Gungor Defends Faith; Says Christians Based Their Faith on Jesus, Not the Bible Before Enlightenment
Christian rocker and worship leader Michael Gungor recently appeared on the Bad Christian Podcast where he discussed some of the backlash he received from blog posts sharing his beliefs on the literal account of creation and the flood in the book of Genesis.
The singer recently came under fire when various media outlets reported on the post where he voiced his beliefs in science and admitted that he does not interpret the accounts of Noah and Adam and Eve literally. He defended his perspective during the podcast and also made an interesting comment in regards to what the fundamentalist church bases its beliefs on in the 21st century.
"If you asked any Christian before the Enlightenment, 'What is the foundation of your faith?' Everybody's going to say Jesus Christ," he said. "If you ask somebody now, especially an evangelical or fundamentalist, there's a good chance they're going to say the Bible."
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Gungor also clarified what he believes when it comes to other essential Christian doctrine such as the birth and life of Jesus, the Holy Spirit and Jesus' second coming by stating that he fully embraces the Apostle's Creed and all of its tenets.
The singer feels that he's become part of a culture war that's happening within Christendom where believers are breaking away from a fundamentalist belief system and embracing the discoveries of science.
"These are issues that are kind of burning in the back of people's minds that they just need to fight about right now," he said. "I happen to be a convenient person to use as a scapegoat."
Criticisms of the singer based on the blog posts have gone as far as saying that when he dies, God will send him to a special place in hell for twisting Scripture.
The Christian Post reported on Gungor's blogging earlier this month. The post titled "What We Believe" was released in February of this year and explained how Michael and his wife Lisa no longer embraced the literal interpretation of the flood and creation in Genesis.
"I have no more ability to believe, for example, that the first people on earth were a couple named Adam and Eve that lived 6,000 years ago. I have no ability to believe that there was a flood that covered all the highest mountains of the world only 4,000 years ago and that all of the animal species that exist today are here because they were carried on an ark and then somehow walked or flew all around the world from a mountain in the middle east after the water dried up," he said.
In a later blog written by Gungor titled "I'm With You," the singer defended his position and talked about how it doesn't affect his faith.
"In fact, God is both inside and outside of the huddle [or group that holds to a specific believe]," he said. "And you can still love God and love people and read those early Genesis stories as myth with some important things to teach us. Not all of you will be ready to do that, and that's perfectly ok."
