Expanding Christianity: Breaking Out of the Box

By Sammy McKay

"Expanding Christianity: Breaking Out of the Box" explores the idea that Christianity is a melting pot of nuance, and that we need to be honest and own our individuality. McKay encourages readers to embrace open-mindedness as we explore the fundamental questions we all have as Christians. These discussions and questions include topics such as Heaven and Hell, Faith, God, Inerrancy, Christian identity, our role in the universe, how we are connected to God and to the Earth, etc.

 

Through mindfulness and deep introspection, McKay highlights the connections we all have with a higher power and with Heaven and Hell, as present realities rather than solely consequences afterlife. This includes some insight into how Buddhists and Hindus think, and how we can use and understand their way of life for our benefit as Christians, and to better love those different from us. This thought-provoking and enlightening read invites readers to challenge themselves and their society to embrace the diversity of life and the uniqueness of our perspectives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sammy McKay
• Release date: Dec 20, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223906964

Book preview

Expanding Christianity: Breaking Out of the Box

Sammy McKay

Published by Sammy McKay, 2023.

While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

EXPANDING CHRISTIANITY: BREAKING OUT OF THE BOX

First edition. December 20, 2023.

Copyright © 2023 Sammy McKay.

Written by Sammy McKay.

Expanding Christianity: Breaking Out of the Box

_________________________________________________

Samuel McKay

Expanding Christianity: Breaking Out of the Box

ISBN No. 9798376133101

Copyright©2023 Samuel McKay

All Rights Reserved

Table of Contents

CHAPTER ONE Christianity: The Melting Pot of Nuance

CHAPTER TWO Embracing Ignorance

CHAPTER THREE Inerrancy & Context

CHAPTER FOUR The Literal Hell

CHAPTER FIVE Hell Thought Experiment

CHAPTER SIX The Good Place

CHAPTER SEVEN Jesus: Heaven is Here and Now

CHAPTER EIGHT Pathways to Heaven

CHAPTER NINE Clean the Inside

CHAPTER TEN Embracing the Child Within

CHAPTER ELEVEN The Way

CHAPTER TWELVE Understanding is the Heart of Love

CHAPTER THIRTEEN The Wave of Life

CHAPTER FOURTEEN Self Implies Other

CHAPTER FIFTEEN Purpose

CHAPTER SIXTEEN Make Your Own Kind of Music

References

CHAPTER ONE

Christianity:

The Melting Pot of Nuance

Are you ready to embark on a journey of self-discovery and open-mindedness? I want this book to be a playground where people can come to freely and honestly explore some of the questions that cross everyone’s minds as they attend church or read the Bible. In essence, it’ll serve as a personal guide for how to expand listening to yourself and the world around you without clinging to assumptions or beliefs. Join me as I share my journey through Christianity and my effort to build bridges of love and commonality between Christians and non-Christians. This book will serve as a guide for how to question and explore our beliefs in a healthy way, without feeling pressure to conform to societal norms or conform to a particular belief system. My goal is to bring some peace of mind to those who would like to continue calling themselves Christians or a follower of Christ, while also differing on any major hallmarks of what a Christian "ought to" believe, think, or do. I don’t attempt to prove or disprove Christianity or try to convert people to anything else; I offer my perspectives, but these are meant to provoke curiosity and critical thought rather than conclusions to adopt. My goal is to offer stepping stones to continue opening one’s mind, not close minds in another direction. I cover all of my major questions regarding Christianity and explain how I still consider myself a follower of Christ whilst differing in many theological aspects.

If you’re coming from a background other than Christianity, Buddhism, or Hinduism, then this book will provide insight into how they think and act, and how best to love and interact with them. I won’t cover any other religions in depth simply because these are the ones I have personal experience with. I’ll show how we can learn and grow from different perspectives throughout all cultures and religions without sacrificing our convictions. In this way, we’ll explore open-mindedness, our place in the Universe, and what it all entails for our lives. These ways of living may seem foreign, threatening, or conflicting, but can easily be reframed as opportunities for personal growth and understanding of how to love our neighbors by meeting them where they’re at. If nothing else, I hope you leave here with the confidence to walk the path that you feel convicted to walk and see the importance of everyone else doing the same. On this path, the first step is honesty. Finally, I’ll walk through how I got to where I am today, and why I now see honesty as the most essential virtue on our paths toward truth, self-discovery, and fulfillment.

First, I’d like to discuss being raised in a particular belief system. This isn’t exclusive to religion, as parents can and do raise their children by showing them what to believe and how to act in many areas of life. In many regards, this is necessary to help a child assimilate to be a functioning member of society; alternatively, it can become a crutch that cripples the child’s ability to openly entertain seemingly conflicting ideas as real possibilities. We cannot cripple our children’s openness, because that’s the only means by which they can grow. We’re guides for our children, not dictators. Sharing our thoughts and experiences without imposing them allows our children to feel free to be themselves and think critically.

Let’s look at the largest religions/worldviews for example. According to Pew Research Center in 2015, there were 2.3 billion Christians, 1.8 billion Muslims, 1.2 billion Unaffiliated, 1.1 billion Hindus, 0.5 billion Buddhists, 0.4 billion in Folk religions, 0.1 billion Other religions, 0.01 billion Jews, and so on. As adults, we all recognize now that what matters is our personal spiritual journey and pursuit of truth rather than how we were raised to think. Shouldn’t we grant our children the same autonomy and freedom to chart their own course? Regardless, children will inevitably chart their own course. The only question is, do we want to be a blockade on the road, or do we want to be a passenger helping them on their journey? I fully appreciate how vast the consequences might appear of raising a child in such a way. But it’s human nature to break out of the boxes and limitations placed before us. For children to discover their truth, they must possess the capability of changing their own minds and growing without feeling pushed to do so.

When we’re raised with a belief system and we’re part of a society of like-minded people, the pressure to find reasons which justify this belief system often outweighs the virtue of open-mindedness. This was true for me, as a child I rejected any possibility of miracles or any spiritual reality in the Universe, largely because I had heard my family speak negatively about certain religious followers in the past. This bias was difficult to see, engulfed in such an environment, even though nothing was forced onto me. I hope this book will be a guide for how to question our belief systems healthily.

It has always seemed natural for me to question my own beliefs. I attribute this largely to the fact that I grew up in a household which encouraged open-mindedness and individuality. In retrospect, I grew up in a family with zero religious imposition. I cannot recall one time when a religious or spiritual conclusion was pushed upon me by my parents. Rather, they elected to allow me, along with my brother and sister, to figure it out on our own. I didn’t realize growing up, that this parenting style is rather uncommon in the U.S. As I got older, I noticed it was more common to be raised within a religion. Starting in high school I began to start thinking critically about religion and spirituality, and transitioned like a college kid changing majors, from atheism to Christianity, to agnostic-atheist, and eventually to Buddhism and Hinduism. Now I don’t identify myself with any of these labels. Despite this, my perspective includes Christianity, as well as Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Jainism, Taoism, ecology, science, veganism, and so on. I hope by the end, this inclusion will make sense.

I was an atheist at 16 years old when a local Christian mentor challenged me to give God a chance, after having an hour-long debate over whether Job (in the book of Job) deserved what God had allowed Satan to inflict upon him. It dawned on me that I never truly gave God or any spirit an honest chance; so I entertained the idea. I said three prayers in the form of a challenge to God, which if fulfilled within 2 weeks, I would believe in God. The first was that a childhood friend would commit to being a Christian. The second was that my father would say a prayer for me (for the first time in my conscious life). And lastly, that God would directly tell me that He is real. The first and third prayers came true, and it was so shocking that I didn’t care that the second one hadn’t.

When my mentor asked me at the end of the two weeks, So, do you believe in God? I was prepared to answer I don’t know. But, immediately after the question landed on my ears, I heard a deeply grounding voice - more audible and formidable than my usual train of thoughts - speak within my mind, I am, I am, I am, over and over again. I sat there overwhelmed and terrified, as my atheistic worldview was crumbling before my eyes. This experience lasted for 30 seconds or so and immediately brought me to tears. Feeling like I had broken free from some self-inflicted bondage of my childhood, I responded, I do…. I believe.

I then became a Christian at 16 years old. My journey since then (and still today) has always been a spiritual one, filled with deep conversations about how God has given us all the ability to perform miracles for one another. I was fascinated by a new world I had discovered, one of community and belonging, but also of newfound purpose for my life. I still held onto my skepticism from being an atheist, and always had difficulty with large portions of the Bible, but have always felt a connection with something greater than myself since then.

After being a Christian from ages 16-18, I decided to read the Bible from front to back, having only read pieces of it prior. It was amidst this process that my questions and doubts became too overbearing for me to call myself a Christian. I decided to give my beliefs the ultimate challenge, by attending the Christian university, Biola.

I attended Biola University from 2015-2018, where the school’s name itself – The Bible Institute of Los Angeles – felt like a constant reminder and social inhibitor to feeling safe about offering honest inquiry, debate, doubts, or opposing views regarding the specific type of Christianity being taught. We also had to dictate our testimony of faith, along with many other questions about our religion, to be accepted into the school. A large population of students had questions and doubts regarding the curriculum, just as I did, yet I very rarely heard anyone question a teacher or group professing an orthodox Christian perspective. This could be for many reasons, but I think it was largely because 1. Questioning a professor is intimidating in its own right, as it’s an opportunity for embarrassment, and 2. If we question or challenge the status quo, it’s an opportunity for social exile – especially when we’re challenging the very structure of what a Christian might consider their identity. This is how I felt at Biola for the first year and a half until I could no longer sit idly by as my professor confidently proclaimed that one reason gay sex is immoral is because God created men and women like plugs and sockets. I couldn’t believe that I was the only person in the class who was asking the professor, How does anatomical geometry have anything to do with whether something is moral or immoral? This is to say, I know exactly how it feels to be uncomfortable raising doubts, to feel sick with fear from standing out amongst a crowd of seemingly like-minded people, and to feel the pressure of being outcasted by a group of friends.

I say seemingly like-minded because, I have found that when everyone appears to think the same, it is often the result of cultural or behavioral assimilation. In societies with high levels of cultural or behavioral assimilation, it may appear as if everyone thinks the same because they all act the same in front of each other, despite often holding drastically differing perspectives. For example, I spoke to many Christian professors about Heaven and Hell while attending Biola, and each held a different perspective than the norm. Two professors held to the idea that Hell was a punishment system based on how much light people had been shown, i.e. the more signs from God one rejects, the harsher the punishment. However, while they both agreed on Hell, one professor thought heaven would function the exact same way in the opposite direction, while the other thought Heaven would be a new Earth. I often spoke to one professor who didn’t believe in Hell at all, largely for the same reasons we’ll discuss later. She felt so conflicted teaching at Biola with the restrictions that Biola’s leadership forced each faculty member to teach within, that she considered leaving at some points. I spoke with two philosophy professors, one of whom believed in annihilation theory, in which all those who would have gone to Hell are instead destroyed at death while holding ignorance about Heaven. The other philosophy teacher believed that Hell would actually be like Heaven to sinners who don’t want to be in God’s presence, and Heaven would be a new Earth. This philosophy professor taught a course on Jesus and Gandhi, and how combining the two creates a beautiful system of morality. Each professor differed significantly on Heaven and Hell, and undoubtedly on many other theological topics, whilst all calling themselves Christians.

Everyone has a nuanced perspective, especially within religions, only it rarely appears this way because of cultural norms and social pressure to look and act a certain way. I think this nuance is the spice of life, and I encourage anyone struggling with the fact that they think differently to own it. It was in seeing first-hand that Christianity was a melting pot of nuance and not a one-dimensional belief-system, that I began to welcome my Christian roots back into my life. My roots had grown and changed courses, but the foundation was the same. I began to value and respect my own journey with God and with the truth. I no longer seek to compare my own journey with the norm, because each of our journeys is unique, and deserves to be treated as such.

As mentioned earlier, the older we get, the more we realize how important our personal journey becomes rather than how that journey is perceived by others. Christian Theologians and historians spend their entire lives studying the scriptures and come to polar opposite conclusions. There’s no standard we should compare ourselves to because there’s no one true interpretation of Christianity or any religion. I’ll paint a picture of why it’s in our (and our neighbor’s) best interest to be honest and open about our differing views, doubts, questions, and sins, even at the risk of being an outcast, for a little while.

1. Honesty and curiosity are inseparable from (or integral to) the only path to getting what we truly desire in life. If we live a dishonest life – in the form of pretending to be someone we aren’t – we’ll continue to feel like a prisoner within our own bodies. We’ll have created a situation whereby we have to hold up the mask we’ve created for ourselves to maintain the social ties and standing we currently have. Over time, we’ll be exhausted trying to live a performative life for those around us, because social standing and superficial social ties aren’t what bring life purpose or meaning. If we follow a path of honestly exploring the truth – with an open mind for whatever may come our way – we’ll naturally be drawn to people (and they to us) who also have an open mind, who also want to grow in knowledge rather than stay stagnant in the conclusions they’ve reached. This is why I said one might be an outcast for a little while.

People who appreciate self-expression will immediately be drawn to us, and support us if we are willing to embrace new experiences. These people will care about the real you, instead of any façade we may wear to appease those who care about the superficial. We’ll begin to see better paths opening up that didn’t exist before, simply because we allowed ourselves to be open to exploring new possibilities. The Universe rewards those who listen and seek understanding. If we put an apple seed into a container, its growth will eventually be stunted; if we place the seed into the earth where its roots can roam freely, it’ll become a full-fledged tree.

2. The people who genuinely love you for who you are rather than the beliefs you hold will support you the whole way through the process. I’m fortunate enough to have a family who accepts each other irrespective of our religious