I have some serious questions that I'd love some perspective on as a brand new member of the forums.
I was raised strict Southern Baptist in Louisiana. My parents were Conservative Republicans who believed any nonbelievers would go straight to hell. Until I was fifteen years old, I was not allowed to listen to any music except classical and Christian soft pop. I had never been exposed to alcohol or drugs in any form. I believed sex before marriage was a cardinal sin.
When I turned fifteen, I started reading... a lot. I started watching news programs besides Fox News. When I turned seventeen, I enrolled in college as an English major. All of a sudden, Christianity as a closed-in doctrine seemed outdated and hokey. Science with its irrefutable facts began to make a lot of sense. Other religions posed feasible ways of living that appeared very humane and moral. I experimented with a few drugs and drank alcohol a few times.
I'm sure this has happened to many of you. However, I felt enlightened, freer, less confined by ways of living that seemed quaint and stale. I read more, filled myself with knowledge. I never became a horrid person, even stayed within most moral boundaries that Christianity teaches (besides the experimentation with substances).
Am I wrong? I am almost twenty-one years old now, and though that may seem young, I have been through quite trying experiences. I am married to a twenty-five year old man who is also very intelligent and moral. I believe that if a human being truly yearns for god, he or she will find that god, no matter what the title of that god may be. I am a liberal Democrat. I believe in the right of any person to sincerely love another person, regardless of gender, race, or religion.
I will graduate with a Bachelor's Degree in one year.
I believe that god is a loving god, no matter what one might decide to call him.
I'm a vegetarian. I listen to rock and roll music.
I have never harmed another human being in my existence on this planet, nor do I ever intend to do so.
I earnestly feel better at this stage in my life than I have ever felt. I lead a moral life, though it may seem to others that I have rejected everything I was raised so vehemently to believe.
Do any of you believe that this is wrong, even incorrect?
In the part of the United States in which I reside, people of my persuasions are met with contept, even physical threats by so-called "Christians." Where is this justification?
I have been told by other Christians that I will eventually "find my way back to Jesus." However, I am entirely happy with my life how it is and my beliefs as they lie.
I need advice, more opinions.
Please help me out.
--Mrs. Spann
I was raised strict Southern Baptist in Louisiana. My parents were Conservative Republicans who believed any nonbelievers would go straight to hell. Until I was fifteen years old, I was not allowed to listen to any music except classical and Christian soft pop. I had never been exposed to alcohol or drugs in any form. I believed sex before marriage was a cardinal sin.
When I turned fifteen, I started reading... a lot. I started watching news programs besides Fox News. When I turned seventeen, I enrolled in college as an English major. All of a sudden, Christianity as a closed-in doctrine seemed outdated and hokey. Science with its irrefutable facts began to make a lot of sense. Other religions posed feasible ways of living that appeared very humane and moral. I experimented with a few drugs and drank alcohol a few times.
I'm sure this has happened to many of you. However, I felt enlightened, freer, less confined by ways of living that seemed quaint and stale. I read more, filled myself with knowledge. I never became a horrid person, even stayed within most moral boundaries that Christianity teaches (besides the experimentation with substances).
Am I wrong? I am almost twenty-one years old now, and though that may seem young, I have been through quite trying experiences. I am married to a twenty-five year old man who is also very intelligent and moral. I believe that if a human being truly yearns for god, he or she will find that god, no matter what the title of that god may be. I am a liberal Democrat. I believe in the right of any person to sincerely love another person, regardless of gender, race, or religion.
I will graduate with a Bachelor's Degree in one year.
I believe that god is a loving god, no matter what one might decide to call him.
I'm a vegetarian. I listen to rock and roll music.
I have never harmed another human being in my existence on this planet, nor do I ever intend to do so.
I earnestly feel better at this stage in my life than I have ever felt. I lead a moral life, though it may seem to others that I have rejected everything I was raised so vehemently to believe.
Do any of you believe that this is wrong, even incorrect?
In the part of the United States in which I reside, people of my persuasions are met with contept, even physical threats by so-called "Christians." Where is this justification?
I have been told by other Christians that I will eventually "find my way back to Jesus." However, I am entirely happy with my life how it is and my beliefs as they lie.
I need advice, more opinions.
Please help me out.
--Mrs. Spann
