You have truely seen the worst side of so called Christians. Those persons aren't Christians! For one, they would have helped you when in need. Remember the time Jesus said whatever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do to me? Well, they threw Jesus to the curb and ignored him when he was in dire need!

I heard a couple fire and brimstone sermons and it sent me into hell as well. It has taken a long time, over 5 yrs, to recover from the spiritual hurt that those sermons caused. I changed my church, my husband then boyfriend, went with me. In my time learning to heal and find my own spiritual center, not to meantion accept it, I have came to some conclusions that aren't taught by regular churches.

First, God is not vengful. The word, in hebrew, that translates to our word fear doesn't mean being afraid. It means the upper most respect that can be given. The meaning has been lost in the translations. So the Jewish weren't afraid of venegful God, they had the most respect a human can feel for the Creator of all. I've reread the stories of God distroying people/cultures. Did you know he gave them a chance to avoid it first? God always gives you a second chance first. Think of Sodom and Gemorahh, he sent angels in to see if there was anyone there that proved that they were worth saving. They found Lot's family who God saved from the distruction. This is true in every case. Many battles that were faught by the Jews were won without huge deaths. The army that had Golieth ran away when Golieth was defeated! I'm saying this to show you that God is loving and will give every chance possible before doing the worst.

Next, original sin. It is really rather simple. The teaching of everyone having original sin is WRONG!!!! Jesus came to earth to save us from that! You are not guilty of Adam and Eve's disobeying orders. Jesus died the way He did so you do NOT have to bear that burden. HE DOES!!!! You were born as God's beautiful child whom he loves more than any other creation. You are not gulity of anything that is not of your own doing. What those sins you DO do God will forgive the second the tought of "I'm sorry" enters your head. Regardless of how often you repeat the wrong doing.

Now, finally my view of hearing God and accepting Him. No one explains this. Especially listening to God. I had a hard time for a very long time too. I couldn't hear God, no matter how much I said I'm listening. Then I did something that isn't taught at all. I thought, what talent do I have that comes to me easily. What part of me is strongest. It's two things. I have a very strong emotional side (including being intuitive) and I can think in pictures. With patience (and some setbacks) I have learned that THAT is how God speaks to me, personally. If I trust my intuition then things go right, if I ignore it things go wrong. I told God (told not prayed) that I'll listen to my insticts if He'll speak to me through them. Mind you I still make mistakes, not listening or ignoring saying that I'm being crazy, but when I do as I "feel" things go right! Even if I don't understand what I am feeling.

Follow your heart. God will lead you to Him in whatever way is easiest for YOU! YOU are the important one in this relationship. If Science is your strong point, then trust He'll let you do whatever good you can through science. Just think of those who have come before you! Also, if you can't go to church or pray right now THAT'S OKAY!!! God knows that you've been hurt! He knows you need time to heal! God will ALWAYS be there for you, regardless of where your life takes you. I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to pray for your healing. You've been through much, much more than you should ever have been!

The Native vews are very intersting, they almost all think God, or whatever it is called, is LIFE itself in everything , people and animals and all the nature around, the water, the sky, the mountains ... Everything is God, life itself is God, but as you say, the word is much too restrictive.

And I found out that their perception of how all the lives are all related to each other, thus all what is alive is sacred and you must respect it and care for it, as your own life, is the same sort of belief as the buddhist one.

You can't harm anything or anyone without having some bad side effect as a matter of consequences, but also when you take care of others and everything around you very dearly and respectfully, then, you have the positive effect for you too, as consequence, for all the lives are related to each other, and that's life in its whole who is devine.

Thank you for your input. I am not going to read any more books about Christianity. I feel that is a total waste of time, as Christianity has many conflicts that cannot be resolved no matter how much the scholars try.

For more information in great detail, go to www.secweb.org/

I take this position because IMHO, Christianity is completely inconsistent and morally bankrupt. If Christians keep having to apologize for other Christians' behavior, then there is a problem with their religion, NOT with their behavior.

You never hear about Buddhists or atheists or Hindus, for example, forcibly converting and killing people.

As I said, the God of the OT and NT is hateful and judgmental. So why should I expect Christians to be loving and kind, when THEIR GOD approves of killing people for the most trivial of reasons? You cannot say they are not true Christians. They are indeed true Christians, and they are following the precepts of their Bible. Their god says that the father should kill the son who offends him. Their Messiah, Jesus, says that his job is to tear families apart. He's certainly done that well.

Their God says that you have free will. You have the freedom to worship God but if you don't, then you are gonna fry in Hell. That is NOT free will. That is duress, legally speaking.

Their God says that if you blaspheme the holy spirit (whatever that means???) you are going to hell, and it's unforgivable. Wonderful. An eternal and certain punishment for a finite human life. What a sadistic psychopathic God. I want nuthin' to do with him, thank you.



Christianity that is practiced now was promoted by the followers of Paul who was a woman hater and had some serious psychological problems. The growth of Christianity from being a Jewish cult was a political decision, as were the decisions as to which books of the Bible were canonical at the council of Nicea. The church leaders wanted to control people and put down women completely because of their society. They also rejected the mother goddess and reincarnation which were tenets of Gnosticism.

I think this is just intellectual dithering and I'm not gonna bother to try to understand Christianity because it does not make any sense. If God wants to talk to me, he can show up in my face and tell me what's going on instead of playing a cosmic peek a boo game with me. If you don't like that, that's too bad. I don't know "what God wants" from me, and he ain't said anything to me. We are all muddling along and doing the best we can. Society progresses as we find out more about how people operate, and the natural processes of our bodies, our minds and nature.

Following the outdated rules of a primitive, nomadic society who believed in blood sacrifices to appease God just grosses me out. And that includes Jesus as a sacrifice. I would hope that most of humanity has gotten past that way of thinking.

One of the posters here said that God speaks to them as their gut feelings. I had gut feelings that told me to GET AWAY FROM THESE CHURCH PEOPLE AND MINISTERS AS FAST AS POSSIBLE; THEY ARE EVIL. I don't think my gut feelings were God, they were self preservation, since I don't believe in a God that speaks to me. PLEASE DO NOT TELL ME TO "TRY HARDER" TO COMMUNICATE WITH GOD. I DID THAT ALREADY! GRRR!! YOU ARE INSULTING MY EFFORTS.

I am never going to set foot in a Christian Church again, either. The only church I feel comfortable in is the Unitarian-Universalist church which is not Christian. It is atheist/agnostic/secular humanist, or whatever you want it to be.

I have been in many different houses of worship: Christian, jewish, Hindu and Buddhist, and I have been treated with utmost respect EXCEPT in certain Christian churches who are into fundamnetalism and hellfire and brimstone. They scare people so they can control them and take their money. It's a mechanism of social control, pure and simple. And that is immoral.

I will keep studying the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism (Sepcifically I like Mahayana which is Chinese)

and the Eight Precepts of :

Right Understanding,
Right thought,
Right action,
Right speech,
Right action,
Right livelihood,
Right effort,
Right mindfulness, and
Right concentration.

There are further explanations of this, but it's much easier to understand and follow than the Abrahamic religions. Further more, the more I study Buddhism, the deeper it gets. Buddhism is both simple and deep at the same time. It goes much further than "Thou shalt" and "Thou shalt not". I see no reason why people can't find their own morality from their own judgment and experience. God is not needed for morality.

"What are morals to Sons of God?" --Frederich Nietschze

I don't believe in Christianity nor the existance of God, or other Gods of other religions, I don't mind if others do it though, just for me it is nonsense only.

It seems that certain people have a real problem to accept and tolerate that some others don't follow their rules and aren't living constantly in the fear of hell like they are.

Well, I don't believe in hell, nor in paradise.