I Wish I Didn't Know<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I had to make an unexpected trip to Tennessee this week to deal with some family matters. All is well and I'm back now. While I was there, I\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2010\/10\/i-wish-i-didnt-know.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I Wish I Didn't Know\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I had to make an unexpected trip to Tennessee this week to deal with some family matters. All is well and I'm back now. 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In the course of our discussion, he made the statement \u201cI wish I didn\u2019t know what I\u2019ve learned about astronomy and geology and biology.\u00a0 I wish I could go back to when I just believed what the Bible said.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

To those of us who hold dear the \u201cfree and responsible search for truth and meaning,\u201d this statement is unthinkable.\u00a0 We have committed both to search diligently and to accept what we find.\u00a0 If our studies and our experiences lead us to a different path our integrity demands we follow it.\u00a0 Yet we must never forget that there are many others who cannot or will not take on that search.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

A church sign near this person\u2019s house said \u201cLife has many choices, Eternity only 2\u201d.\u00a0 If you have lived your whole life in a religious environment that preaches eternal joy for those who follow the right religion and eternal torment for everyone else, that teaches the Bible is the literal and inerrant Word of God, and teaches that Satan is constantly looking to deceive those who lean on their own understanding, accepting scientific and historical evidence that is well-supported but counterintuitive isn\u2019t as easy as those of us who\u2019ve already changed religions a time or two may think.\u00a0 If even a Ph.D level theologian can see no choice but to accept what he\u2019s always been taught<\/a>, how difficult can breaking away be for those with lesser education and intellectual skills?<\/span><\/p>\n

My conversation with this person was polite and friendly.\u00a0 I stated my beliefs, made my case, and then listened politely to what he had to say.\u00a0 It was a conversation, not a debate.\u00a0 One of the good things about being a universalist is that I don\u2019t have to worry about people ending up in hell if I can\u2019t convert them to my way of thinking.\u00a0 I hope I managed to clear up some misconceptions he had about science and about Unitarian Universalism.\u00a0 I hope my example of following where the evidence and my religious experiences lead will give him confidence to ask difficult questions and accept the answers he gets.<\/span><\/p>\n

But as long as he\u2019s in this fundamentalist environment (not just his church, but also the wider environment that includes church signs), that will be a difficult journey.<\/span><\/p>\n

And this is why I say yet again:\u00a0 UUs, Pagans, and practitioners of all free and liberal religions must never stop preaching universalism<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"