Well, so much for separation of Church and State
Sept 26, 2015 4:58:11 GMT -6
Nugget, Doug, and 2 more like this
Post by Deleted on Sept 26, 2015 4:58:11 GMT -6
Personally, I think it is more important to be a follower of Christ than to follow some legalistic claims to declare yourself a Christian, just don't tell any of my Fundamentalist friends, lol.
If you google "Where did Jesus claim to be God", you'll find a bazillion arguments from Christians of this or that scripture that supports it. Whether that convinces you or not, my dear ninurta, probably doesn't matter in the end.
And I believe therein lies truth.
More blood has been spilled over relatively tiny doctrinal matters than over major divisions between separate religions, and all of it is, in my opinion, utterly unnecessary. There seem to me to be very few basic rules that matter to salvation, and the divinity of Christ (or not) does not seem to be among them. What his mission was, what he came to do, strikes me as being of vastly more importance in the final analysis than questions decided 300 years later than that event.
I have been known to tell even preachers that they are going to be surprised at whom they see made it to the afterlife - and whom they DON'T see. It's up to neither me nor even them to make that determination. If you ever want to see a fundamentalist's entire head turn purple, try throwing that on them!
I have a number of odd beliefs (predestination, for example), that over the years have gotten me preached into hell, but in the end, none of that really matters, as far as I can tell. There are very few basics that do. It mystifies me why people attach so much importance to this doctrine or that, and often seem to utterly ignore the basic truths. Again using predestination as an example, I am entirely unwilling to relegate someone to hell just because they don't see things my way. I figure we'll have a good long time to discuss such intricacies on the other side, and they matter nary a bit before we get there.
Another of my strange beliefs is in miracles. Once upon a time, I was in a bad way mentally and physically, and hobbling along a deserted road in the middle of nowhere when I encountered a church standing there all by it's lonesome. The situation being what it was, I decided it might not be a bad idea to see if there was a preacher about, or anyone for that matter, so I walked up to the door and knocked. There was no answer, but being the irreverent young man I was, I tried the door handle, and found it unlocked, so I went inside, and found there was no one there but myself and an altar. So I prayed - there wasn't much else to be done, and I left.
There's a good chance I wouldn't even be here today if I hadn't done that. I tried that door on several subsequent occasions, and always found it locked after that. Odd that on the one day I needed it, someone had forgot to lock it. Miracle or not? I dunno, but it makes me go "hmmm..." to this day, years later. I think miracles are often those little things people miss while in search of a burning bush.
Basic stuff - it often gets overlooked in the rush to find something big that turns out not to be that big after all.