Sunday Special: “Wandering in the Desert”—May 11, 2025, First Baptist Church of Boaz

📍 About Sunday Specials

Every week across the South, churchgoers hear sermons that shape how they think about truth, morality, and meaning. Our Sunday Specials take a closer look—analyzing real messages preached in real pulpits right here in Boaz, Alabama. Using The God Question’s Core Philosophy—which values evidence, reason, historical awareness, and emotional integrity—we critically examine the theology, logic, and emotional impact of what’s being taught.

These are the messages shaping minds. We think they deserve to be questioned.

Theme: The Christian Life as Spiritual Desert-Wandering

Speaker: Pastor Steven Brown

Occasion: Mother’s Day

Sunday Series Title: The Journey Out: Escaping from Bondage into Promise

Critique Focus: Faith, Obedience, and “Wandering” – A Closer Look Through The God Question’s Core Philosophy

⛪ Sermon Summary

The message centered on the Israelites’ post-Exodus wilderness experience, emphasizing how Christians today may similarly “wander in the desert” due to lack of faith and obedience. The sermon argued that although believers are saved (freed from Egypt/slavery), many fail to live victorious Christian lives (entering Canaan) because of self-reliance, ungratefulness, and spiritual stagnation. Ashley Walls also shared a vulnerable personal testimony about stepping away from a competitive cheerleading business in order to reclaim spiritual focus and family unity.

The pastor challenged congregants to “get up out of the grave” and “stop wandering in self-imposed spiritual poverty.” The sermon highlighted three types of believers:

Those living in the Promised Land (victorious faith)
Those headed there
Those stuck wandering in the wilderness

🔍 The God Question’s Core Philosophy Applied

1. Appeal to Emotional Subjectivity over Objective Truth

The sermon leaned heavily on emotional manipulation: “God is everything. If you feel distant, it’s your fault.” The goal was clear—prompt repentance through guilt and introspection. But The God Question asks: What actual evidence is there that “wilderness wandering” is caused by disobedience to a divine being? No empirical or historical rationale was offered—only spiritual metaphors built on a text whose origin, transmission, and theological reliability remain contested.

Core Conflict: The sermon assumes the Bible’s Exodus story is both historical and prescriptive, when in fact its historicity is highly debated. There is no consensus outside faith communities that the Israelites wandered for 40 years—or that this narrative should shape modern life decisions.

2. Misplaced Blame: Victim or Sinner?

The central premise—that one’s suffering stems from insufficient faith—reflects a harmful theology. Struggling emotionally, relationally, or financially? You’re probably “resisting God,” or failing to “lay it down at the altar.” The God Question recognizes how such beliefs foster internalized guilt and discourage critical engagement with real causes like trauma, injustice, or mental health.

Critical Inquiry: Why do so many sincere believers suffer despite years of prayer and obedience? Is the cause truly personal failure—or is this a flawed model of human-divine interaction?

3. Testimony as “Proof”

Ashley Walls’ emotional story of surrendering her business was powerful—but served as an anecdotal “proof” of God’s work. She heard a voice (possibly imagined or misattributed), reinterpreted a competitive moment as spiritual correction, and declared it life-changing. But The God Question asks: Could this be conscience? Cognitive dissonance? Psychological reframing? Without acknowledging these explanations, the church frames obedience to God as the only valid path.

Observation: Emotional transformation is real. But attributing it only to supernatural agency dismisses valid secular interpretations of psychological growth.

4. Sin, Guilt, and Unworthiness as Unquestioned Defaults

Worship songs and sermon themes reinforced one core message: You are broken, guilty, prone to wander, and unworthy without Christ. That message—especially on Mother’s Day—can create deep spiritual trauma. The God Question’s Core Philosophy challenges the idea that humans are inherently flawed or sinful. Instead, we ask: Why not affirm inherent worth and human resilience?

Conclusion: This model demands surrender to a deity who created the system and the suffering, then offers a way out—on condition of loyalty, dependence, and self-debasement. Is that love? Or control?

💬 Notable Quotes for Reflection

“You’re stressed because you’re loyal to the wrong things.” → Or perhaps because life is complex and religious binaries oversimplify reality?

“If you’re wandering in the desert, it’s because you don’t trust God enough.” → This fosters shame rather than growth and ignores the complexity of belief, doubt, and lived experience.

“God has given you everything you need for victory now.” → But evidence for this “victory” remains personal, selective, and unverified.

🧠 Closing Thought

The sermon used vivid storytelling, emotional worship, and guilt-based theology to shepherd believers into deeper allegiance. But The God Question urges listeners to pause and ask: What if the “desert” isn’t a test of faith, but a signal that the map is flawed?

When faith hurts, when promises feel empty, when guilt replaces joy—it may not be your fault. It may be time to question not just your path, but the pathmaker.

Great Gladness or Great Guilt?–A Closer Look At Beulah Baptist’s May 5, 2025 Sermon

📍 About Sunday Specials

These are the messages shaping minds. We think they deserve to be questioned.

Sunday Special – May 5, 2025

Series: A Critical Lens on Local Sermons
Church: Beulah Baptist Church, Boaz, Alabama
Speaker: Pastor Tony Holcomb
Sermon Title: “Great Gladness”
Text: 1 Chronicles 29:10–22
Method: The God Question’s Core Philosophy

🙏 The Sermon in Summary

Pastor Tony Holcomb delivered a heartfelt message centered on the phrase “great gladness,” drawn from King David’s worship at the end of his reign. The core idea was that genuine joy comes from genuine worship—worship that springs from humility, conversion, and total surrender to God. Throughout the message, Pastor Holcomb emphasized that:

Everything belongs to God.
True worship is an act of the heart, not a routine.
Great gladness flows from recognizing God’s sovereignty and giving sacrificially in response.
Salvation is initiated entirely by God; human beings are incapable of seeking Him without divine intervention.
A “genuine conversion” will produce “genuine humility,” which leads to authentic worship and giving.

The sermon included anecdotes, emotional appeals, and references to tithing, stewardship, and upcoming capital campaigns at Beulah Baptist.

🧠 What’s the Problem?

Viewed through The God Question’s Core Philosophy—which prioritizes evidence, reason, and human dignity—this sermon reveals several theological and philosophical red flags:

🔍 Claim-by-Claim Critique

1. “God is always pleased with himself.” This anthropomorphic claim, repeated with confidence, reimagines God with human emotional states like self-satisfaction. It’s a curious assertion: a being who is “always happy” and “never frustrated” yet still demands worship. If God is so fulfilled, why does He need constant praise and offerings?

2. “We are strangers, sojourners, enemies of God.” Pastor Holcomb repeatedly reinforces the idea that human beings are naturally wicked, undeserving, and alien to God. This messaging primes listeners to feel unworthy, making them more susceptible to accepting harsh doctrines. Framing people as “enemies” of God unless they’re born again is not just spiritually manipulative—it’s psychologically damaging.

3. “Genuine worship requires genuine humility, which requires genuine conversion.” Translation: If you’re not a Christian in the precise mold defined here, your worship doesn’t count. This is theological gatekeeping—salvation and joy are claimed to be conditional, available only to those who submit to a very specific belief system.

4. “You can’t do anything to be saved—God must do it all.” This view strips people of agency. It redefines justice as arbitrary divine selection. If you’re saved, it’s because God picked you. If you’re not, He didn’t. There’s no moral clarity in this—only fatalism and guilt.

5. “The tithe is outdated—but give even more.” After dismissing Old Testament tithing as irrelevant under the New Covenant, Pastor Holcomb calls for even greater giving, described as “sacrificial” and “joyous.” This is a classic bait-and-switch. The law may be gone, but the obligation remains—only now it’s spiritualized and moralized.

6. “Everything is God’s—especially your money.” Repeated refrains that “everything is God’s anyway” create a theological framework where generosity is expected not as a choice, but as a duty. When paired with a capital campaign and plans for a new tabernacle, the spiritual message becomes entangled with a material one.

7. “You must be born again, or your humility is fake.” Pastor Holcomb asserts that non-Christians are incapable of true humility. This is a baseless and insulting claim. Millions of atheists, agnostics, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and spiritual seekers demonstrate genuine humility every day. This doctrine promotes Christian supremacy by excluding others from basic human virtues.

8. “Worship is love—not obligation.” Ironically, after dozens of appeals to duty, sin, judgment, and unworthiness, we’re told love should be the motive. But if you don’t respond? Eternal separation awaits. That’s not love. That’s coercion disguised as compassion.

📣 Final Thoughts

This sermon, like many in the Bible Belt, wraps emotional storytelling, capital campaign momentum, and doctrinal fear in a single package. It’s inspiring on the surface—but beneath that surface lies a pattern:

You are broken.
God can fix you—but only if you submit.
If you don’t, it’s your fault.

This isn’t harmless inspiration. It’s theology that disempowers, divides, and devalues human reason and autonomy. Through that lens, “great gladness” starts to look more like “great guilt” covered in praise music.

🧭 The God Question’s Invitation

If you’ve heard sermons like this and walked away feeling small, unworthy, or afraid—pause. Ask why. Ask who benefits from a message that demands your humility but not your critical thinking.

You are not broken. You are not God’s enemy. You don’t need to be “converted” to find joy, humility, or purpose.

You need only begin asking questions. The right ones. And we’re here for that.

Debunking Pascal’s Wager: Why Betting on God Fails

👋 Welcome Back to The God Question
We’ve just completed our 20-Day Easter Special—a deep dive into Christianity’s central claim: the resurrection of Jesus. If you joined us for that journey, thank you for thinking critically with us. If you missed it, the full series is available in our archives.

Today, we return to our regular rotation of posts, cycling through our 11 core categories—starting with a timeless favorite: debunking Pascal’s Wager.

Let’s keep asking.

🎲 What Is Pascal’s Wager?

Blaise Pascal, the 17th-century French mathematician and Christian apologist, proposed a now-famous argument:

If God exists and you believe, you gain eternal life.
If God doesn’t exist and you believe, you lose nothing.
If God exists and you don’t believe, you lose everything.
Therefore, the rational choice is to believe—just in case.

It’s not a proof of God. It’s a wager—a pragmatic bet on belief as a risk-averse strategy.

The simplicity is seductive. But under scrutiny, Pascal’s Wager collapses.

Let’s examine it using The God Question’s Core Philosophy:

Does the claim rely on evidence or belief?

Are alternative explanations considered?

Is there independent corroboration?

Is the claim falsifiable?

Does the explanation raise more questions than it answers?

1. 🔍 Belief Without Evidence

Pascal’s Wager doesn’t argue that God exists. It argues that belief is the safest gamble.

But rational belief requires evidence, not mere risk assessment. Would you bet your life on a vague threat of hell from any other religion?

Belief without evidence isn’t noble—it’s surrender.

And belief, by its nature, can’t be faked. If you don’t believe in your bones, God (if he exists) would know you’re bluffing.

2. 🔁 False Dichotomy

Pascal presents a binary choice: Christianity or atheism. But that’s intellectually dishonest.

What about Islam? Hinduism? Norse gods? Deism? Reincarnation?

There are thousands of possible gods, each with different rules, punishments, and promises. Betting on one might mean offending another.

The Wager doesn’t guide you toward truth. It traps you in fear.

3. 🔗 No Corroboration of Consequences

The Wager only works if the consequences it threatens—eternal reward or punishment—are real.

But:

There’s no evidence for heaven or hell.
There’s no documented survival of consciousness after death.
All afterlife accounts come from within religious traditions—not external, testable sources.

You can’t wager on stakes that aren’t demonstrably real.

4. ❌ Not Falsifiable

How would we know if Pascal’s Wager is wrong? We wouldn’t—because it’s not a testable claim. It doesn’t predict anything. It doesn’t risk being disproven.

Worse, it discourages doubt, inquiry, and courage by appealing to fear.

A wager that can’t be lost isn’t a rational argument. It’s a psychological manipulation.

5. ❓Raises More Questions Than It Answers

Pascal’s Wager doesn’t settle anything. It opens a floodgate:

Why would a just god reward fear-based belief?
Is belief really a choice? Can you will yourself to believe something you find implausible?
What kind of god values belief over evidence and compliance over honesty?

If eternal life depends on pretending to believe something you don’t, we’ve traded morality for fire insurance.

💡 Final Thought: Truth Over Terror

Pascal’s Wager thrives in uncertainty. But the honest seeker doesn’t wager—they investigate.

If there’s a god worth believing in, that god would reward truthfulness, not hedging.

Belief should follow evidence—not fear. And if a god punishes doubt more than dishonesty, that god isn’t worthy of worship.

🧭 The God Question’s Invitation

Pascal told us to bet.

We say: ask. test. follow the truth.

That’s how belief becomes meaningful—or how it gets left behind.

Let’s keep asking.