Dear Believer
by Dan Barker
Dear Believer, — You asked me to consider Christianity as the answer for my life. I have done that. I consider it untrue, repugnant, and harmful.
You expect me to believe Jesus was born of a virgin impregnated by a ghost? Do you believe all the crazy tales of ancient religions? Julius Caesar was reportedly born of a virgin; Roman historian Seutonius said Augustus bodily rose to heaven when he died; and Buddha was supposedly born speaking. You don’t believe all that, do you? Why do you expect me to swallow the fables of Christianity?
I find it incredible that you ask me to believe that the earth was created in six literal days; women come from a man’s rib; a snake, a donkey, and a burning bush spoke human language; the entire world was flooded, covering the mountains to drown evil; all animal species, millions of them, rode on one boat; language variations stem from the tower of Babel; Moses had a magic wand; the Nile turned to blood; a stick turned into a snake; witches, wizards, and sorcerers really exist; food rained from the sky for 40 years; people were cured by the sight of a brass serpent; the sun stood still to help Joshua win a battle, and it went backward for King Hezekiah; men survived unaided in a fiery furnace; a detached hand floated in the air and wrote on a wall; men followed a star which directed them to a particular house; Jesus walked on water unaided; fish and bread magically multiplied to feed the hungry; water instantly turned into wine; mental illness is caused by demons; a “devil” with wings exists who causes evil; people were healed by stepping into a pool agitated by angels; disembodied voiced spoke from the sky; Jesus vanished and later materialized from thin air; people were healed by Peter’s shadow; angels broke people out of jail; a fiery lake of eternal torment awaits unbelievers under the earth ... while there is life-after-death in a city which is 1,500 miles cubed, with mansions and food, for Christians only.
If you believe these stories, then you are the one with the problem, not me. These myths violate natural law, contradict science, and fail to correspond with reality or logic. If you can’t see that, then you can’t separate truth from fantasy. It doesn’t matter how many people accept delusions inflicted by “holy” men; a widely held lie is still a lie. If you are so gullible, then you are like the child who believes the older brother who says there is a monster in the hallway. But there is nothing to be afraid of; go turn on the light and look for yourself.
If Christianity were simply untrue I would not be too concerned. Santa is untrue, but it is a harmless myth which people outgrow. But Christianity, besides being false, is also abhorrent. It amazes me that you claim to love the god of the bible, a hateful, arrogant, sexist, cruel being who can’t tolerate criticism. I would not want to live in the same neighborhood with such a creature!
The biblical god is a macho male warrior. Though he said “Thou shalt not kill,” he ordered death for all opposition, wholesale drowning and mass exterminations; punishes offspring to the fourth generation (Ex. 20:5); ordered pregnant women and children to be ripped up (Hos. 13:16); demands animal and human blood to appease his angry vanity; is partial to one race of people; judges women to be inferior to men; is a sadist who created a hell to torture unbelievers; created evil (Is. 45:7); discriminated against the handicapped (Lev. 21:18-23); ordered virgins to be kept as spoils of war (Num. 31:15-18, Deut. 21:11-14); spread dung on people’s faces (Mal. 2:3); sent bears to devour 42 children who teased a prophet (II Kings 2:23-24); punishes people with snakes, dogs, dragons, drunkenness, swords, arrows, axes, fire, famine, and infanticide; and said fathers should eat their sons (Ez. 5:10). Is that nice? Would you want to live next door to such a person?
And Jesus is a chip off the old block. He said, “I and my father are one,” and he upheld “every jot and tittle” of the Old Testament law. Mt. 5:18 He preached the same old judgment: vengeance and death, wrath and distress, hell and torture for all nonconformists. He believed in demons, angels and spirits. He never denounced the subjugation of slaves or women. Women were excluded as disciples and as guests at his heavenly table. Except for hell he introduced nothing new to ethics or philosophy. He was disrespectful of his mother and brothers; he said we should hate our parents and desert our families. Mt. 10:35-36, Lk. 14:26 (So much for “Christian family life.”) He denounced anger, but was often angry himself. Mt. 5:22, Mk. 3:5 He called people “fools” (Mt. 23:17,19), “serpents,” and “white sepulchers,” though he warned that such language puts you in danger of hellfire. Mt. 5:22 He said “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword." Mt. 10:34 (So much for “Peace on Earth.”) He irrationally cursed and withered a fig tree for being barren out of season. Mt. 21:19 He mandated burning unbelievers. Jn. 15:6 (The Church has complied with relish.) He stole a horse. Lk. 19:30-33 He told people to cut off hands, feet, eyes and sexual organs. Mt. 5:29-30, 19:12 You want me to accept Jesus, but I think I’ll pick my own friend, thank you.
One of Jesus’s many contradictions was saying good works should be seen, and not seen. Mt. 5:16, 6:1-4 One of his mistakes was saying that the mustard plant has the smallest seed. Mt. 13:31-32 The writers of Matthew and Luke could not even get his genealogy straight, contradicting the Old Testament, and giving Jesus two discrepant lines through Joseph, his non-father!
I also find Christianity to be morally repugnant. The concepts of original sin, depravity, substitutionary forgiveness, intolerance, eternal punishment, and humble worship are all beneath the dignity of intelligent human beings and conflict with the values of kindness and reason. They are barbaric ideas for primitive cultures cowering in fear and ignorance.
Finally, Christianity is harmful. More people have been killed in the name of a god than for any other reason. The Church has a shameful, bloody history of Crusades, Inquisitions, witch-burnings, heresy trials, American colonial intolerance, disrespect of indigenous traditions (such as American Indians), support of slavery, and oppression of women. Modern “fruits” of religion include the Jonestown massacre, the callous fraud of “faith healers,” recent wars and ethnic cleansing, and fighting in Northern Ireland. Religion also poses a danger to mental health, damaging self-respect, personal responsibility, and clarity of thought.
Do you see why I do not respect the biblical message? It is an insulting bag of nonsense. You have every right to torment yourself with such insanity — but leave me out of it. I have better things to do with my life.
Dear Believer, — You asked me to consider Christianity as the answer for my life. I have done that. I consider it untrue, repugnant, and harmful.
You expect me to believe Jesus was born of a virgin impregnated by a ghost? Do you believe all the crazy tales of ancient religions? Julius Caesar was reportedly born of a virgin; Roman historian Seutonius said Augustus bodily rose to heaven when he died; and Buddha was supposedly born speaking. You don’t believe all that, do you? Why do you expect me to swallow the fables of Christianity?
I find it incredible that you ask me to believe that the earth was created in six literal days; women come from a man’s rib; a snake, a donkey, and a burning bush spoke human language; the entire world was flooded, covering the mountains to drown evil; all animal species, millions of them, rode on one boat; language variations stem from the tower of Babel; Moses had a magic wand; the Nile turned to blood; a stick turned into a snake; witches, wizards, and sorcerers really exist; food rained from the sky for 40 years; people were cured by the sight of a brass serpent; the sun stood still to help Joshua win a battle, and it went backward for King Hezekiah; men survived unaided in a fiery furnace; a detached hand floated in the air and wrote on a wall; men followed a star which directed them to a particular house; Jesus walked on water unaided; fish and bread magically multiplied to feed the hungry; water instantly turned into wine; mental illness is caused by demons; a “devil” with wings exists who causes evil; people were healed by stepping into a pool agitated by angels; disembodied voiced spoke from the sky; Jesus vanished and later materialized from thin air; people were healed by Peter’s shadow; angels broke people out of jail; a fiery lake of eternal torment awaits unbelievers under the earth ... while there is life-after-death in a city which is 1,500 miles cubed, with mansions and food, for Christians only.
If you believe these stories, then you are the one with the problem, not me. These myths violate natural law, contradict science, and fail to correspond with reality or logic. If you can’t see that, then you can’t separate truth from fantasy. It doesn’t matter how many people accept delusions inflicted by “holy” men; a widely held lie is still a lie. If you are so gullible, then you are like the child who believes the older brother who says there is a monster in the hallway. But there is nothing to be afraid of; go turn on the light and look for yourself.
If Christianity were simply untrue I would not be too concerned. Santa is untrue, but it is a harmless myth which people outgrow. But Christianity, besides being false, is also abhorrent. It amazes me that you claim to love the god of the bible, a hateful, arrogant, sexist, cruel being who can’t tolerate criticism. I would not want to live in the same neighborhood with such a creature!
The biblical god is a macho male warrior. Though he said “Thou shalt not kill,” he ordered death for all opposition, wholesale drowning and mass exterminations; punishes offspring to the fourth generation (Ex. 20:5); ordered pregnant women and children to be ripped up (Hos. 13:16); demands animal and human blood to appease his angry vanity; is partial to one race of people; judges women to be inferior to men; is a sadist who created a hell to torture unbelievers; created evil (Is. 45:7); discriminated against the handicapped (Lev. 21:18-23); ordered virgins to be kept as spoils of war (Num. 31:15-18, Deut. 21:11-14); spread dung on people’s faces (Mal. 2:3); sent bears to devour 42 children who teased a prophet (II Kings 2:23-24); punishes people with snakes, dogs, dragons, drunkenness, swords, arrows, axes, fire, famine, and infanticide; and said fathers should eat their sons (Ez. 5:10). Is that nice? Would you want to live next door to such a person?
And Jesus is a chip off the old block. He said, “I and my father are one,” and he upheld “every jot and tittle” of the Old Testament law. Mt. 5:18 He preached the same old judgment: vengeance and death, wrath and distress, hell and torture for all nonconformists. He believed in demons, angels and spirits. He never denounced the subjugation of slaves or women. Women were excluded as disciples and as guests at his heavenly table. Except for hell he introduced nothing new to ethics or philosophy. He was disrespectful of his mother and brothers; he said we should hate our parents and desert our families. Mt. 10:35-36, Lk. 14:26 (So much for “Christian family life.”) He denounced anger, but was often angry himself. Mt. 5:22, Mk. 3:5 He called people “fools” (Mt. 23:17,19), “serpents,” and “white sepulchers,” though he warned that such language puts you in danger of hellfire. Mt. 5:22 He said “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword." Mt. 10:34 (So much for “Peace on Earth.”) He irrationally cursed and withered a fig tree for being barren out of season. Mt. 21:19 He mandated burning unbelievers. Jn. 15:6 (The Church has complied with relish.) He stole a horse. Lk. 19:30-33 He told people to cut off hands, feet, eyes and sexual organs. Mt. 5:29-30, 19:12 You want me to accept Jesus, but I think I’ll pick my own friend, thank you.
One of Jesus’s many contradictions was saying good works should be seen, and not seen. Mt. 5:16, 6:1-4 One of his mistakes was saying that the mustard plant has the smallest seed. Mt. 13:31-32 The writers of Matthew and Luke could not even get his genealogy straight, contradicting the Old Testament, and giving Jesus two discrepant lines through Joseph, his non-father!
I also find Christianity to be morally repugnant. The concepts of original sin, depravity, substitutionary forgiveness, intolerance, eternal punishment, and humble worship are all beneath the dignity of intelligent human beings and conflict with the values of kindness and reason. They are barbaric ideas for primitive cultures cowering in fear and ignorance.
Finally, Christianity is harmful. More people have been killed in the name of a god than for any other reason. The Church has a shameful, bloody history of Crusades, Inquisitions, witch-burnings, heresy trials, American colonial intolerance, disrespect of indigenous traditions (such as American Indians), support of slavery, and oppression of women. Modern “fruits” of religion include the Jonestown massacre, the callous fraud of “faith healers,” recent wars and ethnic cleansing, and fighting in Northern Ireland. Religion also poses a danger to mental health, damaging self-respect, personal responsibility, and clarity of thought.
Do you see why I do not respect the biblical message? It is an insulting bag of nonsense. You have every right to torment yourself with such insanity — but leave me out of it. I have better things to do with my life.
Comments
I am not imposing this question as a believer. Actually, I am an ex-Christian. However, I don't think you quite understand a lot of Jesus' teachings. For instance, he doesn't literally teach people to chop off their limbs, or to swear off otheir families and abandon them. Although it was hard for me to swallow the notion, the Christian teachings do offer deeper interpretations.
Not that you're really wrong about anything else you've elaborated in this post. But even today I don't consider Christian teachings complete and utter bull.
Btw, I too am an ex-christian and I have left the 'Church' because I never really cared much about it, as well as thinking of Western Christianity having lost the plot.
Mostly, I was just concerned with offering a different interpretation to the myriad of Jesus' gems. For instance, when the author mentions about "chopping limbs and hands" when you've sinned, it isn't literal; it talks about "cutting" off the sin and how, metaphorically, it would be better to lose the limb you've sinned with, than to let the sin "spread" to anywhere else in your form. Sin, or the temptation to do so, comes in the form of a disease in this saying.
I know this probably makes me sound like a Jesus-junkie or something, but I guess I'm trying to say not all Christians that I've encountered are bible-thumping zealots who take every word in the bible as it is.
My goal is not to convince anyone that God is real. I am just a man and my words cannot reach into your soul. I applaude the webdesigner for giving people a place to share their views. I believe that these conversations on religion exist and will never go away because people have restless souls and are empty inside. To anyone who is honestly looking for a peace that passes all understanding, don't look for perfection from Christians, who by definition are admitted sinners, look at Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect life and offered himself for us that we may have life.
God Bless You
Thank Nature...
anonymous: "I am just a man and my words cannot reach into your soul."
Soul? What that?
anonymous: "I applaude the webdesigner for giving people a place to share their views."
Perhaps, more attuned to providing a place to present reality...
anonymous: "I believe that these conversations on religion exist and will never go away because people have restless souls and are empty inside."
I have an empty Soul? and it causes me to be restless? How so? If one can not define the Soul, how does it become empty and restless...
anonymous: "To anyone who is honestly looking for a peace that passes all understanding, don't look for perfection from Christians, who by definition are admitted sinners, look at Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect life and offered himself for us that we may have life."
i.e., don't look at this physical reality, to solve lonliness, and need, look to an historical icon labelled Jesus, who may or may not have existed, who knowingly Martyred himself (Death Cult), so that Others may receive a Benefit or Reward, i.e., everlasting life, etc... Oh, and "sin", what's that...
I quote your quote by Mark Twain.
"What I really think, when I am told continuously that I must be out of my mind for not believing in the god of the bible..."
"You believe in a book that has talking animals, wizards, witches, demons, sticks turning into snakes, burning bushes, food falling from the sky, people walking on water, and all sorts of magical, absurd and primitive stories, and you say we are the ones that need help?"--Mark Twain
Take care...
I am always amazed at how these "giants" of literature and science like mark Twain, Galaleo, Ingersoll, Voltaire, Payne, Franklin, and many others are able to see things so clearly in one sentence or one paragraph, that others can't figure out in a lifetime of profundity in writing.
(sorry to bring up a topic from so long a go)
I'd like to say our disagrement doesn't show christanity is false.
I beleive in the historical fact of jesus's resurection, everything else is extra detail, but useful for answering our friends' here's questions.
Christanty hinges on the resurection of Jesus. That is a varifiable fact. It can be tested and proved or disproved using historic method.
If jesus's life story is true, everything else about Christanity must be true for it to make sense.
Everything else is extra detail, and is baced on showing that the logic of it can work. Agreeing or disagreing is baced on if you belive God exists or not.
(sorry for any spelling mistakes)
Buddy
Sorry.
Resting faith in the power of God, not in the wisdom of men/women like Dan Barker, Oprah, etc. 1 Corinthians 2:5 --- Jesus the wisdom of Yahweh and the power of Yahweh (1 Cor. 1:24). http://Yahweh.webonsites.com/
What was my motive? Thanks for asking. Just thought I'd point out that having met one objectionable person who claimed to be a representative Christian doesn't support a categorization of all Christians as being like the one. Or having met one group claiming..., and so on. I've met all kinds over the years. Christians old and young, idealistic and realistic, silly and wise. With the small percentage of chaotic thinkers and compulsive haranguers removed from the mix of those I've known, the remaining (and quite diverse) adherents are neither fearful of the changes in culture around them nor concerned over the fact that science causes regular upheaval in traditional interpretations of historical understanding. My observation, my analysis.
I personally enjoy the play of history against a backdrop of faith in God. As often as one discovery or theory threatens to undermine the faith of many, another discovery or theory reverses the process. I think there is genuine nobility and benefit in the pursuit of objective truth by scientists and philosophers; it causes me no particular distress, nor does it cause more than a ripple in the world of Christian belief. The exceptions are minor. Evolution, for example, is a wonderful subject for discussion, but poses no particular threat to the church in spite of all the publicity and knee-jerk confrontation. A non-emotional, multi-lateral inquiry is useful; a confrontational debate obscures the issue and is perceived as threatening by both sides. A generally useless activity.
No great rebuke intended in my comments beyond perhaps pointing out the fundamental attribution error* in the referenced post. It was intended to provoke thought rather than recrimination. The logical follow-on to my comments might be, "What if there is more to know than I know? What if my understanding of the 'church' is biased? What if my experience with Christians is off-center? What if my opinions, so strongly embedded in my mind, aren't as soundly formed as I think? What if I'm one of those emphatic but unwise younger minds who haven't quite seen the larger picture? What if the 'body of believers' isn't anything like I've thought?" Those sorts of things.
I'm aware that my experience isn't precisely the same as anyone else's. I'm aware that a bad experience in a given context can predispose a person's mind for decades. Sometimes it's helpful to point out that our contextual presuppositions should be challenged from time to time. Someone said to our benefit, "The unobserved life isn't worth living." Or something along that line.
For a more personal example, what if your 30 years in the church weren't very much like what God intended for you or for those with whom you fellowshipped? What if those years were well-intended human attempts to do what they thought they found in scripture?
So there you have my motive, at least as clearly as I'm aware of it. Thanks again for asking, pal.
Buddy
P.S. It's Sunday, and I'm off to be with some fine folks at church. Some are searching, most are strong-minded believers, every profession from test pilot to school-kid, all imperfect. You should visit someday. You'd be welcome.
* "In attribution theory, the fundamental attribution error (also known as correspondence bias or overattribution effect) is the tendency for an observer to over-emphasize dispositional, or personality-based, explanations for behaviors observed in others while under-emphasizing situational explanations."
Seem like Gospel pierce hole through head. Uu, Uu.
Sorry.
Borat says, Mr Jesus claims that HIS NAME IS THE NAME AND HIS AUTHORITY IS THE AUTHORITY.
--S.
I'd like to first say that in readin some of these things on here I have to say there seems to be a lack of "knowledge". You have to understand that the bible, when written is in a parabilic way (Parables, almost riddle like) to decipher the bible would mean to apply MORE than everyday knowledge, or just "commen sense"
When speaking of such things as "mauled children by bears" or "hating your parents"... these things are all written in a parable. the word na'ar (meaning child - anyone up to the age of 40) is a hebrew word and is poorly transulated for us, so one man of just commen knowledge would make the assumption that it should be taken for EXACTLY what it says. And the lord spoke of us to love him MORE than our parents, not to hate our parents... but it is written that way to show you on a scale, of the firstly love we should have for our lord. So on and so forth..... and I would challenge anyone who reads this to absolutly pick up a copy of "The Expositer's Study Bible" for it WILL explain EACH and EVERY one of those passages in the bible named in this letter... and you will truely understand what the bible is really saying. God bless you all.
Parables you say?
Could it possibly be then, that the whole jesus-son-of-god story was also nothing more than a mere parable to?
Yeah, I'm pretty darn SURE it was, or perhaps it was an intentional work (of fiction) by the authors to further control the population.
Try as you may, you can't make sense out of nonsense, my friend
ATF (Who never saw a 39 year old 'child' before)
Oh, John has it all figured out. You got the one and only, true, interpretation of scripture. That god of yours sure was clever, writing down his all-important, messages and commandments, in an ancient book, only to turn it into a puzzle, for people to decipher, causing christianity to splinter into 34,000 different sects and denominations, all with their idiosyncratic interpretation of scripture. What a brilliant undertaking, by the creator of the universe, delivering his all-important messages, in the form of vague texts, parables, poems, songs, dream imagery, switching from literal to non-literal, that could so easily be misinterpreted, perverted or interpreted, in so many different ways. You would think, the creator of the universe, could do a better job at getting his all-important, messages to everyone, unequivocally and universally, but seeing, that the other 70% of the world, is either another religion or the non-religious and they don't believe, in the bible, and the other 30% of christians have vast and differing interpretations of scripture -- I'd say god's doing a shitty job at conveying his all-important messages. I'll tell you what Johnny-Christian, when your god can deliver his all-important messages, to everyone, equally and unequivocally, you come on back and let us know -- I'll expect you in around -- NEVER.
--S.
http://Spiritlessons.com/ There are no atheists in hell, only they are too late without a second chance.
Your use of na'ar is pretty selective, its literal meaning in Hebrew is that of child or young person. Na'ar may be used in reference to older person but usually in terms of behavior. It is used for Joseph and Joshua who are older but clear reference to the context is that they are behaving like children either in a negative way (immature) or positive way (obedient). It is also used to refer to servants and attendants but also this is revealed through context. It is the antonym of "ish" - which means man or maturity.
As usual - you have just chosen the most palatable interpretation for your own beliefs - you choose to ignore the literal translation which would fit perfectly in the context and choose an uneasy interpretation that fits with your own conscience. It does not change the fact that God sent bears to maul 42 young people (not stated they are 7 or 12 or 28) for teasing a guy for being bald. Unless you are saying the whole incident is a parable?
Jesus specifically says this in Matthew 10:35-36
35 For I have come to turn
" 'a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law -
36a man's enemies will be the members of his own household
Na'ar is not used at all - it sounds literal and specific enough.
Once again you are cherry picking for the sake of your own lack of courage in your convictions. You are also claiming that you have access to some special knowledge of the Bible. Paul says that even children can understand the Bible - unless you claim to have an exclusive interpretation, a special "knowledge" that you have gotten from merely reading a single book that merely papers over the glaring gaps.
The fact you cannot deny is that there are many interpretations of the Bible - either God is not omnipotent or omnipresent to keep his most important message straight (I am sure his divine will cannot be overturned by a couple of myopic scribes as is the common excuse), or that the collection of books was always only by human hands who did not proof read what the previous guy wrote very well. Your interpretation is just the latest attempt in thousands of years of church history to "fix" a human endeavor and present it as a divine one.
i completely agree with you
i have never read anything more inspiring
thank you for posting this
as i do not understand how christians can believe in this bullshit
as i was raised in a christain family and forced into all th christian non sense
it is a mere religion of controling people through fear
rules rules rules if you dont do this if you do this bah bah your going to hell
i believe christain has starided off into something false and fictional
as the bible is not true as we know it suppose to teach you lessons
john of arc never happened its geographicaly proven
moses never parted the sea of reds he walked through a the sea of reids on a windy day when the tide was low
however i do believe in a great power and that we do have souls
but im a stronge believeer of recranation
just know that god may exist however he is not so merciful and loving as you think
i have gone through the bible and dedated many topics with preists
god is just not a very nice person
and jesus well sorry to burst ur bubble he wasnt the only messiah walkin around his time
come on people open your eyes
you can believe in god and satan but dont follow the church or the bible
they are completely misleading
In reference to the topic at hand: I personally believe in a supreme being, or God as generally referenced. I have, at points in my history, declared myself to be "christian", "wiccan", and "christo-wiccan". I do consider myself to be a Christ-follwer today, not to be confused with modern christianity. I believe there to be far too many egotistical, self-serving individuals in the "ministry" today, and that scripture is being twisted to fit the needs of most biased individuals who claim "the faith". I can see where each of you are coming from, and I must stress that personal belief should not be confused with "religion". Religion is nothing more than a repetitious pattern of actions, pre-observed cause and effect, that keeps individuals in their comfort zones. Much akin to driving to work via the same route on a daily basis, religion leaves you at a point where you go through the motions on auto-pilot, blacking out half of the journey. I may share my views, when asked, but I understand that each is entitled to his or own views and opinions. Any "christian" who would oppose that premise apparently does not understand the teachings of Christ or the concept of free will. I caution each of you to think of others before acting on instinct or emotion. Middle ground can not be achieved unless both sides are willing to appreciate and value the other's opinions and views. I could go on, but in the interest of saving space I'll stop here. anyone interested in further discussion, email me or find me on myspace (myspace.com/tainted_angel24).
blessed be!
In reference to the topic at hand: I personally believe in a supreme being, or God as generally referenced. I have, at points in my history, declared myself to be "christian", "wiccan", and "christo-wiccan". I do consider myself to be a Christ-follwer today, not to be confused with modern christianity. I believe there to be far too many egotistical, self-serving individuals in the "ministry" today, and that scripture is being twisted to fit the needs of most biased individuals who claim "the faith". I can see where each of you are coming from, and I must stress that personal belief should not be confused with "religion". Religion is nothing more than a repetitious pattern of actions, pre-observed cause and effect, that keeps individuals in their comfort zones. Much akin to driving to work via the same route on a daily basis, religion leaves you at a point where you go through the motions on auto-pilot, blacking out half of the journey. I may share my views, when asked, but I understand that each is entitled to his or own views and opinions. Any "christian" who would oppose that premise apparently does not understand the teachings of Christ or the concept of free will. I caution each of you to think of others before acting on instinct or emotion. Middle ground can not be achieved unless both sides are willing to appreciate and value the other's opinions and views. I could go on, but in the interest of saving space I'll stop here. anyone interested in further discussion, email me or find me on myspace (myspace.com/tainted_angel24).
blessed be!
Russ,
If you're following this christ character, then you are a xtian, and if you're a xtian, you belong to the xtian religion, even if your sect consist of exactly one person in your congregation....YOU.
ATF (Who just loves when they make a personal exception for themselves to be outside of "religion" and hence, obviously more special to this personal god)
I grew up in a Christian family, though my parents are relatively open-minded and progressive. I was raised a Christian, being baptised as a child before i even had any comprehension of what i was getting into or capacity to consent. I know my parents meant well, but sometimes i can't help but feel violated at being "forced" (however inadvertently) into one belief system.
I used to be quite fervent, accepting all i'd heard in sunday school as *the Truth*. I even questioned my teacher in class when she started teaching us about evolution. If i could go back now, i'd give my old self a right smack across the head.
Things changed as i looked deeper. Questions kept cropping up. I couldn't answer them, and those who tried couldn't give me a satsfactory answer. I felt guilty for judging God, and some christians i talked to just made it worse.
It came to a head when i started studying history, and later on law. I thought to myself, what kind of sadistic God puts us through such suffering? If he's so all-powerful, why couldn't he just have ended things with adam and eve and started over? Why does God allow children to be afflicted with rubella and be born nearly brain-dead- putting the mother through such agony deciding whether to take the horrific step of abortion.
As things went on, it all made less and less sense.
So now, i'm practically a closet atheist. I'm angry and disillusioned, and increasingly agitated by the delusion i see all around me.
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