an exercise in redundancy

Okay..... before I start talking (typing) let me just state that I used to be one of them, and it made perfect sense to me. Now I can't remember why.

This post has triggered me a little bit, and if you go read it, and you know me at all, you will immediately understand why.

What we have, almost constantly, is a "discussion" (sometimes referred to as arguments) between the theologically upstanding christian and someone else. In this case, it's athiests, but it might as well be..... well.... me. Person X (x for christian, aren't I clever?) says to person.... P..... "I am correct in my determination of absolute truth." Person P says, "possibly, but not necessarily." X proceeds to demonstrate from the bible all the ways in which he is right. P doesn't accept the bible as absolute truth, which means that X is spitting in the wind and P is confirming his initial impression that X is incapable of thinking outside his box. X claims that P is biased. P says that X is biased. X responds that no one can be unbiased. P says, "exactly."

What it all boils down to is that X believes something, and P believes something different, and X telling P that X knows the absolute truth so P must be wrong is.... well..... it's pointless.

I have yet to be evangelized by an atheist. None have even tried. But the moment someone walks into my life and says, "you need to believe what I'm now telling you is true" I assume that that person is exactly the sort of person I should disregard.

My god used to be that small. So small that it needed me to help it convince people of its supremacy. so small that it could only function within my paradigm. I used to live the Neverland religion, where if someone stated "I do not believe in fairies" I would frantically start clapping.

I think atheists are the bravest people. They march forward alone into a universe with only their finite (though impressive) intellect to guide the way. I know what it's like to be raised in a christian atmosphere so complete that you truly believe that a person who doesn't believe in God is incapable of believing in goodness, or truth, or having any kind of morality. That dirty pile of propaganda is clearly circulating quite well through christian circles. I believe strongly in God and the supernatural, but if I decided right now that God is dead and I have no spirit, my sense of right and wrong, morality and compassion would not instantly drain from my consciousness.

I mean.... who came up with that?

And who decided that it was a good thing to do to try to defend the bible from within itself? That is only logical to a person who believes the bible to be the inerrant word of God, which means that christians might as well just evangelize each other, which I'm sorry to say is exactly the sort of "bless me" club that many churches have become.

I have an aunt who disagrees with me on some things, and agrees with me on others. She thinks she's right about some stuff and I can't connect with it. But she doesn't tell me that I have to change. She just smiles and says that she thinks I'll be okay. That is a woman with a big God. A God so big He can get through to me, without her performing the exercise in redundancy that is throwing around bible verses where bible verses hold no authority.

I mean, odds are, if you were born into a muslim family, you would be a muslim. Same goes for Taoism, Buddhism, Scientology, Mormonism, you name it. Me, I was born into a christian family. I was taught to have christian values and to say the magical words that would make me go to heaven, and I went to a christian bible school and learned christian theology and..... that's great. Christianity's done well for me.

But what if I put all that aside for a while. What if I pretend that I'm a clean slate? What if I start with the thing that burns inside me, the belief in God and the desire to understand, and then I learn everything I can and go where the search leads me. Will it lead me to christianity? Is God big enough to lead me to truth without your guidance?

What if God leads me to truth, but it's not Christianity?

What if God leads me to Christianity, but not your version?

What if God only speaks Chinese?

What if God is silent?