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Which Way Do You Want to Go?

"Which way do you want to go?" It's a phrase I've heard about 100 times too many in church services and sermons over the years. It's used to get people to do something based on fear - fear of going to hell instead of heaven. Clearly in these people and places minds, there is only one right answer and lifetimes are then spent trying to be this unattainable, damaging to self and others, shell of a person of faith.

Most recently, I heard this very question asked was this past Sunday, as I walked through my house to grab something in between church services. The program on the TV was "The Pastor's Study," a show produced in Minnesota, featuring a Lutheran (which branch it's not clear other than not ELCA) pastor in a collar. I have seen this show in passing before. Sometimes, its just the pastor talking to the camera, other times its the pastor, with a grandmotherly figure, sitting at a table, doing a question-and-answer format.

This past Sunday, the pastor was speaking directly to the camera and I heard him say that "Minnesota has become the California of the Midwest." Minnesota is protecting trans people, abortion, debating the legalization of marijuana use, were among the list of concerns the pastor raised as making the state a liberal haven in the middle of the country. This pastor then went on to list the ELCA, UCC, and Presbyterian (PCUSA) denominations for having healthcare policies that cover abortion and some that also cover gender affirming care. These denominations were called "fake churches," and pastor proclaimed that these churches need to repent and decide which way they want to go.

I am very certain that if I'm forced to answer this question of which way I want to go, a question that I object too based on this concept of heaven and hell, which I believe is nonsense and non-biblical, I'm choosing to go down with the sinners. They're so much nicer and more fun then some of these Christians.

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