What to believe, crisis of faith

Hi Aztraph.I don't have time to interact much on this board anymore, but I do check it here and there, and I couldn't resist talking to you. I've faced a lot of your same questions a few years ago, right about the time I was your age and married the same amount of time, though I had 3 boys at the time. That was ten years ago.I came to the conclusion that the Bible and the Word of God were two separate things based on reading the Bible. I believe the Word of God is a being, who came to earth, became man, and imparted a part of himself to trusted men.The reason that I--a believer in evolution, a disbeliever in inerrancy, and someone who doubts that the Exodus ever happened (at least in the numbers described in the Bible)--still believe in the Word of God (that Being I spoke of) is because of practical, down-to-earth results. I've seen lives transformed in an instant; I've had words dropped in my spirit that when spoken changed the person across from me; and I've seen the unrelenting work of that Word on those who live with it every day.At the risk of being seen as a proselytizer, which I am not, the greatest maintainer of my belief has been the chance to experience "church." Not "church" like the building on the street corner, but "church" as in no one calling anything their own, being of one heart and one soul with the family that belongs to the Word, and seeing that in him every branch really does bear fruit, and every person really does experience a continuance of the good work begun in them.A belief in inerrancy, as far as I can tell, has pretty miserable results in people's lives. A diligent attempt to live the Bible has not done much better. For every bit of good, there's been as much, or maybe a lot more, harm. But to embrace the Word and become his follower has produced results that are generally described as either plain amazing or "that's how it ought to be." I don't know how many times we have heard, from people who don't live with us but see our life, "that's how it ought to be."

Hi AztraphI just thought I'd ask whether you saw my post 92?

One of the Bible verses anti-holiday people use talks about God wanting the names of pagan gods forgotten.I don't know anyone who worships Easter/Oestre. And the majority of people who know that Easter is the name of an Egyptian fertility goddesss were told that by anti-holiday Christians (like I used to be). So, as far as I can tell, the only people spreading the memory and knowledge of the Egytian goddess of fertility are the people who refuse to celebrate Easter!I don't call it Easter, either, because it's one of the few original Christian holidays, celebrated from Christianity's earliest days. It seems important enough to me to focus on its tie to Passover and its celebration of the resurrection, even in its name, but trying to remind everyone of who Easter was seems counter-productive.