Good article, Gideon...I hope that my article didn't offend you, because that's not how it was meant.

I struggle with this every day. I see so many 'devout' christians doing and saying things in the name of god....it makes me wonder sometimes if god's not looking at all that's going on and shaking his head, saying to himself "no, you've got it all wrong!  That's not what I meant at all!".

Did you ever watch the X-Files?  If you did, do you remember the poster in Mulder's office?  The one that sais 'I Want To Believe'?  That's how I feel about god most days.  I really want to believe.....but I don't know if I can.  I get so caught up in dogma and such...it makes it difficult.

I bought a book last week, the latest in the 'Conversations With God' series.  It's called 'Friendship with God'.  I was inspired to get it; I thought that it might help me rekindle my friendship with him.  Now all I have to do is read it.  To be honest, I'm a little afraid to......

Good article, Gideon...I hope that my article didn't offend you, because that's not how it was meant.

No, no offense, dharma. I respect your posts, and have never seen you as a Christian basher. I just didn't want to hijack your thread...lol.

A suggested read for you as well: "The Ragamuffin Gospel" by Brennan Manning. It delves into the concept of grace, and how what we see may not necessarily be the way things are.

It delves into the concept of grace, and how what we see may not necessarily be the way things are.

I'll go look for that.  In the meantime, 'Frienships with God' has had me saying aloud "yes!  that's what I thought!" more than a few times.  It makes me feel better about the whole god/no god issue, but doesn't get bogged down in the intricacies.

 

Very well said, Gideon...I see way too many examples these days of people claiming to speak for God who don't seem to have a CLUE what He's really saying!    And that just makes life harder for those who are trying to muddle through and live our lives in the most Christian way we know how, as the mere mention of the word "Christian" suddenly has all sorts of negative connotations.

And that just makes life harder for those who are trying to muddle through and live our lives in the most Christian way we know how, as the mere mention of the word "Christian" suddenly has all sorts of negative connotations.

Very true. When someone points out to me that Christians were "responsible for slavery", I point them to the many dedicated Christians who risked everything up to and including their lives for the abolitionist movement. When someone points out that Christians "supported Hitler", I point out gallant men like Rev. Martin Neimoller and Deitrich Bonhoeffer, who died refusing to serve Nazi Germany. There are bad Christians, to be sure, but true Christianity really is more than just a religion (I'm not one of those who say it's not a religion; it IS); true Christianity is all encompassing. And true Christianity stands up AGAINST these things, not for them.

I remember regretting that I didn't have the money to attend Matthew Sheppard's funeral; I would have loved to have gone head to head with "Reverend" Fred Phelps.

Lovely article. It is really sad the way people feel about Christians. When I was very small, we belonged to a Southern Baptist Church, but came to our senses. We became Quakers. All I can do is live my life as an example.

I have great respect for Quakers. They are one of the few churches who, as a rule, adopt what I consider a consistent prolife stance (often being anti-war and anti-death penalty as well as anti-abortion), and their extensive involvement in the Underground Railroad (one of those historical facts my children caused me to see, when we were doing a unit study on slavery), is an example of what a true Christian should be.