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Author Topic:   Opinions and conclusions about Religion and God.
macaroniandcheese 
Suspended Member (Idle past 3928 days)
Posts: 4258
Joined: 05-24-2004


Message 7 of 280 (320916)
06-12-2006 6:56 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by Phat
06-12-2006 11:14 AM


i was raised pca. i know my westminster cover to cover. i know more bible verses than you can shake a stick at. i've yet to read the 'whole' thing, but i'm not sure what parts i haven't read.
the older i get, the more i realize that the god i know and the god i know is very real is not represented by christianity. at least not any variety that exists today.
i don't know what to do with that knowledge. i quit going to church because i can't justify "biblical worship" with a bible that forbids chanting. i don't know how to deal with the bible which i see as a very political document outside of all else. the old testament is almost entirely about how evil everyone but judah is and the new testament is all mussed up with personal moralizing based on a man who came to forgive and to love.
my mind and my heart don't know where to meet on this. i can accept any number of options theoretically, but none of it seems to be acceptable to me. worse, most christians are so judgemental and so unwelcoming and so unforgiving that i have no home with them.
it is, for the most part, the members of churches that have driven me away from god. and i am very close to just abandoning it all. god gave me a mind that questions everything and tests everything. the bible tells us to test and try the word and to test and try the spirit. i am of the mind that i'm doing the right thing and all i get is damnation from "god's people".

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1 by Phat, posted 06-12-2006 11:14 AM Phat has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 25 by riVeRraT, posted 06-13-2006 7:03 AM macaroniandcheese has replied

  
macaroniandcheese 
Suspended Member (Idle past 3928 days)
Posts: 4258
Joined: 05-24-2004


Message 29 of 280 (321088)
06-13-2006 11:32 AM
Reply to: Message 25 by riVeRraT
06-13-2006 7:03 AM


matthew 6:7
And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
i grew up singing hymns, doing responsive readings, and repeating the lord's prayer every sunday. the same order, the same timbre, stand up here, sit down there. i loved every bit. but now that i have questions that are still going unanswered, i can't devote myself to the words. so instead, i simply don't say them. but i can't go and not say anything especially since i'm in a new area. the problem with churches is that they're full of people. and people suck. people have enough trouble dealing with me, i don't have to give them an excuse to think i'm weird or subversive.
i can't say the words because they are not mine. that is not worshiping in spirit and in truth.
btw. i find it very ironic that so many now chant the lord's prayer so emptily.
matthew 6 is a very challenging chapter when discussing american christianity. it's pretty much a summary of my issues.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 25 by riVeRraT, posted 06-13-2006 7:03 AM riVeRraT has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 33 by lfen, posted 06-13-2006 1:16 PM macaroniandcheese has replied
 Message 54 by riVeRraT, posted 06-14-2006 8:09 AM macaroniandcheese has replied

  
macaroniandcheese 
Suspended Member (Idle past 3928 days)
Posts: 4258
Joined: 05-24-2004


Message 34 of 280 (321145)
06-13-2006 2:11 PM
Reply to: Message 33 by lfen
06-13-2006 1:16 PM


the only christian group i generally test for on those silly internet quizzes are the friends. but i like sex
i'm very interested in a questing bible study, but it's hard to find such that provides me an environment in which i don't scare people.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 33 by lfen, posted 06-13-2006 1:16 PM lfen has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 35 by lfen, posted 06-13-2006 2:32 PM macaroniandcheese has replied

  
macaroniandcheese 
Suspended Member (Idle past 3928 days)
Posts: 4258
Joined: 05-24-2004


Message 36 of 280 (321157)
06-13-2006 2:51 PM
Reply to: Message 35 by lfen
06-13-2006 2:32 PM


i live in a very large jewish community with a commuter university.
i was raised in the heart of the redneck riviera and the buckle of the bible belt, the blessed home of pensacola christian college.
i'm not used to the most accepting environments.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 35 by lfen, posted 06-13-2006 2:32 PM lfen has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 38 by lfen, posted 06-13-2006 3:07 PM macaroniandcheese has replied

  
macaroniandcheese 
Suspended Member (Idle past 3928 days)
Posts: 4258
Joined: 05-24-2004


Message 40 of 280 (321165)
06-13-2006 3:19 PM
Reply to: Message 38 by lfen
06-13-2006 3:07 PM


i have decided to search for schools based on the papers proposed by professors rather than by school placement or credentials. however, i am terribly infatuated with portland.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 38 by lfen, posted 06-13-2006 3:07 PM lfen has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 41 by lfen, posted 06-13-2006 3:47 PM macaroniandcheese has replied

  
macaroniandcheese 
Suspended Member (Idle past 3928 days)
Posts: 4258
Joined: 05-24-2004


Message 43 of 280 (321177)
06-13-2006 4:10 PM
Reply to: Message 41 by lfen
06-13-2006 3:47 PM


i spent a month in anchorage one christmas. it was wonderful. i was diagnosed as chronic low-grade depression in about 4th grade. the weather is not going to make me worse. i prefer november in the south. it tends to be crisp, windy, and rainy. read: scotland.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 41 by lfen, posted 06-13-2006 3:47 PM lfen has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 44 by lfen, posted 06-13-2006 4:22 PM macaroniandcheese has replied

  
macaroniandcheese 
Suspended Member (Idle past 3928 days)
Posts: 4258
Joined: 05-24-2004


Message 46 of 280 (321220)
06-13-2006 6:27 PM
Reply to: Message 44 by lfen
06-13-2006 4:22 PM


my heat shock enzymes work very quickly and i tend to acclimate within a week or two as long as i'm not hampered by over-air-conditioning.

This message is a reply to:
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macaroniandcheese 
Suspended Member (Idle past 3928 days)
Posts: 4258
Joined: 05-24-2004


Message 106 of 280 (321533)
06-14-2006 5:09 PM
Reply to: Message 54 by riVeRraT
06-14-2006 8:09 AM


i'm more worried about my own worship rather than those of others. i don't care how dead a church is, i can't go if i don't feel what i'm saying. the problem is with what i feel.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 54 by riVeRraT, posted 06-14-2006 8:09 AM riVeRraT has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 116 by riVeRraT, posted 06-15-2006 8:04 AM macaroniandcheese has replied

  
macaroniandcheese 
Suspended Member (Idle past 3928 days)
Posts: 4258
Joined: 05-24-2004


Message 119 of 280 (321953)
06-15-2006 3:49 PM
Reply to: Message 116 by riVeRraT
06-15-2006 8:04 AM


i still feel god. but i think i feel him more now in that nature of mercy and kindness rather than someone with rules and requests and demands. i am more than aware of my failings, but i think it is more important to be kind and forgiving and generous and loving and so forth to others than to work so hard to achieve something i cannot be but instead to be humble and contrite and repentant.
I can only humbly suggest to worship Him in spirit and truth by being yourself
but thank you for allowing me this. i really appreciate it. you are a rare and precious gem.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 116 by riVeRraT, posted 06-15-2006 8:04 AM riVeRraT has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 120 by riVeRraT, posted 06-15-2006 5:26 PM macaroniandcheese has replied

  
macaroniandcheese 
Suspended Member (Idle past 3928 days)
Posts: 4258
Joined: 05-24-2004


Message 121 of 280 (322007)
06-15-2006 6:20 PM
Reply to: Message 120 by riVeRraT
06-15-2006 5:26 PM


I know I live by grace alone
we all do. i just wish more people remembered this and stopped acting like they somehow deserve their grace.
for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of god.
for it is by grace you have been saved and THAT not of yourselves; it is the FREE GIFT of god, not of WORKS lest ANY man boast.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 120 by riVeRraT, posted 06-15-2006 5:26 PM riVeRraT has not replied

  
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