To Xian- re: Christianity

[cattygurl]

I just read your response to kwak's christianity thread and I wanted to discuss your post a bit more. I didn't want to derail Kwak's thread, so I decided to post a new one here!

Your response was really interesting. I know many people that consider themselves to be Christian, but do not believe (or despise, in some cases) the institution as it stands today.

I'm just interested and would like to ask what part of "Christianity" appeals to you on a personal level, and why/how you came to identify yourself as a Christian. I'm curious if it was something you were born into, or if it was something that you picked up on your own, etc.

[xian]

I just read your response to kwak's christianity thread and I wanted to discuss your post a bit more. I didn't want to derail Kwak's thread, so I decided to post a new one here!

Your response was really interesting. I know many people that consider themselves to be Christian, but do not believe (or despise, in some cases) the institution as it stands today.

I'm just interested and would like to ask what part of "Christianity" appeals to you on a personal level, and why/how you came to identify yourself as a Christian. I'm curious if it was something you were born into, or if it was something that you picked up on your own, etc.

I was born into lapsed Catholicism. I was born again during my late teens. I had some great mentors who didn't bully me and let me personalize my spirituality. I identify myself as Christian because that's the framing that my spirituality was first empathetically defined for me, but when I hear people of different faiths describe their faith to me, it sounds like the same thing, just with different terms.

I believe that the bible is a perfect work by God that has been filtered by not-so-perfect, and often sexists, racist, self-interested assholes. That's not really so different from most of the art you'll see in the world, right?

[inferno]

I believe that the bible is a perfect work by God that has been filtered by not-so-perfect, and often sexists, racist, self-interested assholes.
And how did you come to the conclusion that the bible is "perfect"? Who would be the judge of that?

[xian]

I believe that the bible is a perfect work by God that has been filtered by not-so-perfect, and often sexists, racist, self-interested assholes.
And how did you come to the conclusion that the bible is "perfect"? Who would be the judge of that?

Well, I think there is a universal message of truth that permeates many works.

Like I said, "I believe..." so it's just my opinion. But there's not really anyway to test it since we can only hypothesize what they might look like if we remove human self-interest from the works.

[SamuraiJack]

Do you believe that all your Asian ancestors went to hell before the white man spread their religion to Asia?