JoB
VBD.
Christianity is the framework through which i filter my faith because it is the one i learned as a child
and after exploring all other possibilities including that of the agnostics and atheists, it is what still resonates with me.
which is not to say that i don’t find myself reading and rereading passages from the wide variety of religious texts that line my reading shelf…
If Christians should agree with literal Biblical teachings to be a Christian… Which teachings on Christianity would you have Christians adhere to to qualify as real Christians?
Would you have us adhere to the edited and re-edited and re-edited again book that we call the Bible… and if so, which version?
Should we adhere to the literal translation from the original greek or would the new modernized version be more accurate or one of the many version in between?
Is the Catholic version of the Bible more accurate than the Protestant version?
And if you are an old Testament Christian, shouldn’t you more accurately describe your religion as Judiasm?
Do we include the Christian writings that have been discovered but rejected by “the church” as being too radical to include in Christian writings..
and if so which church should we use as the final infallible reference to all things Christian?
When blind obedience to any one interpretation of the tenets of a religion becomes the core precept of that religion i believe you have crossed the line into extremism and cult status.
Are the extremists and cult participants true Christians because they are willing to suspend all doubt and blindly follow the teachings of their particular leader?
I don’t think that is true any more than i think that you have to blindly follow the current political dictates of our elected leaders to be a citizen.
The thing about religion that non-religious people (and to be honest too many religious people) don’t seem to understand is that even when you worship with others, faith is a very personal process.
I am a Christian because that is the framework around which my faith is built.
i can’t speak for anyone else’s.. nor would i want to.