It really is a symptom of implementing bible interpretation poorly, because this will show up in other areas of theology. You may have to change denominations to find a church that is not anti-science. I did.

Have you read Adam Hamilton’s “Making Sense of the Bible”? He is a United Methodist mega church pastor that gets it. I think most UMC, UCC, and PC-USA churches would be safe for you to “come out”.