The Church of Me

Membership: There is only one member (me). We are currently not accepting new members as membership is limited to one person. If you really want to join, you can start your own church, The Church of You.

Doctrines: Our doctrines are not written down or recorded anywhere since they are continually evolving. Learning new information results in changes to our doctrines. No committee meetings, focus groups, pilot programs, apologetics for our old doctrines are required. We can change our doctrines without concern for offending anyone or losing members. This gives us the ability to change quickly when we discover we are wrong.

Missionary Work: We don't proselytize or evangelize since we aren't accepting new members

Criticisms:

Isn't the "Church of Me" antisocial or isolationist? 

We still believe in the importance of relationships and community. We just don't feel that doctrines should interfere with the quality of a relationship. The consequence of tying doctrines to community is self-righteous attitudes and judgement.

Isn't the "Church of Me" selfish?

Currently selfish behavior is supported when self-care is needed. 

If your doctrines aren't written down, doesn't that just mean you can believe whatever you want?

Our doctrines are tied to evidence: personal, historical, scientific, data-driven. When evidence is limited or conflicting, then we allow for uncertainty. We strive to recognize many of the logical fallacies and cognitive biases that lead to false beliefs.

How much good can a church with only one member do?

Horrific acts have been performed by powerful churches in the name of righteousness. Limiting how much good we can do also limits how much evil we can do. Still, we delight in serving others for the purpose of reducing their suffering and increasing their joy.

The "Church of Me" is false because it doesn't agree with my beliefs

By that standard, all churches are false since a majority of the world doesn't agree with their beliefs. For example, Christianity has the most followers at about 31% of the world's population. But that means that 69% of the world disagree with Christian beliefs. Even inside of Christianity, there are disagreements on beliefs (Catholic, Protestant, Eastern Orthodoxy, etc.).

The "Church of Me" is more likely to be right since it corrects its errors instead of relying on apologetics to defend beliefs that are proven wrong with evidence (typically those beliefs cannot be changed due to being recorded in scripture). 

The "Church of Me" doesn't work for me. I want a church that's run by people smarter than me.

"The Church of Me" doesn't restrict anyone else from joining any church they want for whatever reason they want.

  

What I Learned From Listening to My Mom Talk on the Phone

I learned some interesting things by listening to my mom talk on the telephone. She would be in the kitchen tethered to the nearest phone outlet and I would be sitting on the floor in the family room working on my latest Lego creation. My eyes would be busy looking for the right piece. My hands would be busy sifting and assembling. But my ears were idly listening to every word (Let this be a warning to parents with children within earshot of phone conversations). I became a bit of an expert piecing together a full conversation from only one half. Luckily my mom was animated and engaging so I could infer the other persons reactions.

Lesson 1: Where Do Babies Come From?

One common narrative was "Did you hear so-and-so is having a baby?". This helped me form an early theory about where babies came from. 

The information: 

1. Different families had different numbers of children
2. It was always a surprise to everyone when the mother became pregnant

 Conclusion: the parents must have been as surprised as anyone so therefore babies were something that just happened spontaneously, like a volunteer tomato plant in the yard. (Fortunately my mom corrected this lesson when I was the appropriate age using a fully illustrated book to explain where babies came from).

Lesson 2: What happens when a story is retold?

Another lesson comes due to the limitation of the phone technology of the time: you could only talk to one person at a time. Therefore, when my mom would come across a story, she would then call a friend and tell it. Then she would have to call her next friend and retell the same story. This would repeat many times. This could have been tedious and boring to me since I don't like repetition. Luckily I had a sharp little mind and I began to take notice in the subtle changes in each telling of the story. The "fish got longer" with each telling, as the saying goes. At the time, I was critical of her thinking that she was stretching the truth. Now I realize that she was just playing the dance of conversation. 

Why did she tell stories? For her own pleasure. 

What gave her pleasure? It was the emotional reaction of her friends.

How do you increase pleasure? You leave out the boring parts and "emphasize" the good parts.

Conclusion: copies of copies of something change the original. This is true for the stories we tell, our childhood memories, eyewitness accounts, and even Bible manuscripts.