Woohoo does it again!
This brilliant philosopher-queen does it again one more time and will do it again! She pleads her case in the Painful Truth message board that mankind has a spiritual side and that is a beautiful thing,not to be afraid of. Mind you most (not all) of the participants of the PT message board have an atheist slant.
One of the saddest things for me is that the WCG robbed a lot of people of their spiritual side. I am a christian now, and I do know that there are some churches that are not high pressure, are not high demand, are not about nickels and noses, and are just a group of people who care about themselves, about each other, and about their community and the world.
I believe that every person has a spiritual side, and part of the human experience is the journey of finding out what we believe and why we believe it. I think that it is possible to believe that Jesus was who the gospels claim him to be without all of the bullshit demands. (Gee, that sounded rather religious, didn't it?)
Some might say that they will not believe because of mounting evidence to the contrary. I find it fascinating that the majority of atheists that I have met have been seriously abused or have had family members who were seriously abused by churches. I don't want to sound condescending here at all, but it makes me wonder if the point of this atheism is anger at the abusers. It's almost as if the abusers stole the right of people to be spiritual in addition to stealing their time and energy and money. That so pisses me off!
I will say that it is rare to find a church that doesn't abuse or use emotionalism to evoke a response in the hearer. It has been very tough for us as a family to find people who believe in God, in individual freedom, and in personal interpretation of the bible. It is amazing how many "church growth" tactics are thinly veiled abuse and mind control techniques.
Someone once asked me, after I explained my position on this, if God was going to send all of those people who don't think he exists to hell. I explained that I believe that people knowingly choose hell, and if I am smart enough to see people running from God in a way to avoid abuse, certainly God is wise enough to see the same thing. I don't ever believe that running from abuse means running towards hell. On any level. And if God can't see through this, then he isn't much of a god.
Jesus talks an awful lot about religious abuse, and yet I think that it is the most overlooked subject in the Church (meaning all churches that claim to be Christ-followers). People want to ignore these teachings and run straight to the Pauline letters, which are specific letters to specific people about specific issues and were never meant to be universal. They can't mean now what they didn't mean then.
I have a lot to learn, but I know that I do believe in God and in his love. I hope that I am loving and gracious to everyone in return; at least, I strive to be. And if I fail, I can always say I am sorry and ask people to forgive me. That seems to be the essence of humility.
For me, the message of Jesus was simple. You matter, and other people matter. And there will be ultimate justice, not meted out by men, but by God, who we can trust to make the absolute right decisions regarding this.
All that being said, I hope that I am not a "religious" person who alters facts to conform to my beliefs. I hope that I am a person who looks at myself factually and tries to learn the truth as I find it. I personally have done a great deal of study about how we got this present day bible, and I have come to the conclusion that what it says is very credible. I believe in the miraculous. I have seen it in my own life. I also believe that the bible is filled with poetry and symbolism that is not always to be taken literally.
Hope this helps you see where I am coming from.
Oh, one more thing: there is a great documentary that I watched tonight called "Hell House." I think that we could agree that this kind of "evangelism" in the name of God is abusive and sick.
May again I say, "Bravo! Bravo!!!"
Post a Comment