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Well in answer to your question over time and effort...NOPE never puzzle over it.. I am retired, a Christian, Believe in the Bible and don't mind at all defending it.

See your comment on Covering up brings up the probability that it was not your job or calling to cover up for anything.... IF you did not feel good about preaching, then why didn't you just walk away and count your time there as time well spent (I assume you either were paid a salary or through offerings at a Revival/meeting. Are you as avid in preaching against Christianity/Bible/Christians on the street corners as you are here in the Attic? There are a few here in the attic that are avid anti Christian (They always say that they are not... but...???) who spend more time than I ever do defending, in preaching against Christianity. I have asked each of them time and again.... why? And I always get the same answer... NADA......

I am more than content in believing the Bible, And having Faith in Christ Jesus and disputing the constant "WHY DO YOU CRAM RELIGION DOWN MY THROAT" claims by several here in the attic... I have never done that... ALL of my posts on the subject are in ANSWER to other Posts.... And since I DO believe in the veracity of the Bible, I use it as an answer to what ever the questions are.

Mike

Point taken and respected. Being "biblically incorrect" is an admonishment I think I can survive. If it was OK for Copernicus and Galileo, it's OK for me.

Question: Is there ever a time when you personally puzzle over the amount of time and effort you invest in defending this great old collection of stories filled with contradictions, superstitions, inaccuracies, bigotry, misogyny and nonsense?

I was a very vigorous and successful evangelical Baptist minister until the late 1970s when I found I could just no longer in good conscience justify the time and effort it took to cover for something so ludicrous.

The Elephants in the Room: Watch a Herd Walk through a Hotel
>
> Why go on a safari when you can watch wildlife right from the comfort of
> your hotel?
>
> Inviting big, exotic animals inside probably wasn't the plan when the Mfuwe
> Lodge was built in Zambia in 1998, but that’s what wound up happening. The
> lodge surrounds a mango tree that a local group of elephants likes to feed
> on and sits on the path they traditionally used to get to it.
>
> When Mfuwe opened for business, the elephants made it clear they had no
> intention of changing their route. They walked in like they owned the
> place, shuffled through the lobby and out into the courtyard to feast on
> mangoes.
>
> The spectacle, no doubt concerning to whoever was working the reception
> desk the first time it happened, has become one of the lodge’s main draws,
> and attracts crowds of tourists every year. According to the lodge, the
> group that makes the annual stroll through the lobby includes three
> generations of one elephant family, including their matriarch “Wonky Tusk”
> and the young “Lord Wellington,” who was born on the lodge grounds in 2009.
>
> Wildlife cameraman Nathan Pilcher recently (2014) went to Mfuwe to see the
> elephants for himself, and you can watch his short movie by clicking the
> following link! --- December 14, 2015
> The Elephants that came to dinner|Mfuwe Lodge, Zambia
> http://www.youtube.com/embed/NdTII_unZSA
>