The Christian Exodus

By Dan Harris

This book is a brief introduction to the Kingdom of God which we are commanded to seek first along with the Righteousness of God in our Christian walk. (Matthew 6:33)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dan Harris
• Release date: Feb 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201964955

Dan Harris

Dan Harris is host of the 10% Happier Podcast. For 21 years, he worked at ABC News, where he was the co-anchor of Nightline and the weekend editions of Good Morning America. He also reported from all over the world, including war zones and presidential campaigns. Before joining ABC, he worked for local news outlets in Boston and Maine. He lives in New York with his wife, son, and a gaggle of rescue cats. 

Book preview

The Christian Exodus

Dan Harris

Published by Dan Harris, 2022.

Table of Contents

Title Page

THE CHRISTIAN EXODUS | By Dan Harris

THE CHRISTIAN EXODUS

By Dan Harris

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A young man, just entering his teenage years, made a life changing step and went forward, one Sunday, in church and became a member.  Having grown up in that small, country church, he knew that every young person was expected to go forward and become a member of the church.  Not long before that eventful Sunday, he had asked his mother, How will I know when it is my time to go forward?  His mother answered, Don't worry; you'll know when it's time.

The church had all the trappings of your average Christian church with Sunday School, Sunday morning services that ended promptly at noon, Christmas and Easter pageants, a choir, elders, and a pastor.  The sermons were based on the Bible as traditionally understood.  Sunday School taught all the usual bible stories of the Garden of Eden, David and Goliath, Samson, Moses, and so on.  His paternal grandfather was one of the elders who got to sit on the pews that had pads on them.  They had a board, mounted on the wall up front, with the number of attendees last Sunday and a year ago last Sunday plus the offerings for those Sundays.  This is commonly referred to as the nickels and noses board.  They also listed the three hymns that would be sung at the current service.  The high attendance Sunday was always Mother's day.

The young man understood the fundamentals of the faith; Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior, who died for our sins.  The young man knew that if he died without receiving Christ (going forward), he would go to hell instead of heaven.  Once he received Christ, he was supposed to live a good life and follow the Ten Commandments.  He sang hymns like, In the Sweet By and By, When We All Get to Heaven, The Old Rugged Cross, Holy, Holy, Holy, and Shall We Gather at the River?

I was that young man.

A majority of Americans will recognize this church from the middle of the 1900s.  The 1950s have often been referred to as the age of innocence in our nation.  In central Ohio, we did not have segregated schools or Laundromats.  When I first went to Florida, I saw a sign in front of a Laundromat that read, Whites only.  My first thought was, Where am I supposed to wash my colored clothes?  We had one black girl in our elementary school class, Carolyn, who was treated the same as anybody else as far as I knew.  Being a farming community, most of us were pretty poor.  We also had a Native American in our class, Henry.  Money was not plentiful and most fathers worked in the two main factories in our town, Owens Corning Fiberglass and Timpkin Roller Bearings.  The principal of our elementary school sometimes filled in when a