The Church Thread: Chapter I Verse 2?

[CrimsonJazz]

@CrimsonJazz

Yes, my inlaws are cradle Catholics. It's all they've ever known. They've never personally challenged or tested anything they believe. Whereas, I do it all the time and over the years have changed my opinion and thoughts on things that I used to "hard core" believe in. But I never just take a pastor's word for it, without doing some form of study and researching myself.

Yep, they are setting themselves up for difficulty down the road, especially if they are going to insist on challenging the beliefs of others. I grew up in the Evangelical tradition, but I was a Christian insomuch if a cow was in a tree, it'd be a bird. (In other words, I wasn't a fanatic.) Late in my teenage years, I started noticing that none of these denominations agreed on everything and that was a dealbreaker for me. I would spend the next 30 years as an agnostic. I only became a Christian when I challenged myself to try and figure it all out. (Coming face to face with my own mortality after several heart procedures had a lot to do with that, too.)

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Yep, they are setting themselves up for difficulty down the road, especially if they are going to insist on challenging the beliefs of others. I grew up in the Evangelical tradition, but I was a Christian insomuch if a cow was in a tree, it'd be a bird. (In other words, I wasn't a fanatic.) Late in my teenage years, I started noticing that none of these denominations agreed on everything and that was a dealbreaker for me. I would spend the next 30 years as an agnostic. I only became a Christian when I challenged myself to try and figure it all out. (Coming face to face with my own mortality after several heart procedures had a lot to do with that, too.)

I'd already been through the heart procedures, including CABG, but it took life-threatening cancer for me...

 

[Bamabuzzard]

Yep, they are setting themselves up for difficulty down the road, especially if they are going to insist on challenging the beliefs of others. I grew up in the Evangelical tradition, but I was a Christian insomuch if a cow was in a tree, it'd be a bird. (In other words, I wasn't a fanatic.) Late in my teenage years, I started noticing that none of these denominations agreed on everything and that was a dealbreaker for me. I would spend the next 30 years as an agnostic. I only became a Christian when I challenged myself to try and figure it all out. (Coming face to face with my own mortality after several heart procedures had a lot to do with that, too.)

Welcome to the broken human race. Rarely do people seek God or have any care of whether there even is a god as long as they see no need for God in their personal lives. Their spiritual eyes tend to be blind to their spiritual reality when they believe they are in full control of their life and nothing is really so wrong that they don't think they can fix themselves. Usually, it is when life has Mike Tyson punched us, laying flat on our back (sometimes both physically and metaphorically) in a situation that no amount of our effort can change, that some start to realize how fragile life has always been. It is a sober reality that actually is a spiritual blessing, because it can lead you to God.

 

[AWRTR]

Yep, they are setting themselves up for difficulty down the road, especially if they are going to insist on challenging the beliefs of others. I grew up in the Evangelical tradition, but I was a Christian insomuch if a cow was in a tree, it'd be a bird. (In other words, I wasn't a fanatic.) Late in my teenage years, I started noticing that none of these denominations agreed on everything and that was a dealbreaker for me. I would spend the next 30 years as an agnostic. I only became a Christian when I challenged myself to try and figure it all out. (Coming face to face with my own mortality after several heart procedures had a lot to do with that, too.)

Searching for yourself in conjunction with participating in a solid church is the best. Never take anyone's word for it. Go study and seek for yourself. That's how real faith is built.

 

[CrimsonJazz]

 

[Padreruf]

"The unexamined life is not worth living" -- Socrates via Plato. Those of us who grow up in church usually take a step back and examine our religious background, some deeper than others. I have personally done that several times -- usually related to negative experiences in my life or in the lives of others close to me.

This is usually a very fruitful experience.

2 Corinthians 13:5 "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves"

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Yes, my inlaws are cradle Catholics. It's all they've ever known. They've never personally challenged or tested anything they believe. Whereas, I do it all the time and over the years have changed my opinion and thoughts on things that I used to "hard core" believe in. But I never just take a pastor's word for it, without doing some form of study and researching myself.

This is more up my alley.

Goodness gracious the number of "everyday in my life Archie Bunker" types who don't go to church on Sunday or maybe they do once in awhile, but they've got it all figured out. The somersaults people do to get around what words actually mean is a sight to behold. By Archie, I don't mean racist, I mean like the time he told Lionel and the Meathead that his parents names were David and Sarah, "Two names right out of the Bible, which has got nothin' to do with the Jews."

The fixation on setting up some sort of inviolable doctrinal point and interpreting everything through that has been one of the most "let me hit my head against the wall harder" points. And not only that, people get really mad over this stuff, too.