Huffington post article today: "My Emancipation from American Christianity"
December 5, 2015 at 1:33 pm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-pavlo...18400.html
This one is getting a lot of facebook traction today.
In this article, the author describes the feeling of being driven away from American Christianity. He speaks of rejecting the fear, the xenophobia, the threats of hell, the judgmental-ism, the rejection of everything non-christian, etc. He discusses the feeling of being freed to worship a god that is greater.
>> Well, those of us here who were raised religious probably understand this feeling all too well. I remember it. But here is the problem as I have lived it: you have to reject the bible to actually embrace this mindset. Now, I know that a lot of folks that embrace this stance have never actually read the bible. They hear a verse or two that is "oh so inspiring" on Sundays sometimes. But that mindset of "a god that is greater" is going to take a hell of a lot of cherry picking to hang on to. They will have to reject the entire OT, as well as most of what Jesus AND Paul supposedly said. They might as well go Unitarian, or just call themselves New Age Pagans who follow some of the teachings of Jesus.
I think that the state described is, for many, the last stepping stone into atheism. Just give these folks a good dose of modern science and <poof!> = newbie atheist. And I think a lot of liberal "mega-church" members are at this state: they go to services for the camaraderie, not to learn about the bible. How many of them will lose the last vestiges of their faith, as I did?
Thoughts?
This one is getting a lot of facebook traction today.
In this article, the author describes the feeling of being driven away from American Christianity. He speaks of rejecting the fear, the xenophobia, the threats of hell, the judgmental-ism, the rejection of everything non-christian, etc. He discusses the feeling of being freed to worship a god that is greater.
>> Well, those of us here who were raised religious probably understand this feeling all too well. I remember it. But here is the problem as I have lived it: you have to reject the bible to actually embrace this mindset. Now, I know that a lot of folks that embrace this stance have never actually read the bible. They hear a verse or two that is "oh so inspiring" on Sundays sometimes. But that mindset of "a god that is greater" is going to take a hell of a lot of cherry picking to hang on to. They will have to reject the entire OT, as well as most of what Jesus AND Paul supposedly said. They might as well go Unitarian, or just call themselves New Age Pagans who follow some of the teachings of Jesus.
I think that the state described is, for many, the last stepping stone into atheism. Just give these folks a good dose of modern science and <poof!> = newbie atheist. And I think a lot of liberal "mega-church" members are at this state: they go to services for the camaraderie, not to learn about the bible. How many of them will lose the last vestiges of their faith, as I did?
Thoughts?
"The family that prays together...is brainwashing their children."- Albert Einstein
