Christian to Atheist, one woman's experiences

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Jaebius said:
Yeah, it def seems to me that you're just looking for an argument
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That's dah Bate ... like that woman that put her character down the hole ... buried what she was really after ... control of your being!

That's dah Nous ... the US Ness ... people have trouble bothering themselves with the connections ... they just don't desire to ...

Few make those kinds of connections to the nodes ... it is nodable! Hang you r head down and listen ... in the Eyre it is a mystical wind. --- Burl!
 
My journey started in a non church family. My grandfather read his Bible daily and that was it. My brother and I were invited by the Anglican minister as he went door to door in a new subdivision to Sunday School. We were curious and went. I was 9. We liked it and went every week. I took catechism to be confirned in grade 9. I learned many of the words but did not really understand them. In the Spring I had an intense personal spiritual experience while writing an exam. A presence or presences told me not to worry. "We are watching over/looking after you."

That experience erased seeing God as human like. The story of the adultJesus was and is foundational to me. Many incidental encounters with edgy spiritual books stretched my mind to giving lots of space for the Holy Mystery to be whatever it is.

Part of the mystery is why I am certain I was called/volunteered/strongly invited/directed into ministry and assisted past potential barriers to responding.
 
WhyCzar said:
Christianity has been worn thin by countless denominations, endless interpretations, and the cheapening effect of modernity.

Things which the Christian allegedly must renounce are all the things necessary for a people to survive and thrive in the real world.

To renounce them and depend wholly on the idea that you will be granted personal immortality in heaven as a reward seems a bit selfish to my way of thinking.

And that the fate of your kin and the unchristian FOLKS will be to burn in hell for all eternity - I just can't buy into that.

I have never professed to be a Christian and never will.

That doesn't stop me from praying like my life depends on it.

I just can't define who or what it is that I am praying to - I sure hope it is not a True Christ -ian.

The diversity of Christian belief is so various that it borders on absurd.
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You say, WhyCzar, you hope you're not praying to the "True Christian" God.

I suppose my response would be that if the true God exists and is as gracious as we Christians claim, He's less offended by an honest seeker than by someone who pretends certainty they don't possess.

Whether you ever call yourself a Christian or not, I respect your struggle's honesty.

Honest questions are closer to faith than comfortable indifference
 
And with a little tension, exists within our Wednesday morning bible study. We have me, a retired minister who served at First in Van and his partner, also a VAM, but focussed on indigenous issues, as well as a couple of ladies from the posh united church and a dear friend from the very orthodox Christian Reform church and another from a Baptist/Anglican background. Gets a little argumentative.
 
BetteTheRed said:
And with a little tension, exists within our Wednesday morning bible study. We have me, a retired minister who served at First in Van and his partner, also a VAM, but focussed on indigenous issues, as well as a couple of ladies from the posh united church and a dear friend from the very orthodox Christian Reform church and another from a Baptist/Anglican background. Gets a little argumentative.
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Can help you out here. In all things theological, your dear friend from the very orthodox Christian Reform church's most probably correct
 
God and his henchmen love a good fight while the other demons lie back and observe ... other wise there'd be no one to report wise-on being not right (Y'sn-up)!

If Christianity divides and splits ... is there anything else better to go on and on about? Split*hation as short on divination?

Thus a multitude of parts and pieces ... wandering about in atdoms hidden places ... the Latin esh sigh 'n (Zi-n)? Just for the fun of disrupting what thought it was in the all together ... micro participation? It is a small and humble thing going on subtly ... often stretched like heat intemperate at the solar boundaries ... 30K degrees? Its the little things ... that shock when popping up 9 periods later as ... squared!

Hard to understand if you're not into figures and baffling figurines ... A'? An "H" with inclinations ... that is leanings to get into something or ... other that at present is an-un familiar expanse ... opening up or shutting down ... given what we've learned about this alien abode for s crapping's ...
 
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Jaebius said:
Can help you out here. In all things theological, your dear friend from the very orthodox Christian Reform church's most probably correct
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Depends on the question. Also depends on if they worship idols like the Bible or any of the creeds.
 
Jaebius said:
Can help you out here. In all things theological, your dear friend from the very orthodox Christian Reform church's most probably correct
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It is completely not that sort of bible study. There is never a right answer. Last week, my fav retired VAM (served at First United in Vancouver, if that means anything to you in terms of religious opinions) and our current minister, who has a doctorate in social justice (she has an honorary doctorate based on her very extensive social justice work) agreed to disagree on the hopefulness or lack thereof of the parable of the vineyard owner and I decided that it cast Godde in a rather negative light.
 
These sort of discussions are appropriate as they lead to the discussion of the seediness of there being mores coming along ... never ending!

I as a scholar of observation and science include this in my weekly facing my liturgical companions as none of us understands the alternate and we just leave it as it is ... generally well laid out and mysterious in general ... like Constantine facing his unknown ... furthering mystery?

Life is a curiosity if you allow it ... some declare they know it all and thus limit it ... to within their private boundaries. Consider what potential world emperors do to quash the alter ... it is un flattering to the subject as they become the object of the Satyr! Bummer eh?
 
paradox3 said:
@BetteTheRed
Is this the parable where the vineyard owner pays the workers the same amount, regardless of when they arrived?
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No, the one afterwards, where an owner plants a vineyard, and then their tenants murder the servants then the son, who come to collect the owner's share. Unless one is uber careful, it can get pretty anti-Semitic. Also, character of godde doesn't come out blameless.
 
BetteTheRed said:
No, the one afterwards, where an owner plants a vineyard, and then their tenants murder the servants then the son, who come to collect the owner's share. Unless one is uber careful, it can get pretty anti-Semitic. Also, character of godde doesn't come out blameless.
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Leads to great complications like the bodily build-up of mortal dissonance! Something that whistles?

Some vegetation is like that when getting into the bloodstream ...
 
We went to a complicated place in this one. At least 4 wyrdly diff positions. Position 1: Jesus, the new religion, describing the errors of the old religion and how his death will correct this; Position 2: Godde's character as portrayed in this parable is stupid, which led to Position 3, that godde's grace is "stupid"because of its universality but 4, that's what makes it grace.

But we didn't all agree. On any of this. And this is the ONLY way I can DO religion.
 
BetteTheRed said:
No, the one afterwards, where an owner plants a vineyard, and then their tenants murder the servants then the son, who come to collect the owner's share. Unless one is uber careful, it can get pretty anti-Semitic. Also, character of godde doesn't come out blameless.
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The Son's rejection, Bette, becomes the means by which God's purposes are accomplished. The amazing part's that Jesus tells this story knowing He's the Son who'll be rejected.

Every time I read it I'm overwhelmed by both sin's seriousness and God's stubborn generosity. The vineyard belongs to Him, the Son belongs to Him and ultimately the kingdom advances exactly as He intends. That's both a warning and a comfort
 
paradox3 said:
@Jaebius Jesus didn't tell parables about himself though, did He?
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Would argue the Parable of the Wicked Tenants, P3, is the clearest example that He did.

The owner sends servants (the prophets), then sends his beloved son. Jesus's essentially saying, "This's what you've done to God's messengers. This's what you're about to do to Me!"

What gives me chills, P3, is that Jesus tells the parable knowing exactly where the story's headed. The rejected Son was always the cornerstone. ✝️
 
I'm supposed to be silent here (being bad nous) but how does a parable compare to metaphor ... maybe stunned previous encounter than is not remembered? These may repeat time after time due to our inability to take from the rabi ... the lessons hated? Thus rabbit stupidity ...

Do difficult items of concern bounce off in reflection? Never to sink in to a strong surface ... superficial albeit!
 
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