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Originally Posted by Michael Chui  The other problem I had with Christians was their intolerance of logic. I spent a lot of time, when I was younger, arguing for creationism against people who knew more than I did. I knew when my argument was lost. I knew that, while I was not refuted, I could not refute them, so their theory had as much validity for we, the laymen of biology, as creationism. For a lot of Christians, they're not willing to question the nature of God or explore the possibility that parts of their doctrine could in fact be wrong. I cannot stand this, because it stands in the way of the search for truth. Again, this does not apply to all of them, but too many. |
You hit the nail on the head. I grew up in church as well, being told to question everything I was told--except for what was said in church. The problem is, when you question everything, you eventually get around to questioning your beliefs. When I started to examine the christianity that's tought in mainstream church, and compare it up against reality, it fell short.
Now, I believe in the Bible. However, when people make careers out of teaching people from it, there's going to be some distortion, because the message will eventually be changed to benefit the people teaching it in some way. Extrapolate that out over 2000 years (and more), and you get things like pork-barrel politics, but in religion. Huge institutions, people making careers out of the religion, and messages that have at least some bearing on personal power and finances. This is a terrible bastardization of what it was originally supposed to be.
When I read the Bible with my new perspectives and beliefs about how reality works, it comes alive for me. I didn't have any interest in the Bible for about 15 years--I was sitting on a set of beliefs that I didn't REALLY believe in, so I had no use for the Bible. I knew what it said already. However, about a year ago I started questioning EVERYTHING. It's very alive and relevant to me now, and although they won't teach you in church the Bible talks very directly about things like intention and manifestation. Unless you already know about such things though, it just sounds like some weird old gibberish and poetry.
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Originally Posted by Michael Chui I would rather consider myself a "sect of one" than associate myself with such people. I felt actively inhibited by the affiliation, so I discarded it as unncessary. |
I prefer to call myself a follower of Jesus Christ
