Just a quick introduction...
I am a 23-year-old female ex-Christian. I attend a Unitarian Universalist church, where I met my boyfriend, who has a Masters in Religious Studies and leads a Bible study at the UU Church (not your typical Bible study, to be sure). I like my church because they don't tell me what to believe -- they let me figure it out for myself -- and I still get to hang out with other religious-minded people. I tutor high school students to prepare them for the ACT. I have a cat (Wally) and seven fish. And I like to make earrings and cookies.
I was raised Baptist/Pentecostal/nondenom... whatever my mom was into at the time. I went to a Christian school, church camp, and Baptist university. I always went along with what I was told; everyone else believed it, and hell is a scary thought for a kid! I was baptised in 4th grade. I never really felt the "Spirit," though. I mean, I would get very emotional at revivals and camp fires, and I would cry and "rededicate" my life and so on... I was always trying to feel what the others felt, but it never really happened, no matter how many prayers I said, devotionals I read, or worship songs I sang. So my faith was pretty rocky by the time I graduated high school.
I really lost my religion, though, at my Christian university. There were many contributing factors. One was the many students who partied and "sinned" on Saturday nights, then showed up all pious to church on Sunday and went to Mexico to "save the Catholics" on spring break. Another was the Religious Studies classes. In them, we didn't just take the Bible as inerrant truth, as I'd been taught to do -- we looked at it as an historical document, examined its origins, the historicity of the people and places in it. My professors were Christians themselves, but after hearing what they had to say and examining the scholarship, I just couldn't buy into it anymore.
I don't see any reason why there shouldn't be a god (or gods), but I refuse to insist that I know its/their true nature and everyone must agree with me, "or else!" For me, it always felt very elitist to think that way. And I most certainly cannot "do the "Jesus thing," (as I like to put it). There is far too little evidence of an historical Jesus, and the biblical stories about him are far too similar to other myths, as I see it. Furthermore, the ancients did not view history as we do; there was not a clear distinction between "fact" and "fiction," and they did not care about keeping their opinions or "spin" out of historical accounts. The notion of "fair and balanced" journalism is a modern one.
Anyway, I came here because I still like to hear "the other side." People and religion are very interesting. I was mostly interested in responding to some of the questions put forth my Christians in the debate section, but, after typing out quite a long post, I was informed that I couldn't do that without having 100 posts. There are a lot of rules on this site -- though I guess that makes sense. Anyway, I was in kinda a debating mood, so I'm sorry if this post comes across that way -- I just wanted to let you all know up front where I stand on the Christianity thing: I like it, it's interesting, but it's not for me.
eepy
I am a 23-year-old female ex-Christian. I attend a Unitarian Universalist church, where I met my boyfriend, who has a Masters in Religious Studies and leads a Bible study at the UU Church (not your typical Bible study, to be sure). I like my church because they don't tell me what to believe -- they let me figure it out for myself -- and I still get to hang out with other religious-minded people. I tutor high school students to prepare them for the ACT. I have a cat (Wally) and seven fish. And I like to make earrings and cookies.
I was raised Baptist/Pentecostal/nondenom... whatever my mom was into at the time. I went to a Christian school, church camp, and Baptist university. I always went along with what I was told; everyone else believed it, and hell is a scary thought for a kid! I was baptised in 4th grade. I never really felt the "Spirit," though. I mean, I would get very emotional at revivals and camp fires, and I would cry and "rededicate" my life and so on... I was always trying to feel what the others felt, but it never really happened, no matter how many prayers I said, devotionals I read, or worship songs I sang. So my faith was pretty rocky by the time I graduated high school.
I really lost my religion, though, at my Christian university. There were many contributing factors. One was the many students who partied and "sinned" on Saturday nights, then showed up all pious to church on Sunday and went to Mexico to "save the Catholics" on spring break. Another was the Religious Studies classes. In them, we didn't just take the Bible as inerrant truth, as I'd been taught to do -- we looked at it as an historical document, examined its origins, the historicity of the people and places in it. My professors were Christians themselves, but after hearing what they had to say and examining the scholarship, I just couldn't buy into it anymore.
I don't see any reason why there shouldn't be a god (or gods), but I refuse to insist that I know its/their true nature and everyone must agree with me, "or else!" For me, it always felt very elitist to think that way. And I most certainly cannot "do the "Jesus thing," (as I like to put it). There is far too little evidence of an historical Jesus, and the biblical stories about him are far too similar to other myths, as I see it. Furthermore, the ancients did not view history as we do; there was not a clear distinction between "fact" and "fiction," and they did not care about keeping their opinions or "spin" out of historical accounts. The notion of "fair and balanced" journalism is a modern one.
Anyway, I came here because I still like to hear "the other side." People and religion are very interesting. I was mostly interested in responding to some of the questions put forth my Christians in the debate section, but, after typing out quite a long post, I was informed that I couldn't do that without having 100 posts. There are a lot of rules on this site -- though I guess that makes sense. Anyway, I was in kinda a debating mood, so I'm sorry if this post comes across that way -- I just wanted to let you all know up front where I stand on the Christianity thing: I like it, it's interesting, but it's not for me.
eepy
