Question the Unquestionable

An open letter to fans, posted on June 16, 2010 at 3:44 pm MST

Dear fans,

I am fed up with dogma. Dogma is anything you are not allowed to question, anything that must be accepted—even if it defies common sense, even if it has no rational basis, even if there is little to no evidence to support it, and even if all the evidence in the ENTIRE UNIVERSE says something different. I read somewhere, "If you cannot question or examine what you are taught, if you cannot doubt or challenge authority, you are in danger of being victimized or abused."

I have always believed, "The Bible is the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God." Christians don't realize that this is dogma. It is dogma because it is an assertion that is simply assumed to be true, i.e. the conclusion is the starting point, and the "evidence" typically comes AFTER the conclusion.

This is also dogma because, no matter how much real evidence you can give to the contrary, no matter how many clear contradictions you can find in Scripture, no matter how many babies God commanded people to kill, and no matter how many other "holy books" there are out there, you are never allowed to question whether God really inspired the Bible. If something appears to be "wrong" Christians chalk it up to a bad translation, or a matter of historical context, or something that "does not make sense according to human reasoning, but God knows better." There is simply no acceptable evidence that can prove this statement wrong.

These excuses are merely eloquent ways to dodge the truth that has now become obvious to me: the Bible is merely a book written by fallible iron-age desert-wandering nomads (I am not name-calling; I am stating a fact.) in an attempt to explain the world around them and to justify invading and slaughtering the surrounding nations. They developed a rich tradition of mythology that plays off itself, which other authors picked up on centuries later by writing their own stories in which they deliberately "fulfilled prophecies" as they saw fit. The authors of the Bible have given people the tools to gain control over others by claiming to speak for God. Believing the promises of the Bible can make you feel very happy, even extremely happy, but it's an ignorant form of happiness.

Ignorance really is bliss—and for that reason I wish I could go back. Jesus was the best imaginary friend I ever had.

This has been a long, emotionally devastating journey. I don't like losing my identity. I don't like not knowing what I believe. In addition to that, I get to deal with losing all my fans, being pre-judged by family and friends ("He's just mad at God." "Unbelievers simply want to sin."), and having to start all over. I guess that's the price you pay when you finally start to question things you're not supposed to question.

Thank you for supporting me and for enjoying my music. Masterpiece was a song from a different era in my life. That era is over. I hope that maybe you will continue to be blessed by that song should you remain in the faith. As for me, I must leave behind my adherence to dogma and come to grips with the fact that I don't understand the world around me.

Sincerely,
Scott

P.S. You can still print the lyrics and the chord sheet here. Sing it at church if you want, but I'll leave that up to you.

[UPDATE: Follow my thoughts on my YouTube channel.]
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