In 2012 the Warta side of my family all 25 or so of us (at that time) attended my uncle's Nazarene Church in Gridley. My uncle was the Pastor and when he decided to leave the church to go preach at a church in Ohio, each family unit of the Warta's began a search for a new church. My mom and dad did not agree with were the Nazarene denomination was headed politically and were looking for a more conservative church with strong biblical beliefs to raise their family in. Pleasant Valley Baptist church in Chico became my family's new church. My parents joined the church blindfolded to the beliefs of the Fundamental Baptist denomination. They fell in love with the straight, to the point, blunt preaching without researching the theology and interpretation the church had behind the Bible. Being 12 years old and at a very impressionable age i recall very vividly the teachings i was exposed to and their effect on my conscious and understanding of the Bible. I remember walking in on my first Sunday NIV Bible in hand. I sat down on the pews and was surprised yet amused when worship consisted of a choir and no musical instruments except a piano and organ. The preaching began and to be honest i really enjoyed it, there was a sense of honesty that i fell in love with, the congregation admired their pastor with utmost respect, and the family environment was most forthcoming.
One year later my Christian walk had changed significantly. I had been influenced by the Baptist denomination in all the wrong ways. I remember the day in Sunday school when i was asked to read a passage of scripture from my Bible. Loving to read out loud i flipped to the passage in my NIV Bible, and began to read. Halfway through the reading was cut off, the Sunday school teacher explained she wanted someone to read it from the King James Version. Later that week in a church service the Pastor preached on the importance of ONLY using the King James version. That night 12 year old Hailey pulled up Amazon and ordered a King James version Bible for every single member of my family.
My physical appearance began to change as well. The church believed that women were to only dress in skirts and dresses at all times. Pants were something ONLY men wore. Dresses and skirts were to cover the knees. Feeling very very out of place and insecure in my black skinny jeans my mom took me and my sister to Goodwill to pick up some skirts and dresses long enough to make us feel comfortable and fit in with the rest of the congregation. My Sunday school teachings consisted of learning that you should save your first kiss for your wedding day, women were discouraged to work outside of the home, a true Christian was highly encouraged to attend a Baptsit Christian college, and any music besides classical hymns were considered "unChrist like". I still remember being at the church summer camp and watching a video of Lincoln Brewster perform, the pastor explained to us that all music besides hymns were sin, because it was sinful to combine hymns with Rock and Roll. I remember almost breaking down right there because I was being taught that the contemporary Christian artists I grew up listening to such as Chris Tomlin, Lincoln Brewster, Third Day and Toby Mac were hypocrites and a disgrace to Christianity and the Bible.
After three years of attending the church my dad and I could barely stand to sit in a church service. The legalism of the church had only grown and grown. My mom became very close with the ladies of the church and was being pulled into the church's beliefs to fit in socially. During this time I hated church. Every Sunday I felt as if I must dress, think and act a certain way to be a truly obedient Christian. My heart began to turn cold towards Christianity rather than the Fundamental Baptist denomination.
Where does this tie in with the assignment today? Throughout my time at Pleasant Valley Baptist Church I openly saw first hand a church manipulate people into thinking likeminded. I began to turn bitter towards the freedom our country had on free speech as well. How could some man be allowed to stand behind a podium and preach the things he was. Why would our nation allow that? It wasn't until I was educated on the Johnson Amendment I began to understand the guidelines our nation requires organizations to follow.
I support the Johnson amendment. As our new president begins to warm the leather seat of his office, he wishes to dispose of the Johnson amendment. The Johnson Amendment is a provision in the U.S. tax code that prohibits all 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates. 501(c)(3) organizations are the most common type of nonprofit organization in the United States, ranging from charitable foundations to universities and churches. The amendment is named for then-Senator Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas.
The Johnson Amendment is crucial to upholding within our Nation the freedom of our people. Now from a distant perspective one may say that taking away the freedom of an organization such as a church violates the beliefs our nation is built upon. However, because of the Johnson amendment our people are given more freedom. Still sound ironic? Well I'll put it this way, we do not have rights. No human on this earth was born with rights. Our nation was built on the freedom of choice. For each choice there is a consequence whether be good or bad. While the Johnson Amendment trumps the ability for organizations to take a stance politically, it gives each individual the freedom to make their own individual choices. This is critical for our nations proseperit in individuality.
I included my own experience with my old church as an example. The church took such strong stances on what direction the Bible told us to vote, dress, act and talk that they destroyed the individual conscious of each Christian and destroyed the ability of choice.
A church like the one I attended should not be excempt from taxes. The church used their interpretation power of the Bible to make decisions for the congregation.
This freedom of churches having the option of choice is just as equally important. Yes, churches should have the ability to make decisions and state their opinions. However, there is a line and when the line is crossed and a church takes a political stance they need to accept that they are not following the freedom of choice our nation is built upon and accept the consequences.
There is an economic side to the Johnson Amendment. Tax wise it is more beneficial to the government if a church takes a strong stance politically because they will reap the rewards of taxes. This could potentially lead to government figures targeting innocent churches in reward for their tax dollars. And we're does the is the line drawn when a University openly testifies against Trump and receives tax excempts but a church is forbidden from supporting Trumps anti-abortion policies. Overall, it is a fine line, the Johnson Amendment is important in the endless argument of freedom our nation faces. My experience at Pleasang Valley Baptist Church tore me down as a Christian, but only built me up stronger because it took me seeing at a very young age the effects of extreme legalism within a church and its effect on a congregation to open my eyes to research my own beliefs and listen to my own individual conscious.
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