El Dorado Community of Christ

08/03/2026

Last Wednesday was interesting. We have a “Youth Meeting,” in which we are studying the Bible. I’d have a party, but I know I’m not good at that, so we just have a Bible study.
Last week I decided to read one complete story. The story I chose was the story of Abraham when he almost sacrificed Isaac as a burnt offering.
The story begins when Abraham hears a commandment from God that he is to sacrifice Isaac. He gathers together everything needed for the sacrifice, except a lamb, and tells Isaac they will get the lamb later.
They travel to a mountain with a group of servants. Abraham tells the servants to wait while he and Isaac will perform the sacrifice.
Once they get to the site, Abraham builds an alter, and puts the wood on the alter. Then, he binds Isaac, and places him on the wood. Fortunately, before Isaac is killed, Abraham is told by an angel not to go through with it.
Then, they find a lamb caught in a bush, which they use to continue the sacrifice.
I pointed out the words of my mother, who made the comment when I was in college that there are a lot of stories in the Old Testament which are attributed to God that God had nothing to do with.
In my opinion, this is one such story. First, I have had experiences with God, and I have read the scriptures extensively, and this does not sound like the God I know.
Also, I have read that at the time of Abraham, there was a god worshiped by some of the people called Moloch. It is not known what all the worship practices of Moloch were, but there was a requirement that the worshiper “send the first child through the fire to Moloch.” While it is not certain what this meant, it is suspected this was a form of human sacrifice. It could be that Moloch required exactly what Abraham proposed to do.
Therefore, it may be what happened is Abraham had a lot of social pressure to sacrifice Isaac. He may have given into this social pressure, therefore he started to sacrifice Isaac. Later, as he told the story to others, he rationalized that God had told him to do it. Therefore, it is rationalized as a test – God wanted to see if Abraham would be willing to sacrifice his son. Therefore (the rationalization goes) the actual sacrifice was not required.
This same sort of rationalization is still done today. There are belief that people associate with Jesus that he would not approve of.
For example, in Matthew there is a scripture where Jesus talks of people about those who, on the day of judgment, will say, “Lord didn’t we cast out many demons in your name, and perform many mighty works in your name?” Jesus will reply. “I never knew you. Depart from me you evil doers.” The point is that not everyone who claims to represent Jesus does.
Therefore, people use Jesus to justify, for example, not welcoming foreigners into our community. Yet, this is contrary to the ideas that Jesus stands for, I could find verses to back me up, but, in reality, I know it is contrary to the Jesus I know. That is enough.

08/02/2026

One advantage to holding church at two o’clock in the afternoon is I can attend church somewhere else on Sunday morning.
This Sunday I attended the Beyond the Walls congregation of the Community of Christ, Toronto, Canada. Wile the service was well worth my time, what I want to talk about today is what happened after.
Immediately after attending the service, I prepared lunch for my wife and I. While doing this, I left the television (we watched on TV) on. By the time I had lunch ready, YouTube had gone onto something else, a video about the woman at the well.
For those who may not be aware of this story, it is about Jesus, who has to go from a point in the south to a point in the north. The particular places are not relevant. What is relevant is he had to pass through Samaria, the home of the Samaritans.
While doing this, he encounters a Samaritan woman at a well. He had sent his disciples that were with him away. He, and the Samaritan woman have a long conversation – the video said it was the longest conversation recorded between Jesus and any one individual.
The woman becomes excited about Jesus, and runs back into town to tell everyone about Jesus.
The video makes a big deal about Jesus going through Samaria. The enmity between the Jews and the Samaritans at that time was such that a Jewish person would have traveled extra days to avoid going through Samaria.
In the recounting of the life of Jesus, there are accounts of his birth, and a scene from when he was about 12 years old. Then there is a gap of many years until about his thirtieth year. I have speculated that some of the parables Jesus tell stories from this period in Jesus life.
Consider the parable of the good Samaritan. This is told from the perspective of the man who was mugged. What if this is a true story from the missing period, and the person mugged was Jesus. He observed Scribes and Pharisees pass him by, leaving him to die. Then, a Samaritan man happened by, and saved his life, actually going above and beyond the absolute minimum aid required.
He uses this to illustrate a point, but it may have been instrumental in Jesus compassion for the Samaritan woman at the well. This may have been why he saw no need to avoid Samaria.
In any event, the video pointed out some aspects of this encounter that someone might miss in a casual reading. For example, as a Jewish man, Jesus should not have spoken to the Samaritan woman because she was a woman – men did not talk to women in public places. In addition, as I have already noted, Jewish men would have avoided talking with Samaritans of any kind.
It was noted that a lot of people think of this woman was rather promiscuous because Jesus said she had had five husbands, but is now living with a man without marriage. In the society of the age, this does not indicate promiscuity as much as bad luck. Women could not divorce their husbands, so five husbands either died, or decided to send he away.
I can understand why she might not be infatuated with the prospect of marrying again.
It appears Jesus actually knew who this woman was. He probably passed this way before.
It is also notable that Jesus did not condemn this woman for her bad luck. He offered compassion, and acceptance.
This is always the case with Jesus. As John 3:17 says, “He send not his son into the world to condemn the World, but that the World through him might be saved.” Jesus didn’t come to condemn people, but rather came to show them the way, the “good news.”
Nor should we condemn people. Let us work toward their salvation without condemning anything they have done.
For example, if a person abuses children, we should not be condemning that person. Rather, we should teach that person how to properly deal with children.
Of course, all this should be done in a situation which protects our children! This person should not be allowed near children, but the motivation should be love for the children, not condemnation for the abuser.
One observation I made that the video did not. As far as I know this is the only instance where Jesus went to non-Jews. Actually, these are half Jewish – the Samaritans divided from Judea more than 700 years before Jesus.
That is, the southern Kingdom had one son of Solomon as king, and the northern kingdom had another. David had set Jerusalem as the center of their religion. Jerusalem was in the southern kingdom, and since the kingdoms were at war with each other, the northern kingdom couldn’t get to Jerusalem, so they set up their own temple complex on a mountain in Samaria.
The video said the Jews destroyed the Samaritan temple about 100 years before Jesus.

06/10/2026

Last Sunday, June 7, 2026, we met at 2:00, our regular time. There were four people present.
After listening to, and singing some hymns, we had a discussion based on the theme, "What the Church Believes." This was in response to our theme last Sunday, which was, "What the Church does Not believe."
First, it was noted that the church does not have a creed. This means that when I talk about what the church believes it is observational. That is, there is no creed dictating what anyone believes, so if you decide you don't believe in something we talk about today, and decide to make statements to that effect, the church will do nothing - you will not be excommunicated, or even asked to leave as long as you respect the rights of others to disagree with you.
I recalled an incident that happened years ago when I lived in a suburb of Seattle, Washington. I was on a committee then, and one woman on the committee pointed out that she was sure there was an alien base for UFO's on the far side of Mt Rainer.
I've driven completely around Mt Rainer, and didn't see anything suggesting a base.
However, she was not asked to leave, or discriminated against at all.
I also noted that talking about what the church believes is important because in 1960, the church went to an ecumenical conference in Japan. At the conference they were told to bring a tract that indicated what the church believed. At that point they realized they had spent so much time worrying about what the church didn't believe that they had forgotten to thing about what the church did believe.
The next couple of decades were spent exploring what the church believed. This resulted in a statement called the Enduring Principles, which is a statement of who we are, and, in reality, a statement of what we believe by our actions.
The principles are:
1. Grace and Generosity.
2. Sacredness of Creation. This is a call to protect our environment, and all of God's creation.
3. Continuing Revelation. This does not just mean revelations to the authorities in the church, but rather this is available to anyone. I gave an example of when I was in Texas many years ago, I lived in Mercedes, TX, and had to make a business trip to Corpus Christi, a distance of about 150 miles. On the way up I noticed I needed to fill up in Corpus. I forgot, and started home. There was a sign along the road that said, essentially, "check your gas, because there is nothing for the next 50 miles." I drove past it, and it finally registered after 5 minutes. So I needed to decide what to do, so I prayed, "God, what should I do?" The answer came back, "You have a choice. You have enough gas to turn around and drive back to a gas station, and be safe. However, it you continue, I will show you my power." The Lord knows me, and, of course I continued forward. I cut my speed to 45, which is where the car go the best millage. The car had a manual choke, so as the engine eventually started to die due to lack of gas, I engaged the manual choke. Even so, the car eventually stopped - right in front of the only house on that entire stretch of road. There was someone home, and after a short conversation, they gave me one gallon of gas, which was enough to get me home.
4. Worth of all persons. This means all persons are of worth regardless of any group they might be in, such as race, sexual orientation, or past mistakes. All persons are of worth.
5. All are called. This means all people on the planet were placed here for some reason. The most obvious is Priesthood, who are called to specific responsibilities. Members of the church, and even non-members, have a calling as well. It is not my responsibility to judge others because of how they see their call.
6. Responsible Choices. The is the recognition that our choices have consequences, therefore choices should be made with those consequences in mind.
7. Pursuit of peace (Shalom). Shalom is the Hebrew word for peace, and indicates we need more than just stamping out things that are not peaceful. We need to be actively supporting those programs and actions which promote peace. It is not just trying to end a war, it is trying to promote those actions and conditions such that war is nor started. The same applies to our individual lives.
8. Unity in Diversity. We believe we, as a church, are strengthened by our diversity, rather than hindered by it. Support diversity.
9. Blessings of Community. That is, we believe in that being in a community is a blessing. That is, we are better in a community of like minded people.
Finally, I added another belief, which is not in the Enduring Principles. We talked about Sacred vs. Secular. The church does not make a distinction between Sacred and Secular. To the church, all things are Sacred. That is, you are a Christian whether at church, or away from church.
I am reminded of something that happened while I was in Ames, IA, staying in a dorm. One Sunday morning I was dressed for church (In those days I dressed for church). Just as I was going to leave, I fell into a conversation with a Jewish friend. We were talking about church, and religion in general. As our conversation continued, I noticed I was missing the Morning Devotions. Then I noticed I was missing the class. Finally, I noticed I was missing the Morning Worship. Finally, it was time for lunch.
He said, "Weren't you going to church?"
I said, "Yes, but church is over now."
He said, "I thought church was more important than anything else to a Christian."
I said, "I thought that having this conversation was more important than church."
To me, that conversation was sacred, and a witness of God to me as well as to him.
After the discussion we had a communion service, since it was the first Sunday of the month. Since we had no bread, we used cookies to represent the body of Christ, and water to represent the blood of Christ.
We sang another song, and after the final prayer, the service was over.

05/31/2026

Today, May 31, 2026, the Congregation met at the usual time of 2:00. I presented a talk on "Things we do not believe in."
This was based on a video I saw yesterday titled "5 Beliefs Evangelicals believe that are not true."
The beliefs are these:
1. The Bible in not inerrant. This is a relatively new belief - it originated about 150 years ago according to the video. There are obvious problems, particularly where the Bible says the world was created in 6 days. It says the sun was not created until the third day, obviously not true. Other examples were given.
2. The United States is a Christian nation. A few (not a majority) of the founders were Christian. Although Christian nations were the norm at the time. still the writers of the Constitution referenced religion exactly once, and that is to say no religious test shall be required for any office.
3. The King James Bible is the most correct translation. While the King James Translation is good for its day, the earliest Greek manuscript they had was from the 10th century. Since then many earlier manuscripts have been found, for example the Dead Sea Scrolls, and many others.
4. The Rapture. This was invented in the 1830's, and not generally known until a Bible com.
mentary in 1909. It was not well known until the 1970's. The particular scripture on which the Rapture is based refers to a common practice at the time where is a guest was expected, the people would go out the meet the guest before they arrived, and walk in with him.
5. Early Christian meeting were like meetings today. In fact, Early meeting were usually centered on a communal meal.
I added the following thing the church does not believe in
6. Polygamy. This is included because people have associated the Church with the Mormon church, which has at times encouraged polygamy. The church has never promoted polygamy, and has been very strongly apposed since it started. The discussion included the fact that polygamy was accepted on the fringes of society in the 1830, and people assumed the church was on the fringe. For that reason, the church accepted a statement condemning polygamy in the early 1930's.
7. The devil is more powerful than God. This is usually seen when some parents will not allow their children to learn about things they disagree with. Yet, if one believed that God is more powerful than the devil, the one would believe that if a child knows about the devil, and about God, the child will choose God.
That was the end of my list.

05/28/2026

Sunday, May 24, 2026, the Congregation met early at 1:00 Sunday afternoon. We enjoyed a pizza lunch together, which lasted until 1:15. After that we talked about many topics, including Youth Camps, and Reunion, a family camp held every year.
I played some music from the Beyond the Walls Choir centered in Toronto, Canada, including a song which emphasized where the choir members where from. The choir, which was created during the Covid Pandemic, has members primarily from Canada and the United States, but one member is from Germany.We were regaled with about 15 minutes worth of piano music by one of the members, including an original piece written by the pianist.
We continued to discuss topics of interest to the body until about 3:00 when the meeting ended.
I played some music from the Beyond the Walls Choir centered in Toronto, Canada, including a song which emphasized where the choir members where from. The choir, which was created during the Covid Pandemic, has members primarily from Canada and the United States, but one member is from Germany.

05/11/2026

Today (May 10, 2026) we held our service at 2:00 as usual. We started with hymn 23, I Danced in the Morning. Then we read I Peter chapter 3.
The theme we chose was Living Anticipation / Perseverance. Anticipation because that is what the church specified (probably anticipation of Pentecost, which is coming up.) And Perseverance because that is what the scripture suggested to me.
The first several verses talk about what it means to be well dressed for church. This must be seen in the context of the times. Peter was describing what he expected women to be like in his day. It may or may not directly apply today. What it probably important is that women (and, presumably, men) shouldn’t dress to stand out. If you live in a culture where what Peter describes stands out, then you shouldn’t dress like that.
We had a discussion of Apostolic authority. The Apostles who (presumably) wrote I Peter had no more authorities than Apostles today. Apostles are people. I knew more than one Apostle when they were growing up - at least one Apostle went to High School the same time I did. Wanetta knew at least two current Apostles when they were young.
We talked about scriptures. Scriptures are a way to get to know God. They are not really important beyond that (except, I suppose, some interesting stories). I recalled a lesson I learned from an elder when I was in college, I believe. He said the best way to get to know God is from direct experience. The second best way was by reading writings by people who knew God. (This meant scriptures) The third best way is to read book about writings by people who knew God.
I think this is still true. The best way to get to know God is by direct experience.
I recalled my father. There is a chapter in a book written about 1970 with a chapter about my father. If you read this, you would not get a wrong impression about him, but it would be incomplete. I got to know my father by living with him. I was an assistant Scoutmaster when he was my Scoutmaster. I helped him install speakers in the Lamoni Church at one time. We camped out together many times.
That is how it is with God. Remember, knowing Scriptures is not the goal – knowing God is the goal.
Peter compared suffering of people to the suffering of Jesus.
He made an interesting statement on Baptism. That is it is not putting away “filth of the flesh,” but rather is about institution a good conscience. This is somewhat at odds with the way some people view Baptism.
Finally, we spent time talking about things that were of interest to us.

04/16/2026

I have decided to start posting on this Facebook account. I will try to do so at least once a week.
Last Sunday we met at our usual time, 11:00. The theme was "There's a Church Within Us." This is not the theme on the World Church calendar, but it suited what we were doing better.
We started by singing hymn 278, "There's a Church Within Us". I offered an opening prayer.
Then I gave a talk based on Romans 2:11-15. I emphasized Paul's statement that it is the nature of people to do good. That is, "it is written in their hearts."
Then we sang hymn 586 "The Summons"
After that there was a period of discussion about the future of the El Dorado Congregation.
I emphasized that no decisions would be made - we were only looking at possibilities.
One reason for doing this now is that Wanetta Baldwin, the Pastor, has decided her health will no longer allow her to serve as Pastor.
1. One possible future is the Congregation be closed. I pointed out with the participation we had, it was not worth the $350 a month it takes to continue. This was not welcomed as a potential future.
2. I suggested we could meet at 2:00 Sunday afternoon. At least some congregations do. This would allow people to sleep in, or go somewhere else on Sunday Morning. This was met by at least enough support to consider this.
3. We could go to an online church. This could be either in place of the in person meetings, or in support of the in person meetings. This was met with some skepticism. It was felt that the people in El Dorado might not go for this. There was also some concern about the cost of starting. (As a Computer Professional, I would think the startup costs would be small compared to the $350 paid per month for the building.)
4. We could do a monthly retreat in place of church. Or, in addition to church we could do a retreat every 6 months. I pointed out I helped with a camp out every month when I was an assistant Scoutmaster simply because the scouts wanted to. Also, the Congregation used to do a camp out at least once a year.
5. It was suggested we could start a youth group on Wednesday night. It was said that other churches do this. We had a volunteer to recruit some youth. This was supported in general.
6. It was suggested we could have a home church. However, it was suggested no one has a suitable home. I pointed out that it seems to me that this would mean we would loose our building (and it was expressed that if we sold this one we would never be able to get another), which would mean we would loose our presence in the community. A home church would be great for existing members, but would not allow expansion.
7. It was suggested We could have some meetings out at the lake. One member pointed out the first meeting she attended was out at the lake. We have done this before.
8. It was suggested we could have someone from the Presidency of the Mission Center come to El Dorado to talk about the future of the Congregation. It was thought this should have at least two weeks notice before such a meeting.
Then we sang hymn 646, "Go Now Forth Unto the World."
After the meeting, a youth group meeting was announced for Wednesday, April 29 at 7:00. Cookies and koolaid will be provided.

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