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Then you must take the good with the bad. Don't sit there and tell someone not to believe all of the horrible things in the bible, or tell them that their church told them wrong, when its been clearly pointed out that lilred knew exactly what was in the bible.
Here you go. You weren't specific so I just threw together what I could find. I, the weaker less valuable sex, must submit to the authority of a man so I've made a sandwich for a man.....I wonder if I have just avoided a good ole biblical stoning.
Then you must take the good with the bad. Don't sit there and tell someone not to believe all of the horrible things in the bible, or tell them that their church told them wrong, when its been clearly pointed out that lilred knew exactly what was in the bible.
There is no reason a Christian should be fearful of judgment and eternal damnation. Shame on any church that teaches that! It's not Biblical.
Not biblical??? Good grief man, the bible is full of that very thing.
That's what I think too! All of a sudden, on here, I'm hearing about "Christians" who don't believe in eternal damnation for the sinful non-believers? I'm very confused. I have a family member, whom I adore, who is a Fundie and just last week, she told me how all non-believers, no matter how good or holy they are and no matter what the situation, will burn in hell because "THE ONLY WAY TO HEAVEN IS THRU THE SON". In other words, you must accept Jesus or you are doomed. Oh, "good works are NOT the way to heaven" too. I was told "I would understand all this when I got older, that I am too young to comprehend so I must blindly accept. How is this not a "Hell God"? Did Christianity change while I was asleep, lol?
Freeing myself from organized religion, conservative Lutheran in my case, was the best decision I ever made. It does take a long time to totally lose the fear that we were taught about the vengeful god who created us "dirt bags" who will go to hell if we don't feed his ego by bowing down to him multiple times a day....but eventually you'll be free of that (I still relapse at times for a minute or two). It's a gradual process and it can and will take years to fully get free of the guilt and fear has taken root over the years.
There are so many things I was taught in my early years from the pulpit that just never made sense to me. Why would god create us and then tell us how evil we were ? Why would god create all these souls when he told us in the bible that most would end up in hell. Why would god allow all these bad things to happen on planet Earth ? And on and on and on. Nobody could answer these questions to my satisfaction in my early preteen and teen years. You end up hearing the phrase "god works in mysterious ways"....oh great. So now he wants to make sure we don't understand why he designed a system that is going to send most of us to hell....it's a mystery, is that it ?.
I just avoided religion for years with no real spirtual beliefs. I by chance (???) met some wonderful "seekers" along the way. Fellow travelers if you will, that always left me wanting to know more, to learn more etc... It felt so natural to believe what they said....it just rang true inside my very being what they were saying. I learned that to grow we need to look IN....not OUT. Organized religion teaches you that you're a dirt bag and that salvation is outside of you and you need to go looking for it. My spirtuality now tells me that to grow into a better person spirtually I need to look inside myself and follow my own truth...the truth that is inside you.
It's hard to explain sometimes since it's so vastly different than what I was taught for 25 years....but it's a feeling full of love, hope and eternal optimism that no one is lost forever. Even the worst among us has hope and will eventually make it through this mess. Maybe not in this lifetime...but at some point in their existance.
After years of difficult soul searching, I have decided to end my relationship with organized religion, specifically Christianity. I believe in God, whether it be an entity or entities, or a natural force, with all my heart and soul. I would be a lost soul without my faith, however, I do not feel I can obtain spiritual fufilment(sp?) by following blindly organized religion. My disillusionment with Christianity was painful at first, but now that I have accepted it, I feel free. My main issues with Christianity are as follows: I can't follow a group that thinks it knows, or has figured out everything about life and the divine. I don't believe there is "one true Faith" and "one true" spiritual path. I can't deal with a group that is so obviously misogynistic and had no room for women. I don't believe the Bible came directly from God and that it should be taken literally. The Bible was obviously written by powerful, educated men who used it as a tool to manipulate and keep the uneducated masses in line. I can't deal with a religion that views mankind(especially women) as inherently evil(sin) and weak, slaves to their base natures. Finally(I could go on but you get the major points), I don't believe that ONLY Christians will be saved and that everyone else, no matter how good, pious, and selfless, will BURN, or that the only way to salvation is to declare alliegence to Jesus. Those "saved" ppl can now never lift a finger to help others because "good works won't get you into Heaven" and no matter what they have done in the past(child rape, et al), all is forgiven but the Pagan/Hindi/Buddist who helps his fellows and is moral is condemned for Eternity. These are the major reasons why I can no longer call myself a Christian. If I BURN, so be it ; I followed my heart. ...lil red...... Btw, I am very sorry for the single paragraph. My PDA removes all the paragraph spaces. Thank you.
I have been going through this for the last few years as well. My grandparents are pastors, so I thought it would be a good idea to pose my questions and concerns to them, to see what they had to say. All I got was that I was "of the world" and a "sinner" and that I needed to be prayed for. I understand my grandparents' intentions, however, my questions were never answered. For the last few years, I have done a lot of research on Christianity, and the Bible, and my conclusions are that what we are spoon-fed in church is not the "truth". So, I stopped going to church. I couldnt stand having all of these questions (legitimate questions really, or so I thought) and being told that I was a "bad Christian" for even asking these questions. I basically was told to "shut up with blind acceptance". Well, that doesnt work for me.
Anyway, I still believe in a lot of Christian "beliefs", if thats what you want to call them. However, I dont believe in a lot of the doctrine. I also study a lot of natural stuff, I believe the Earth has a lot of energy, and that influences us, and everything else in the world. I could go on and on.
Well, I am glad that you had the sense to ask questions and also to try and find what works for you. I wish you luck with your quest to find spiritual fulfillment. =)
^^are you referring to Born Again Christians? I think they are the ones that seem to think they are immune to going to hell once they are saved. The Bible is full of fearmongering- in the form of reminding Christians that they will go to hell for not being pious, doctrine is full of that too, esp. for Catholics; the religion of guilt.
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A sandwich for Rifleman.....
