DanInPA Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 There's also the Gospel Story Quiz Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dhampir Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 Just had a thought: Maybe the reason world peace hasn't been achieved through prayer is because two christians somewhere are praying against it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spamandham Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 That's why that phrase bothers me. If something is wrong, it must be because a man (as in human, not as in male) made a mistake. It couldn't be god. Sounds like a good topic for another thread - is there one on that floating around? Many such a thread have come and gone, but you're welcome to start another one. The good/bad dichotemy is anti-human. It attributes all our "good" to some imaginary being and lumps the "evil" of nature onto our shoulders. What a crock of crap. Loving religion my ass... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pandora Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 That's why that phrase bothers me. If something is wrong, it must be because a man (as in human, not as in male) made a mistake. It couldn't be god. Sounds like a good topic for another thread - is there one on that floating around? It's on my list of things to learn more about. Potentially good news. We went to a different church yesterday. It was a 'baptist' church, but not nearly as hard core as either of our previous churches. The pastor mentioned one verse and then talked about what it meant. But he only used the verse as a way to start the topic - no other mention of god or Jesus until the end. And it wasn't a religious topic but one on how you live your life so it applied to both sides of the god arguement. I also heard something I never thought I would at church - "Visitors, you shouldn't feel obligated to put money in the collection trays." Huh? A church telling somebody it was ok not to give money. We discussed going to a class for 'beginners in studying the Bible' which seems more on our level. Hopefully that'll open some doors to doubt. I really think both of us have fallen into the trap of believing what church elders tell us and accepting their interpretations as fact rather than coming to our own conclusions. Let me get this straight... you are going to regularly attend a church while you are a seeker? It seems to me, that unless you can see through all the bullshit, that you could get sucked in rather easily and be "sure" that the Christian god exists. Why not go to a Universalist church or some other avenue other than BAPTIST? Even American (the mainline denom) Baptists are more literalist than the mainline churches. Try an Episcopalian/Anglican church. You are getting a VERY biased and ignorant view of issues that are key to goal of becoming "sure" (I saw that your avatar says unsure). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonHorn Posted March 28, 2006 Author Share Posted March 28, 2006 Let me get this straight... No matter where I look I'm going to get a biased opinion; whether it be church, web sites, books, or here. I'm spending a pretty good chunk of time out on the internet reading, mostly sites like this, so I figure one hour a week on the other side of the fence will actually be beneficial. My thinking is that I need to see as many opinions as possible so I can come to my own conclusions. That said, the church we were at was very fundamental - Hell came up more often than anything else - so I think this is a move in the right direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LloydDobler Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 No matter where I look I'm going to get a biased opinion; whether it be church, web sites, books, or here. I'm spending a pretty good chunk of time out on the internet reading, mostly sites like this, so I figure one hour a week on the other side of the fence will actually be beneficial. My thinking is that I need to see as many opinions as possible so I can come to my own conclusions. That said, the church we were at was very fundamental - Hell came up more often than anything else - so I think this is a move in the right direction. Bias notwithstanding, some sources are more balanced than others. We may be biased here, but we've also experienced both sides and generally speaking, are more well informed than the average person, christian or not. Anyway, I wouldn't worry about him Pandora, I had no problem seeing through the bullshit while going to church. An honest person asking questions will see right through the 'faith based' answers given in a church to lead the blind along. In fact, it'll probably reinforce the doubt, as you witness people openly lying to themselves based on a presupposed belief. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonHorn Posted March 28, 2006 Author Share Posted March 28, 2006 it'll probably reinforce the doubt Uh, yeah. Kinda did. Hopefully it will at least spark some doubt in my other half. And the bias comment was not intended to be negative in any way. I just know that I need to understand the direction that information is coming from because that plays a big part in the validity of it. Validity is not the right word, but I can't think of the correct one right now. Hopefully you can understand what I'm trying to say. And yes, y'all do seem to have more background information to back you up than most. We've moved from a very fundamental church, to one a little (very little) more liberal, to the one we went to last weekend. I feel like we're at least moving in the right direction. Heck our first church had members that wouldn't put up a Christmas tree because of the pagan tradition behind it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godless Wonder Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 Uh, yeah. Kinda did. Hopefully it will at least spark some doubt in my other half. For both your sakes, I hope so, but I have to say, it seems unlikely, and you should mentally prepare yourself for the possibility that this could be the beginning of the end for you two, not because it will happen, but because the odds are a bit too high for comfort that it might happen. This kind of thing has been the end of *so many* relationships, it is just mind blowing. The Christianity meme has evolved powerful mechanisms to defend itself, and many of them involve removing people who threaten it from its environment by causing the host human to reject other humans that threaten the integrity of the meme by questioning the premises upon which it relies (Weird way of putting it, I know, but it's exactly what happens.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonHorn Posted April 13, 2006 Author Share Posted April 13, 2006 I'm taking this as a good sign. She came home last week from Blockbuster with Brokeback Mountain. She told me she wanted to see it, but would watch it alone if I didn't want to see it. Heck, I wanted to see it out of curiosity if for no other reason. But after hearing our previous pastor say that it should be boycotted when it originally came out, I wasn't expecting her to be willing to see it. I'm coming to the conclusion that she's not quite as fundamental as I thought. I'm thinking there are some family issues there as well. But I still don't think I'm at the point where I can totally disband from it quite yet. Maybe after the Easter stuff settles down. I figure the weekend celebrating the defining moment of Christianity probablly isn't the best time to come totally clean And everybody got too focused on the gay side of it. It was a really good movie - kind of a Romeo and Juliet theme to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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